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6 Days Ago
New York: Office Skyscraper 60th Floor

         "By which it was created, shall it be destroyed."
         With these words, the cybernetic warrior known as Fulgore-X dropped the glowing plasma bomb he was holding in his right hand.  Unwillingly imprisoned inside of the blue bomb was the energy of the demon lord Gargos.
         The plasma bomb crashed through the floor, barreling it's way down through the ceiling of the 59th floor.  As the bomb shot down the 59th floor, it put out a tremendous force.  All of the windows shattered outwards; desks, tables, chairs, computers, and things that weren't bolted down were flung away from the center of the room, where the plasma bomb made it's fatal descent.  Like the 60th floor, the bomb smashed into the floor of the 59th floor and the ceiling of the 58th floor.  Once again, windows were shattered and objects flung about, just like the effect on the 59th floor.
         The plasma bomb ripped it's way down the building, eventually crashing through the lobby ceiling.  The once dark lobby was illuminated blue by the energy from the bomb.  The bomb drilled directly into a decorative water fountain, almost obliterating it.  The once stable marble was thrown aside as if it were styrofoam.  After annihilating the fountain, the bomb hit the ground floor; and with no where else to go except into the Earth, the plasma bomb exploded.
         At the moment of impact, a powerful shockwave spun out from the bomb, destroying everything in its path as it quickly shot outwards.  Seconds later, the bomb itself reacted; instead of a traditional explosion, it grew in size, expanding out, seemingly consuming everything in it's path.  It continued on, past the confines of the building; by this time, it had become a small dome of plasma energy.
         The shockwave preceded the energy dome, continuing to wreak havoc on its environment.  Cars were tossed as if they were weightless; the road buckled like cheap carpet; various objects on the streets like newsstands and vending machines were completely destroyed.  When the shockwave plowed into a building, it crumbled like stale bread; once firm and mighty stone and concrete reduced to a few rocks and pebbles.
         The energy dome followed the shockwave, eating up the mess the wave left behind.  Objects that vanished into the dome were visible for only half a second before they seemingly dispersed into nothingness.  Not even the towering buildings, which had escaped the effect of the shockwave, were immune to the energy dome; they too seemed to evaporate.
         The shockwave and dome duo appeared to be unstoppable; as if they might continue on forever, destroying and consuming everything this world had to offer.  However, they suddenly just stopped.  The shockwave was the first.  Crossing a street, ready to inflict it's rage on another city block, it was almost as if the wave hit some sort of invisible shield or barrier, dissipating instantly before making contact with any buildings.
         The energy dome was next.  Hitting the same invisible shield that the wave had, it simply stopped moving.  The dome sat there, in pure defiance of the world, for what could have been an eternity.  Then, as easily as it was created, it dispersed.  Starting from it top, it vanished into nothing, cascading all the way down to the bottom of the dome, until all evidence that the dome had even existed was gone.

