I - Small Steps

Chapter One: Small Steps




        Location: MA-51 Installation, Earth
        Time: 1700 Hours, American Central Time




        "Alright, raise your left arm."

        A male voice rang out from a void of total blackness, slightly scruffy and aged, magnified by the solidity of the walls, and echoing until the unseen fixtures in the room rattled. A slight whir could be heard after a moment, signalling the voice once more.

        "Okay, that's good. Form a blade from you Nanite stores, then stow it, and lower your arm."

        After a moment, and a few seconds of what sounded like pudding dropping from a great height onto a cement slab, a thunk rang out, as the unseen arm was replaced where it was originally.

        "Check. Raise you right hand, and open your Dextron five. Do NOT power it up. Not just yet."

        The same whir sounded, followed by several smaller noises and clicks, finally receding into silence again, signalling the action was finished.

        "Seems fine to me. Light the pilot for a count of three, then put it out, and then put the arm down. Leave the alternators off, as well. We only need to know the pilot works."

        Suddenly, a bright purple glow flashed and became solid, reflecting off of the matte concrete walls of the small room, and the light's owner, every part of the humanoid shape brought alight by the violet beacon, reflecting off of completely smooth, solid surfaces, tinted purple, several straps stark black, except for the metal buckles that held them in place, keeping the one seated in its grasp, almost possessively. The light promptly was extinguished, and the arm lowered, followed by another thunk, ringing in the darkness.

        "Alright, I'm bringing the resistance apparatus online. Time to test you Nullification threshold. Should have gotten a good bit better after those modifications, but its better to know for sure, alright?" The voice waited for a response, but to no avail. "Wow... a talkative one, forever, and always."

        A small flash of red light let itself be known for merely a second, before dying down, seemingly as if not to give away it's presence. Nonetheless, it had been noticed.

        "What, are you turning on your electro-sense or something?"

        Silence


        "Subject Eight? Hello?"

        Again, nothing. Merely a heavy feeling in the air, one of deadly foreboding.

        "Alright, this is an order: Answer me. Now."

        "Oh my oh my, doc, seems we have no patienccccce, hmmmmmmm?" A heavily distorted voice rang out in the darkness, crackling and wavering as it it was not meant to exist, overlayed on a deep, resonating bass voice. "Perhaps I will have to tear that out of you as I reach for your heart... Heheheheheheheheheheheheheh......."

        Suddenly the room was bathed in pure white light, showing the single resident below, restrained still by the black straps on his harnessed examination chair, pure violet body quickly being covered by a silver film that crept like death itself, slithering over him as his face distorted into one of amusement and pleasure, his eyes blazing a bloody, scarlet red. His right hand opened from the deep purple, crystalline fist it was and it's palm split into five sections, one for each finger, all of them folding back onto his forearm and allowing it to open as the purple light from before surged to life from within it, the front opening like a sinister eye, gazing unto the world with its deadly intent, ready to spew forth the searing hot light within at any moment. The silver sheen  stopped just short of the light, allowing it shine on it's own.

        A black veil lifted off of the wall facing the one named Subject Eight, revealing the voice from before, a slightly stout, mustachioed scientist, who was in his own world, yelling into an intercom phone, pushing aside monitors to get to a door as he clutched an electronic tablet as if his life depended on it. Shortly after he found the door in the booth and disappeared, red lights dropped from the ceiling and the white lights were shut off, purging the white light and replacing it with scarlet, pulsing light, accompanied by a loud alarm klaxon. The one door to the room became sealed quickly as a heavy metal plate covered it and most of the wall it was located within.

        "Aaaaaaaaaah, yessss... My favorite colour..... HAHAHAHAHAHAH, I should almost THANK you.... it is the perfect colour to adorn my awakening."

              *                     *                    *



        "MOVE IT OUT, NOW. We need units guarding the exam room. Subject Eight is Code ten-ninety-six, I repeat, he is APE. Be ready."

        After the yelling had stopped, armored and armed guards ran down a completely round hallway, its smooth sides lined by  tubes carrying coolant, fuel, and air all to their specific destinations, each colored accordingly, stomping loudly on the reinforced concrete, wondering to themselves if this was the end, showing in their unsteady footwork. They quickly reach the examination room, clearly labeled, and the point their weapons toward it, the three pronged muzzle of each rifle like weapon buzzing in the open air. Three scientists come from the other direction as one of the seven guards moves off into the hallway they came from, to block those who would enter, and sure enough, someone comes from that direction not long after he takes up his post, sweat beading inside his black, shell-like helmet, his beard becoming slightly matted as the drizzle seeped into it. He held up his hand to stop her, and her group of cohorts, all of them standing at different heights, wearing the same black jumpsuits, all of their eyes glowing different colors.

        "I'm sorry, but only authorized personnel are allowed beyond this point, Weiland's orders. He said you could wait if you wish, and that there appears to be a problem with Subject eight." He knew these people, for they were six of the other seven Subjects in the complex, all in the same program as their current quandary.

        The lady in front speaks as her hazel eyes surge brighter for a moment, only to be interrupted by a shorter, hoodied man behind her, his excitement obviously piqued. "I hope that means you won't stop us from listening then?"

        The guard judges them for a moment before responding. "Doctor Weiland said nothing about that, so I believe that would be fine."

        The group stands in place and readies themselves, listening also as the scientists down the hall begin to open the door to the examination room, the metal barricade still intact, it's small peephole just at eye level in grey-blue metal, showing more red light pulsing from within. One of them pressed a small recessed red button near the door, and the speaker above it began to pipe out some of the same siren song that was blaring in the hallway, mimicking what was happening inside the small Examination room.

