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Killer
Instinct Revelations:15
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Ultratech Brazil: West Wing Hallway
“I don’t remember there being an Armory in
Ultratech.” Orchid remarked, as she walked down the dark hallway
alongside
her mortal enemy and temporary savior, Fulgore-X.
“I hope this isn’t a news flash to you,”
Fulgore-X replied, “but there’s a lot about Ultratech you don’t know.”
Orchid snarled at him. Fulgore-X ignored
her. He continued on down the hallway, finally stopping in front
of a door to the
left. On the right side of the hall was another door opposite
the one of the left; strangely, it wasn’t marked and didn’t have an
access panel. Fulgore-X activated the console for the door on
the left, and after keying in a specific sequence, the door on the
right opened. Orchid entered the room without waiting for her
partner.
“Good holy mother of God.” she whispered,
upon stepping through the doorway. The Armory wasn’t especially big,
maybe about the size of Sheridan’s office, and it wasn’t furnished
with anything. However, it did possess crates, and lots of
them. Gray, metal crates, stacked end to end and on top of each
other, from wall to wall, with occasional gaps allowing a
person to navigate their way through the room. In some areas,
there were only two crates stacked on top of each other,
making the height of the stack only three feet. The top crate
of these short stacks were open, so that someone could get to the
weapons inside.
“What the hell is all this? Weapons?”
Orchid said, slightly angered, slightly terrified. “What are all
these weapons doing
here?”
Fulgore-X entered the room, unaffected by
what was inside. “Come on now. You know of Sheridan’s plan,
don’t you?
Surely you didn’t think that he planned to make an army that would
only fight with it’s fists. These are the weapons that his
super human army would be equipped with.”
“Then what was Killer Instinct for?
Why was Sheridan testing his creations in hand to hand combat?”
“To ensure that they really would be super
soldiers. Weapons are only good for so much. Suppose you give
an unskilled
man a rocket launcher. He could do great damage with that weapon;
as long as his enemy is at a distance. Once the enemy
closes in on him, he cannot use his weapon without risking killing
himself or his allies. The enemy would then have the
advantage.”
“I see.” Orchid began wandering around,
looking at the crates. “It makes sense now. Especially the
Fulgore Project. All
that power you supposedly have would be useless if your opponent was
standing in close range of you. So.....what kind of
weapons are these?”
“They’re all plasma based. Still mostly
experimental. Just pick one so we can proceed.”
“Yeah yeah......” Orchid drifted through
the aisles, reading the descriptions on the crates, and looking inside
the open ones.
Eventually, she found something she liked.
“Whoa baby!” she exclaimed, uncharacteristically.
She reached inside of an open crate and pulled out a long, gray
weapon. It was about two and a half feet long, with a conic end.
Before the tip, the barrel of the gun seemed to be covered
with short, seven-inch plasma container cylinders, positioned side
to side wrapping around the gun. The base of the gun was
wider, had the handle had a contoured, rubber grip. There was
a fold out laser sight on the top, and shoulder strap on the
outside of the gun.
“Hmm, a plasma rifle. Not a bad choice.”
Fulgore-X said.
Orchid held the rifle as if it were a new
part of her arm. “Not bad at all. Say Fulgore-X, maybe you
should take one of
these things.”
Fulgore-X snorted. “These weapons are
mere toys when compared to myself.”
“Such arrogance!” Orchid half laughed.
“They should have programmed you with a little more humility.”
Fulgore-X only narrowed his eyes in response.
Orchid strapped the rifle to her back and started wandering around again.
“What are you doing now?” Fulgore-X
asked, irritated.
“It’s always good to have a spare. Something
small, concealed, and easy to use with little or no preparation time.
Hello,
what’s this?” Orchid reached into a crate and pulled out a thin,
metallic cylinder, with a glowing blue end. There was a red
button about halfway up the device. Orchid pressed it, which
caused the end to flash brightly, but that’s about all it did.
“That is nothing, put it down.” Fulgore-X
ordered.
Orchid eyeballed him. “No.....it’s definitely
something.” She depressed the button again, and tapped the end of
the device
into the side of the crate she had gotten it from. Plasma energy
surged from the device, into the crate, knocking it down with
violent force. Orchid stared at the fallen crate for a moment,
then turned her attention back to the cyborg.