5 Minutes Later

         "Urgh."
         The secret agent known as B. Orchid woke up slowly, inside of a glowing blue sphere.  The sphere was a plasma shield; an impenetrable barrier composed of nothing more than plasma energy, condensed and recycled through itself.
         Fulgore-X leaned up against what was left of a support pillar, which stuck out from the wreckage of the building.  He rolled up his left jumpsuit sleeve, and opened up a control panel on his left arm.  Pressing a button, the plasma shield around Orchid fell, causing her to hit the ground with a soft thump.
         The cyborg watched as Orchid slowly regained her senses.  Fulgore-X knew her right leg was at least broken; with many more injuries possible, but yet she stood, and took a shocked look around.  Fulgore-X knew he had just enough power left for a two or three minute cloak, but he didn't seem to care if Orchid spotted him or not.  Eventually, the woman realized that her brother, the Tibetan warrior monk Jago, was nowhere in sight.  Fulgore-X was impressed as Orchid composed herself and started a methodical, organized search instead of frantically tossing debris aside.  After a quick search, Orchid apparently found her brother buried deep down in the wreckage.  She yanked him up and set him down carefully.  Fulgore-X quickly scanned Jago's body with his internal sensors; he was dead.
         Orchid discovered this with a crude scan of her own.  She cried out into the night, in agony.  The scene almost moved Fulgore-X.  Almost.  Before anything else could happen, Fulgore-X noticed Jago's vital signs changing; for one, to the cyborg's bewilderment, he was no longer dead.  His heart rate was slowly increasing, brain wave patterns picking up, and his lungs started taking in air.  It was like watching a death in rewind.  Orchid found the same thing Fulgore-X did, and a few moments later, Jago woke up, much to her delight.
         Fulgore-X continued to watch the scene.  He noticed that his claws were still unsheathed.  It reminded him of an old agenda that wasn't even his to begin with.
         "It would be so easy to kill them both right now........"  The cyborg thought.  He focused intensely on the siblings.  After a little thought, Fulgore-X decided better of it.  He went to retract both claws; however, only the left went in.  The right claw jammed after retreating only a few centimeters.  Fulgore-X examined his arm, then opened up a panel on the arm, and began digging around.  He freed a couple of loose parts from the arm, which fell carelessly to the ground.  Fulgore-X shut the panel then tried to retract the claw again; he was successful this time.
         Fulgore-X noticed something else; the Killer Instinct insignia pin on his left breast.  He reached up with his right hand and pulled it off, then held it in front of him, staring at it.  The faint light from the moon barely illuminated it, but it somehow managed to shine.  Fulgore-X played with it in his right hand for a few seconds, then he let it drop to the ground at his feet.
         A couple of meters ahead, Jago was saying something to Orchid.  This caused her to look up, and begin searching for something again.  Fulgore-X knew that this time, he was the target.  Once again, the cloak was an option, but Fulgore-X saw no reason to stay at the scene any longer.  He spun around and started to walk away silently, even though broken bits of concrete, glass, metal, and other construction materials were at his feet.  He had only gone five steps when the teleportation beam appeared in his center, expanded outwards, and consumed him, then faded away into the night.  No sooner than the teleportation beam had dispersed, Orchid spotted a sparkle at the spot where Fulgore-X had been standing.

Later
Ultratech Corporation: Control Room

         "Yeah yeah."  Orchid muttered.  She got up shakily, supporting herself on Glacius's and Tusk's shoulders.  "I'm sure there's plenty of time for that tomorrow morning.  Right now, I'm going down to the MediLab, then I'm going back to my quarters, and I'm going to pass out and try to pretend that the past five hours never happened."  Orchid limped her best across the room, to the door.  "Jago, I will meet you at the MediLab.  That's an order."
         Jago grinned.  "Yes ma'am!"  He said, playfully, following her out of the door.  Kim and Tusk exchanged looks, then followed suit, and left the Control Room.  Only Glacius and Thunder remained.  Glacius looked at the shiny, black metal parts in his hand.
        "Hey Glacius," Thunder said, "I still have no clue as to what just went down."
         Glacius put his hand on Thunder's shoulder.  "My friend, I think we won."
         Thunder twisted his mouth.  "Yeah....but.....the plasma bomb.....Fulgore-X's and Jago's vital sign readings......Gargos....."
         Glacius shook his head.  "Try not to think too much; nothing will make sense until we swap stories with Orchid and Jago.  even then, it still may not make sense.  I think we should do like Orchid and go get some rest.  I could use a regeneration period myself......"
         Glacius took the parts Orchid gave him over to the main terminal.  He opened up a panel in the console and dropped them in.  He initiated a full scan; the computer informed him that it would take at least five hours to complete the scan.  Glacius then turned around and headed straight out of the room.
         Thunder watched him leave blankly.  After the doors closed behind him, he shook his head and smiled.  Running his fingers through his hair, he slowly left the room.
         As soon as the door closed behind Thunder, Fulgore-X dropped his cloak.  He stared at the door for a few moments before going over to the main computer terminal.  Moving slowly, the cyborg dropped both hands on the console, and let his head drop.
         "I am in desperate need of repair."  Fulgore-X thought.  "The damage that's been incurred will take at least a month to repair; and I don't have that kind of time.  FBI agents and other humans who believe themselves to have authority will be all over Ultratech as early as tomorrow.  There's too great a risk that I'll be found."
         Fulgore-X thought for a few moments.  "Something in Fulgore 2's old database seems to remember something about......a second Ultratech.  It's worth a shot at least....."
         Reluctantly, Fulgore-X accessed his own internal systems.