        "This isn't good. It's already invaded most of his combat programming, including the frenzy stage two we were working on. If we don't eradicate that virus soon, we might not be able to control him. Poor guy will be watching himself go on a rampage, while seeing it happen through a peephole in his brain." There was a pause as a guard approached the scientists. "Did they detain the intruder yet?"

        The guard answers in a tired yet incredulous and worried voice, clearly disturbed. "Yeah... she put up a heck of a fight, though. Never thought a super would try to break in here. Let alone a Sprite. I thought they were on our side this time?"

        They converse for a moment, lamenting on the curse this situation was, trying to no avail to deduce the cause of everything, but coming up empty. What could a single Sprite have to do with this? "They must be unrelated..." One of them said to himself, peering into the peephole to see Subject Eight fighting his restraints. Subject Eight suddenly turned his head, his eyes still blazing furiously, speaking once more in his distorted voice, to the scientist that met his gaze.

        "So, you swine dare to restrain me, hmmmmmmm? I will make sure you die a slow and agonizing death when I get free!" He tore viciously at the black straps, and managed to get a single one free, releasing his left arms to assist.

        In a sudden surge of boldness, the scientist responded, trying to put up some kind of bravado. "Yeah, sure, I'll believe that, IF you get free. Let me remind you, we designed the very functions you're taking over, meaning we know how to hold you, no matter what tricks you pull." He started poking the glass, mocking Subject Eight as he struggled.

        Subject Eight cackled ferociously, shaking the very metal that held him in place, before responding. "And yet you couldn't manage to contain me before I managed to find myself this wonderful new body... How pathetic!" He mocked back, becoming more reticent toward his restraints.

        The scientist decided to hold his ground as his comrades backed away, more scared them him, and possibly more sane. "That's because your a nasty little cockroach that sucks the life out of people, quite literally. Besides, your estimates are a bit exaggerated. What you did is somewhat impressive, considering you've only existed for sixteen minutes.  You'll be dead when we erase Meta's electronic memory. You aren't so powerful now. Besides, we detained you in the main server, and detained the lady who smuggled you in, even after she escaped due to your interference." He put his face into the clear window and stuck his tongue out at Subject Eight.

        "Heheheheheheheheheheh.... Unlikely.... The world will be mine... YOU CANNOT STOP ME, WORM!" Subject Eight tore the center strap from his body, releasing yet more of him, nearly enough to escape altogether.

        "Sure, I believe that." The scientist said mockingly, as the mustachioed man came running up to show them something on his tablet, bringing a lump into each of their throats as they read, they're own lives flashing before each of their eyes. "So that thing got into his Psycho-divider system... that's how the stinking thing became intelligent. Son of a..." The one who had been taunting slammed his fist into the concrete wall, immediately feeling, and ignoring the pain it caused.

        Suddenly, a great thud comes from within the room, shaking the very walls, and resounding in the bulkhead that held Subject Eight away from the scientists outside his room. He had finally made it free, and ripped the Examination chair from it's mounting, and thrown it into the wall, the weight of the impact shattering the structure and turning most of it to dust, only to collapse dejectedly onto the floor as the crater cleared, to reveal a thick, light colored metallic barrier.

        Subject laughed to himself distortedly, balling his left hand into a fist and staring at it, smiling, before looking to the ceiling, the purple light in his right arm, his cannon arm, changed to blinding azure, forks of lightning puring forward and both striking the walls around him, and spiraling around, as if to form a cocoon.

        A voice echoed through the halls, even over the intercom, as a message showed on the tablet of the mustachioed scientist. The voice was panicked, and speaking fast. "BE AWARE! A field of energy has surrounded the subject! It doesn't match anything on records!"

        The mustachioed scientist looks at and studies his tablet intensely, seeing data pouring past, still linked to the instruments inside the Examination room. Someone was still inside, operating them, staying low in case Subject Eight saw them. "Quite risky, but smart."

        The group of six that had been standing to listen at the end of the hall burst forth, not caring about the guards any more, and headed to the bulkhead, pushing aside the scientists as well, the one in the lead attempting to open the bulkhead, but in the end, resorts to crushing it with brute force, a single movement collapsing the metal upon itself like tin foil, revealing the scene within.

        Tools and shards of metal and concrete floated in midair, speared by tendrils of blue energy, all spinning around the only other occupant, smiling devilishly to himself as his eyes flashed in concert with his laughter. The blue forks begin to change to black, starting in the center, Subject Eight's cannon, spiraling outward. Equipment shifts in the observation deck above, a single face appearing, glasses shining in the flickering light, panic written over every feature as he screams, attempting to warn everyone in the hall. "IT'S A TEMPORAL SURGE OF SOME KIND! GET OUT WHILE YOU STI..."

        He is unable to finish as a single cackle sounds from Subject Eight, the tendrils all merging into one singularity, pulling all of the objects and people in it's radius toward it, sucking them into oblivion as it churned, flashing blue and black alternating, slowly growing until it consumed the complex, all of those trying to run, crushed by its torrential chase, raining forks of tainted lightning onto anything into its path, heralding each prey's death.

        It expanded, consuming the entirety of MA-51, poking above the ground level of the complex, a single strip of concrete in a lonely desert, it's remains a simple husk, a massive spherical cavern in the open, merely a new blemish on the face of the earth.