“Yup, definitely something.” she said.
“I think it’s some sort of.....taser. In fact......” Without
depressing the button, Orchid
depressed the end into her left shoulder. “Yes, it is.
This is what I felt when I was knocked out back in the Rainforest.
This is
what Jeremiah used to bring me here. Hmm. That means, then,
that this thing also works pretty well on you, Fulgore-X.”
Fulgore-X rolled his eyes. Orchid grinned.
“Definitely a keeper.” She reached into the fallen crate and pulled
out a strap.
She attached the strap to the taser, then strapped the taser onto her
right boot.
“Now are you done?” Fulgore-X snapped.
Orchid looked around. “Hmm.......that
should do it......I guess.......” She flashed a half smile, overjoyed
that she was
annoying Fulgore-X.
“Then you need to know about what has to be
done.”
Orchid sat down on the other plasma taser
crate, the one that had been under the open one. “I’m all ears.”
Fulgore-X half turned away from her.
“We have to erect an inverted plasma shield around Ultratech Brazil in
order to
contain the reactor explosion. The only place where we’ll be
able to make the necessary shield modifications is the Control
Room. Also, that’s the only place where we can activate the shield.
In addition, the shield generators aren’t receiving power,
so some will have to be diverted. The only place where that can
be accomplished is the Reactor Room.”
“So......what are you saying?” Orchid
asked.
“Orchid, you go back to the Reactor Room,
and divert the necessary power to the generators. Also, there are
a number of
plasma conduits running from Ultratech Brazil, to various points throughout
Brazil. When the reactor explodes, it will cause a
chain reaction running up the conduits, and the entire continent will
probably be devastated, inverted shield or not. You’ll need
to drain these conduits as well. I trust you know how to do that.”
“Of course I do. But you talk as if
you’re not going to be there......”
“I’m not. I’m going to the Control Room.
I’ll configure the inverted shield, and once you’ve diverted the power
to the
generators, I’ll activate it.”
“We’re splitting up?” Orchid asked,
a little uneasy.
Fulgore-X shot her a look. “Yes.....but
you’re a big girl now, and I’m sure you can take care of yourself.”
Orchid glared at him. “I just don’t
think it’s a good idea.”
“If time wasn’t a factor, it wouldn’t be.
But we don’t have forever, and the quicker we do this, the better.
Speaking of, as
soon as you’re done in the Reactor Room, you’ll need to leave immediately.
The rejects should already be in that area since we
were there before. You probably won’t have more than five minutes
to divert the power and drain the conduits.”
“Where should I go?”
“It really doesn’t matter.”
“Well then, how will I find you?”
“I’ll find you.” Fulgore-X turned around,
and started to leave The Armory.
Suddenly, something occurred to Orchid.
“Wait! Fulgore-X! You said you were going to the Control Room......isn’t
that
were Jeremiah would be?”
Fulgore-X only turned his head towards her.
“I hope so.” He quickly left the room.
“Damn him.” Orchid muttered. She
pouted before leaving the room.
Without Fulgore-X to argue with, Orchid began
to notice the various sounds of Ultratech Brazil. Somewhere in the
distance, a steady, continuous thumping filled the halls. The
faulty computer terminals and light fixtures caused a dull hum.
Other than that, it was almost complete silence. Orchid was unnerved
for a moment. Ultratech Brazil looked exactly like
Ultratech, when it was stuck 2000 years into the past. It made
her feel as if she were there again, which bothered her greatly.
Nevertheless, she shook it off and continued down the hall towards
the Reactor Room.
Slowly, another sound filled the halls.
A high pitched whine; with occasional pauses. It sounded like a child
crying. More
specifically, a little girl.
“Can’t be.” Orchid thought. “Probably
just some monster.” She tried to continue on her way, but the crying
pounded it’s
way into her head, playing with her consciousness.
“It’s entirely possible that one of the Ultratech
workers brought her child here, and maybe she had been hiding from the
rejects until now. I should check it out at least.” Orchid
sighed, and took a detour to her left. She left the plasma rifle
on her
back, but she could feel the muscles in her right arm jumping, begging
to grab the weapon. Orchid turned another left corner,
and found the source of the crying; a little girl. She had long,
black hair, and she wore a purple dress. She sat on the floor up
against the wall, her knees brought in to her chest, and her head buried
in her arms.