_access database fulgore002
_DATABASE ACCESSED

         Suddenly, something came over the cyborg.  Without thinking, he began to work the main computer terminal.

THE ULTRATECH CORPORATION
WELCOME USER!
PLEASE ENTER USER IDENTIFICATION NUMBER AND PASSWORD
_ID746561017
_**********
WELCOME, MR. SHERIDAN!

         "What the hell am I doing?"  Fulgore-X asked himself.  "Is this some kind of subconscious program?"

B://DIR ULTRATECH LOCATIONS

ACCESSING........PLEASE WAIT.........

GLOBAL ULTRATECH LOCATIONS

HEADQUARTERS - NEW YORK, NEW YORK, NORTH AMERICA
DIVISION 1 - N/A NO TENTATIVE PLANS MADE

         Fulgore-X tried to highlight Division 1.

SORRY, THIS OPTION IS CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE

         Once again, some internal instinct kicked up in Fulgore-X.  He entered in some impossible keypad combination using the computer terminal.

DIVISION 1 - ULTRATECH BRAZIL

GENERAL INFO
LOCATION
STAFF
CURRENT PROJECTS

GENERAL INFO

**WARNING**THIS INFORMATION IS RESTRICTED UNDER ALPHA LEVEL CLASSIFICATION.  PROPER MEASURES WILL BE TAKEN AGAINST THOSE READING THIS WHO DO NOT HAVE ALPHA LEVEL CLEARANCE

ULTRATECH BRAZIL IS THE TOP SECRET BACKUP HEADQUARTERS SHOULD THE SECURITY OF THE NEW YORK FACILITY BE COMPROMISED.  MANNED BY A SKELETON CREW, ULTRATECH BRAZIL IS PRIVATELY FUNDED BY VARIOUS MEANS.  ONLY ROBERT SHERIDAN PLUS THOSE WHO WORK THERE KNOW OF IT'S EXISTENCE.

LOCATION

FOR SECURITY PURPOSES, THE EXACT LOCATION OF ULTRATECH BRAZIL IS UNKNOWN.

         "Figures."  Fulgore-X said.  "But at least I've confirmed its existence.  Maybe I know more than the computer does......"

_database fulgore002: access location Ultratech Brazil
_WORKING>>>>>>PLEASE WAIT
_LOCATION UNKNOWN.  ONLY A ROUGH ESTIMATE CAN BE GIVEN.

         Inside of Fulgore-X's eyesight, a map of Brazil appeared.  Within the map, a small red circle appeared.

_ULTRATECH BRAZIL LIES WITHIN THE HIGHLIGHTED AREA

         "Damn, that's a ten mile radius in the middle of a rain forest!"  The cyborg thought.  “But I guess I don’t have much of a choice.  Gotta go for it.”  Fulgore-X spun around and briskly left the Control Room.

The Next Day

Tibet: The Ancient Tiger Shrine

         A large mountain sat in front of the waterfront where the sun was currently dipping down for the night.  The water gently lapped the rocky edge of the mountain, methodically advancing and retreating.  Almost near the top of the mountain, there was a large, flat area, basically level with the land below.  This is where the Tiger Shrine sat comfortably.
         The Tiger Shrine was four stories high.  It was of a simple design; each floor was slightly smaller than it's predecessor, until at the top of the fourth story, was a red, triangular roof.  The building itself was a very plain beige.  The second, third, and fourth floors all had small windows, each currently closed off by their red shutters.  In front of the building were a few bronze sculptures of tigers in mid-pounce, with teeth bared in a fierce growl.
         Gathered in front of the building were the monks of the Tiger Shrine.  All of them wore long, brown robes; some of them had hoods which they wore on their heads.  The monks scattered about freely, talking with each other, watching the slow sunset, meditating, or even practicing some basic martial arts maneuvers.
         The inside of the ground floor of the Shrine was done in marble.  There was basically nothing to the floor for the first seventy-five yards.  The sidewalls were tastefully fashioned to be pillar shaped, almost Greek or Roman in design.  Nothing but space was in between the pillars; it provided a gorgeous view of the world outside.  A fine, silk red carpet extended from the door up to the seventy five-yard point on the floor.  For the last twenty-five yards of the floor, there was a short set of steps leading up a few feet to a raised area.  In the center of this area, there was a big, golden gong.  It's casing was a tiger standing on his hind legs; he held the sides with his front paws, and the gong itself hung from a pole the tiger clasped in his teeth.  Behind the gong, there was a large sculpture of a tiger's head, also golden.  This tiger seemed to be emerging from the back wall, with only his head and front paws having penetrated through.  His mouth was wide open, in what would be a fierce yell.  His eyes were circular rubies, which brilliantly captured the sunlight that filtered in through the pillars.
         Small contingents of monks were gathered around the center of the room.  Although some of them talked to each other, they mainly seemed to be waiting for something.  There was one monk standing next to the gong.  Not wearing a hood, his head and eyebrows were perfectly shaven.  He had a flat brow and small, slanted eyes; his eyes had a very light shade to them, almost white.  He had a square jaw, with a long scar running up his right cheek.
         This monk took a large mallet from his robes.  Although it appeared to be quite heavy, he swung it around easily and struck the gong; the sound pierced through the air, sounding for what could easily be miles away.
         "It is time."  The monk said flatly.
         The monks on the floor took positions alongside the edge of the red carpet.  They stood side by side, perfectly still as if they were inanimate.  There appeared to be exactly ten on each side of the carpet.  Starting at the base of the steps, the monk line went down only a few meters towards the door.
         Outside, one monk in particular began to make his way towards the building.  His robes were especially long; his head, hands, and feet were completely covered by the garment.  He looked up for a short moment; behind the hood, Fulgore-X’s red eyes could be seen.  Fulgore-X slowly rose up the steps leading up to the Shrine, put his masked hand forward, and softly tugged on the gold dragon shaped handle, opening the door.  He paused for a moment, observing the monk alignment further down in the room.  He then turned to his right and carefully made his way to the corner, where he stood with his arms crossed, obscurely.

Later

         The ceremony having ended, Fulgore-X left his position from the corner of the room.  Still dressed in the heavy robes, he crossed the marble floor inconspicuously.  He eventually rose up the steps up to the memorial area, where several of the dead warriors had been immortalized by large holographic images, which were positioned over the actual graves of the deceased.  He stopped in front of his own grave.  Fulgore-X looked up at it in interest.
         “It’s backwards.”  He thought.  “If you’re going to honor me, at least do it right.”  The cyborg reached down and opened up a panel inside of the empty casket, which was projecting the image.
         Chief Thunder was standing at the grave of the Killer Instinct competitor TJ Combo.  Suddenly, something caught Thunder's eye.  A monk wearing extremely large robes was standing at the Fulgore-X grave.  He seemed to be doing something to the control panel on the empty casket, but it was hard to tell because the length of the robe cloaked his hands.
         "Hey!  You there!"  Thunder called out.
         “Oops.  Time to go.”  Fulgore-X thought.  He withdrew his arm and turned sharply away, walking down the platform towards the tiger head statue emerging from the back wall.  Thunder quickly pursued, stopping only for a moment to observe the Fulgore-X holo image.  It appeared to be quite normal; he stood with his feet a short distance apart, his left arm at his side, and his right hand extended out, fingers outstretched.  His head was tilted to the left, his eyes slanted and apparently looking forward.
         Thunder left the image and resumed pursuit after the monk.  The monk went to the far right corner of the back wall, opening up a small door and quickly going through, not bothering to shut the door behind him.
         "Hey!  Wait a minute!"  Thunder called out.  He quickened his pace, stepping through the doorway.  As he looked through the door he gasped in bewilderment; the door led to a simple hallway, which was very long and narrow.  There weren't any doors in immediate sight.  However, the monk Thunder had been following was gone.
         "The hell?"  Thunder said softly.