“The hell?” Orchid said softly, a little
surprised. Her instinct to grab her weapon died down, and she slowly
approached the
child. “Hey little girl. Don’t cry. I’m here to help
you.”
The girl didn’t seem to notice her.
Orchid continued anyway. “My name is Orchid, and I’m going to take
you home,
okay?” Still no response from the child. Orchid paused
and looked around. Obviously, leaving the child wasn’t an option.
“Do you know where your mommy or daddy is?”
Finally, the child spoke. “The bad man
took them. He took them both.”
“Jeremiah.....” Orchid whispered to
herself.
“No, the bad metal man with the red eyes.”
The child looked up at Orchid. She gasped in pure shock and disbelief.
The child was Orchid.
“It was him.” Little Orchid said, pointing
into the shadows. Fulgore 2 emerged from the darkness.
Orchid felt her heart beating out of her chest.
Somehow, she managed to get her plasma rifle from her back, and she fired
a
set of short bursts at the cyborg. They plunged harmlessly into
a plasma shield around him.
Fulgore 2 narrowed his eyes. “My turn.”
He shot his right arm out forward, and a massive burst of plasma energy
exploded
forth. Orchid screamed, collapsed to her knees, and covered her
head.
Silence. Nothing but silence.
Was this what it was like to be dead? It wasn’t total silence, though;
the familiar thumping and
buzzing sounds were also present. Orchid opened an eye, and uncovered
her head. There had been no super plasma storm
shot from Fulgore 2. Fulgore 2 hadn’t even been there.
Little Orchid had also disappeared. Orchid was alone in the hallway.
She stood, highly unsure of herself.
“Was.....was it all a dream? A hallucination?”
Orchid took a look around. She appeared to be the only living thing
in the
hallway. “I’m hallucinating? No, I can’t be. I can’t
afford to be.....losing my mind. I’m not. Of course not.
It’s hot in here,
I’m tired, and it’s entirely possible that Jeremiah pumped me full
of drugs while I was out. Anyway, enough of this. I have to
get back to the Reactor Room.” Orchid turned around to leave,
and froze. Little Orchid stood before her. Her eyes were red
from crying.
“Please Miss Lady, you have to help me save
my mommy and daddy.” She pleaded.
Orchid closed her eyes, and took a deep breath
in. “You are not real.” She tried to walk right through the
little girl, but she
grabbed Orchid by the leg and started to tug on her jumpsuit.
That was very real.
“Please Miss Lady, please!” Little Orchid
whined. “The bad metal man is going to hurt them, I just know it!”
Maybe it wasn’t a hallucination. Maybe
someone used the TimeShift technology to bring Little Orchid and Fulgore
2 here.
But why? It didn’t make sense. All Orchid knew was that
something was holding onto her leg.
Little Orchid released Orchid’s leg.
She started around the right corner. “Please, hurry, you have to
help my parents!”
Orchid felt awfully sick. She didn’t
know what to do. She probably should have ignored the little girl.
However, for
reasons beyond even her own explanation, she followed the younger version
of herself. After all, wherever Little Orchid was
going, it happened to be on the way to the Reactor Room.
Orchid walked down the hallway, trailing herself,
in a daze. She couldn’t think about anything, especially the peculiarity
of
her situation. She might have mindlessly followed Little Orchid
straight to the Control Room. However, Little Orchid stopped
at a door to the right.
“Here, here!” Little Orchid piped up.
“Please save them!”
Orchid blinked forcefully. Still in
a trance like state, she reached up and pressed the door release button,
half-afraid that her
parents really would be inside. As the door slowly slid open,
Orchid was relieved to find that it was just an Ultratech Brazil
office. She turned around; Little Orchid had vanished again.
“I’m tired and it’s too hot; I’m tired and
it’s too hot.” Orchid tried to convince herself. Turning back
to the room, Orchid
saw a woman sitting in the chair at the far end. She sat facing
the computer terminal that was the entire back wall, her back
turned towards Orchid. The computers seemed to be active.
Orchid didn’t know if this woman was alive or dead.
“Hello? Hello?” Orchid called
out, slowly approaching the woman. “Hello? Can you hear me?
Are you.....alive?” Orchid
stopped and the chair, and spun it around.
“Guess not.” Orchid said, half sickened.