A Rain forest in Brazil

         Fulgore-X reappeared from his teleport in the middle of a Brazilian rain forest.
         “I was careless.”  He thought.  “Thunder almost spotted me.”
         Fulgore-X removed the hood from his head, and took a look around.  The trees were numerous and dense; sunlight had a hard time breaking through.  As a result, there was a permanent overcast and the sun was nowhere to be seen.  A few stray sunbeams penetrated though, making spectacular angled light rays that struck the ground.
         The cyborg had teleported to the perimeter of the area where Ultratech Brazil might be.  “The best plan of attack would be to start at the edge and make my way across.  Maybe I can get an idea of the layout of the land and where Ultratech Brazil might be.”  Fulgore-X took another look around.  “Let’s go.”  He thought.
         Fulgore-X began walking forward.  He hadn’t gotten far, when suddenly, an error message came up in his eyes.

_WARNING!  SYSTEMS FAILURE.  YOUR PLASMA LEVEL IS TOO LOW.  PLEASE REPORT TO ULTRATECH FOR REPAIRS.  YOU WILL DEACTIVATE IN THIRTY SECONDS.

        “No!”  The cyborg thought.  “Not now!  I can’t be......”

_WARNING!  SYSTEMS FAILURE.  YOU HAVE TWENTY FIVE SECONDS OF ACTIVATION LEFT.

         Fulgore-X attempted to activate a teleport in desperation, but that yielded another error message.

_TELEPORTATION SYSTEMS FAILURE.  EXTERNAL REPAIRS NEEDED.

         The cyborg was still trying to walk, but he felt a shooting pain in his right side.  Involuntarily, he fell to one knee.  Both of his fists went into the ground, and his head dropped.  He tried to get up, but couldn’t.

_WARNING!  SYSTEMS FAILURE.  YOU HAVE TEN SECONDS OF ACTIVATION LEFT.

         “This can’t be......how it ends.....”  Fulgore-X thought.  “After all I’ve been through....after all I’ve fought for.....not now.....not here......”  He tried to move again, but instead pitched forward and hit the ground.

_WARNING!  MASSIVE SYSTEMS FAILURE.  ACTIVATION IS NO LONGER POSSIBLE.

         The cyborg’s eyesight slowly faded; from blurry splotches of color, to nothing at all.  Plasma stopped flowing through his systems, and total power reached nil.  A sharp, shooting pain shot from his stomach through his chest, and eventually up to his head, due to the lack of plasma.  Fulgore-X felt his life slipping out of his body.  Suddenly, the world faded from existence for Fulgore-X; and for the world, Fulgore-X slipped away into nothingness.