Three slash marks started at the top of the woman’s head, and made their
way
down to her chest. She was covered in dry blood. Eerily,
her eyes were wide open.
Orchid stood straight, with her hands on her
hips, and sighed. Whether it was linked to her hallucinations or
not, it was very
hot inside of Ultratech Brazil. And with her arms slightly elevated,
she could get a slight smell of herself; it was not very
pleasant.
“This thing reeks.” Orchid said, referring
to her jumpsuit. She paused for a moment, letting the magnitude of
her own words
hit her bluntly. “It has a powerful smell.....my smell.
If Jeremiah really has programmed the rejects to hunt us down.....”
She
reached behind her, pulled the plasma rifle away and set it down gently
on the floor. She then unzipped the jumpsuit top, and
pulled it off. Now, she wore only a tight fitting gray tank top,
with her white jumpsuit pants and black boots. Orchid restored
the plasma rifle to its position on her back. She took the jumpsuit
top and draped it over the dead woman.
“Sorry about this.” Orchid said to the
corpse. “But you’re already dead, and I’m trying to stay alive here.
Think of it as a
favor; this should buy me at least a few minutes if anything should
be trailing me.” After decorating the corpse, Orchid noticed a
flashing red light on the computer video screen in front of her.
She looked at it closely; underneath the light, the words “E-Mail
Sent” appeared. Letting her curiosity get the best of her, Orchid
accessed the mail menu and opened up the last message sent.
A video image of the dead woman appeared. Except in the message,
she was very much alive. Orchid started playback.
“’Mr. Sheridan, Mr. Sheridan! This is
Alana Cox, junior member of Section 12, Ultratech Brazil. Sir, we’ve
got a major
problem here. The genetic mutants that we were holding in Experiment
Storage....they’ve broken loose. All of them. They’ve
pretty much taken over the building.....they’ve sealed Ultratech off,
and they have taken over the Control Room. They are
killing us all off.....we’re trying to hold off the best we can, but
it’ll only be a matter of time before we’re all dead.....’” Alana
stopped and looked around nervously. “’Sir, we need help and
we need it fast. Anything or anyone you can send....I know
we’re supposed to protect the secret of Ultratech Brazil, but we’re
all going to die here unless we get some help. Please
sir.....we don’t want to die.....I don’t want to die.’” With
that, the message ended.
Orchid bowed her head. She inspected
the computer terminal. “Hmm. She sent this message on a secure
line, one that
only Sheridan knew about. Considering that Sheridan was long
since dead when this was sent, this was probably the nail in
these people’s coffin. However, I don’t think that there’s anything
that could have been done to save these people.” She
sighed heavily and proceeded to leave the room.
Standing outside of the doorway, Orchid could
feel something was wrong. Her time in The Organization taught her
many
things, including how to sense the presence of another lifeform.
Right now, Orchid felt something, but with her previous
experiences thus far, it could be Fulgore 2 or Little Orchid.
Determined that she was letting her nerves get the best of her,
Orchid started down the hallway.
Before she had gotten ten feet, something
descended down from the ceiling, onto her. Orchid hit the ground
sharply, but
rolled to soften the impact. She sprang up and turned around
quickly, allowing her to get a look at her attacker. It looked like
a horrible hybrid of a wild dog and a human. It stood on all
fours, although only the hind legs were canine; the arms were
somewhat human. A brownish-gray coat of dirty hair lightly covered
it. It had a dog like mouth and nose with large ears.
Orchid found herself relieved that the lighting was so poor in Ultratech
Brazil.
The hybrid charged at Orchid, just as she
was pulling out her rifle. It drove it’s shoulder into Orchid’s gut,
sending her flying
backwards. She dropped the rifle in the process. The hybrid
now stood on it’s hind legs, over Orchid, trying to slash her with
the claws in its paws. Orchid caught both hands, and struggled
to keep the sharp claw edges away from her face. She kicked
her attacker in the back of the left knee, causing it’s body to buckle.
She brought her knees up to her chest and thrust kicked
the hybrid away. It recovered very quickly, and as Orchid stood,
it charged into her again. They both crashed into the ground,
Orchid on her back. She used her left hand to grab the thing
by it’s neck, keeping it as far away as possible. Using her right
hand, she took the plasma taser from her right boot, and shoved it
into the monster’s mouth. It screamed in horror, plasma
energy cursing over it’s body. After ten seconds, Orchid mercifully
pulled the taser away. The hybrid collapsed in a lifeless
heap, it’s body smoking.