Later That Day
Ultratech Brazil:  Experiment Storage

         Ultratech Brazil’s Experiment Storage room wasn’t all that different from the room of the same name in the New York Ultratech.  There were three columns of stasis pods; one column against the left wall, one in the middle of the room, and one against the right wall.  These pods were capsule shaped; the front half was a large, dense, glass window.  All that could be seen through the window was a thick, blue liquid.  The back half of the pod was white, with computer interfaces and wires scattered across.  The first pod of the three columns was about forty feet away from the door, and every other pod was five feet behind the one in front.  If one had to guess, there were roughly one hundred pods in the room.  The thing that separated Ultratech Brazil from Ultratech New York was that all of Brazil’s stasis pods were full.
         The doors at the front of the room opened slowly, and two Ultratech Brazil employees entered.  The first was Jonathan Spears.  He was in his mid-twenties; he had dirty blond hair accented by light blue eyes, and a round jaw.  He wore the old Ultratech uniform; a polo shirt and black slacks.  His polo was blue, and he wore it unbuttoned with a black shirt underneath.  He was carrying a black metallic case with him.
         The other employee was Mike Hanson.  He had dark brown hair which was cut short, but he let the right side hang over his eyes.  He had hazel eyes with a triangular jaw.  He was wearing a red polo with a white shirt underneath.
         “Lunchtime!”  Jonathan called out.  He swung his metal case around freely.  “All the freaks come out for lunch!”
         “Let’s just get this over with.”  Mike said, somewhat annoyed.
         Jonathan raised an eyebrow.  “Afraid of the freaks, are ya?”
         Mike sighed.  “Of course not.  I just hate doing this every week.  Why are we even bothering to keep these things alive?  We all know that Sheridan isn’t going to use them anytime soon.”
         “Probably not.  But orders are orders.”  Jonathan went to the first stasis pod in the center column, put down his case, opened it, and pulled out some tools.  Mike came over to where Jonathan was and took some of the tools from the case.  He then went to the first pod on the far right.  Jonathan took the rest of the tools and went to the first pod on the far left.
         Upon arriving at the pod, Jonathan accessed the computer terminal.  He entered in a set of commands that seemed to do nothing other than make the pod emit a “phissh” noise.  Jonathan got down on both knees and started using his tools.  The blue liquid inside of the pod turned a pale green.  Further tinkering with the pod caused the top of the pod to go blue again, while the old green liquid started to seemingly drain from somewhere on the bottom.
         “Hey Mike, y’know what I heard?”  Jonathan called out, as he watched the blue liquid invade the green.
         “What.”  Mike said, flatly.
         “I heard Ultratech finally found a winner.”
         “You mean, concerning these genetic experiments?”
         “Yeah.  And here’s the real kicker; it’s not even genetic!  It’s a cyborg!”
         “What?!  No way.”
         “Just what I heard, s’all.”
         “From who?”
         “Sarah, down in Chemical Research.  Those poor guys in Chem R have even less to do than we do, so it’s like gossip central down there.  Anyway, Sarah has a friend at Ultratech New York, and this friend said that Ultratech entered in a cyborg in Killer Instinct 7, and they expect it to win.”
         “Hmm.”  Mike responded.
         “Strange thing is, we haven’t talked to anyone from Ultratech New York in three weeks.  I wonder what’s going on down there?”
         “They’re probably just ignoring us.”  Mike said.  “I’ll bet they’re tired of talking to us since we’re always complaining about out post.”
         “Who knows?”  Jonathan replied.  “I guess it’s really not our concern.”

A Few Minutes Later.......

         “Hurry up, will ya?”  Jonathan called out.  Having finished work on the column of pods on the left side of the room, as well as his half of the center column, he was sitting down in the open space in the front of the room.  Mike was working on stasis pods near the center of the center column.
         “Doing the best I can.”  Mike said.  He finished up the pod he was working on, then moved over to another one.  Mike stared at this pod for a few seconds, before shaking his head and taking a deep breath.
         “I hate this one.”  He said to himself.
         Jonathan perked up.  “What?  You’re not at Jeremiah again, are you?”
         “Yeah.”  Mike said.
         Jonathan shook his head.  “Mike, Mike, Mike.  Jeremiah’s out cold just like the rest of the freaks.  Don’t let all that other stuff you know about him spook you.”
         “Yeah, but it just seems to me that, if Jeremiah is as powerful as we’ve heard him to be, I don’t see how he can’t wake himself up and break out of here.”
         “Aw, just change the protein soup and let’s go.  After all, we’ve got a busy day ahead of us!”
         Mike laughed.  “Yeah, real busy huh.”  He finished work on the pod, then collected his tools and left.  Jonathan stood up, opened his case, and Mike dropped his tools inside.  Jonathan shut the case and started for the door.
         “G’night freaks.”  He said, in a mocking manner.
         Both he and Mike left the room.
         After they left, the room returned to its calm state of existence.  There were no noises, except for an occasional beep from the computer terminals, or the constant hum of the machinery.  Nothing in the room moved.
         At the pod, which the employees had called “Jeremiah”, Mike had unknowingly left the access port for one of the tools open.  Since the access port was underneath the main housing of the pod, Mike, like most other employees, didn’t care much about the status of the port.  In fact, a lot of access ports on a lot of other pods were also open.  Normally, it was completely harmless.
         Normally.
         Then there was movement.  Something small, from inside of the access port.  It wriggled around furiously, trying desperately to free itself from something.  Eventually, it found escape and the object that was moving came out of the port and into the light.  At first glance, it appeared to be a small, dark brown work.  But as more and more of it came out of the port, up towards the front of the pod, it looked less like a worm and more like a thick tentacle........
 

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