Orchid stood slowly. She restored the
taser to her right boot, and adjusted her clothes. She closed her
eyes and took a
deep breath in. The moment of peace would be brief at best.
Something slimy slammed into her stomach, flinging her
backwards. She landed not too far away from the plasma rifle
she had dropped. Orchid, only on one knee, took a look up at
her new attacker. This one was even more gruesome than the last.
It had human like legs, covered by a ratty pair of blue
jeans. But the torso was all lizard. It had short, bent
arms, a long face with spiked teeth protruding from it’s jaw, hazy yellow
eyes, and a long tail behind it.
Orchid didn’t have time to be disgusted.
The creature opened it’s mouth, and spit some sort of venom out at her.
Orchid
scrambled away, taking the rifle as she fled. It pursued, lunging
at an incredible speed. Using it’s stubby right hand, it struck
Orchid in the face, then with a sharp flick of its tail, it sent Orchid
flipping over backwards. The creature closed in on her, but
from her position on the ground, she struck it with the base of the
plasma rifle. Orchid jumped up and drove the barrel into the
creature’s chest. While it backed away, Orchid took the rifle
and fired a prolonged burst into it. She continued firing well after
it hit the ground, until she was quite sure that it was dead.
Before relaxing the gun, Orchid took a good
look around. She didn’t want to be surprised again. The only
sounds that filled
the hallway were the ever constant thumping and buzzing. At this
point, they were almost relaxing. Orchid exhaled deeply,
strapping her gun to her back. Before now, she hadn’t been entirely
sure that there really were genetic mutants roaming around
Ultratech Brazil. She didn’t think that Jeremiah had been bluffing,
and the half eaten human carcasses she and Fulgore-X had
discovered seemed to be more than enough proof, but not having seen
one, she doubted the existence of the mutants. But no
longer.
Suddenly, another sound filled the hallway.
It sounded like applause from a single person; but not flesh and bone clapping
together. More like two bars of metal. Orchid spun around,
and was both surprised and sickened to see Fulgore 2 leaning up
against the hallway.
“Well done, Orchid!” Fulgore 2 said.
Orchid closed her eyes. “You’re not
real you’re not real you’re not real you’re not real!”
“Talk about denial!” Fulgore 2 began
to approach Orchid. “I’m standing here, am I not?”
“You’re not real.” Orchid said, directly
to his face. “I’m hallucinating. It’s too hot in here.
I didn’t sleep last night, and I
might have lost another day between time zones.”
“Oh. Then, if you see me, but I’m not
really here, that makes you crazy, doesn’t it?”
“I’m not crazy!”
Fulgore 2’s eyes widened. “Sure you
are. Give yourself a little credit, Orchid. You’ve been through
a lot. I mean, the
experiences you’ve racked up over the past three months.....most people
don’t experience that in their whole lives! That’s not
even mentioning your life as a secret agent before. A little
dementia is to be expected, I think.”
Orchid closed her eyes, and shook her head.
“I can’t.....I can’t deal with this right now. I have to get to the
Reactor
Room.”
“Oh, right! As part of your little deal
with Fulgore-X, right? Selling your soul to the devil to cheat death,
eh? Tell me, what
would Fulgore-X say if he knew you were talking to me?”
“I’m not talking to you!”
“That’s a matter of opinion. But really,
do you think you can trust Fulgore-X? I mean, if it was me, I’d be
plotting your
death even as we speak. But that would only be fair; after all,
you are already planning Fulgore-X’s death, aren’t you?”
Orchid clenched her fists, and growled.
She turned away from Fulgore 2. “You’re not real, you’re not real!
I have
important things to do! Get away from me!”
Fulgore 2 closed in on Orchid. He put
his hands on her shoulders, and put his face right next to hers.
“I can’t get away
from you.” he whispered. “I’m a part of you. I.....created
you.....” Fulgore 2 retreated away from Orchid.
Orchid spun around to yell at her hallucination
some more, but Fulgore 2 was gone.
“Not real.” Orchid repeated. She
ran her hands over her face, and continued on to the Reactor Room.
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