Experimentals (reboot)

"Everything is a blur. Masato, I can't remember much. I've been under the influence of sedatives. I'm surprised I am even alive, apparently they knew the dosage well enough to keep me alive, And just enough to keep me useless. I dread the withdrawals I will eventually face."

Sagon was very careful as to how he let himself be grabbed by Masato, generally anything avoiding his forearms. He had him grab him by the shoulders to lift him to make sure he didn't touch any of his destroyed parts, Once he got to his feet he began walking, taking it one step at a time. He would need to figure out a way to cover his arms before going out in public.

"My names Sagon. It's nice to meet you and I am glad we're on the same side. In spite of the lab I trust my gut that I can trust you, You seem like a generous person so I will give you the chance of keeping me safe. The scientist believed I was a valuable subject. Maybe you will too."

Ryan stood off in the distance watching the interaction between Masato and Sagon. By the time either of them would be capable of seeing him. He was already gone just another face in the crowd.

"They will keep you safe, Sagon. Until you've developed your power, than you shall be their guardian."

 

Masato chuckled at his unusual phrasing.
"Valuable subject, huh? I don't know about all of that, but I wouldn't mind helping out a new friend."
As they slowly made their way back to the entrance, he stopped and turned to Sagon.
"I'm gonna take a shot in the dark here and say that you don't really have anywhere to go, is that about right? I'll tell you what, I can bring you back to this group I'm staying with. I'm not sure if they're fishermen or if they run a cargo ship or something like that, but they're decent people. They helped me get back on my feet here and I'm sure they can help you out, too."
He smiled widely and laughed a little.
"I'm sure the last thing they want is more stragglers, but I'm sure they'll warm up to you in no time. What do you say, are you ready to head on over? There's a lot of people out today, but it's not that far so we should get back pretty quick."
He said this without realizing that Sagon was trying to hide his arms.

Claus shook his head.
"There's no need to apologize, that's a very real concern for us. Even so, I have no intention of living my life in fear."
He stared at his open palm for a moment, thinking about how it felt to have this new power of his running through his body, then he clenched his hand into a fist and narrowed his eyes.
"Is this power a blessing or a curse? It really is difficult to say...still, now that we have it, we can use it to carve our own path. They used us. They toyed with our very lives. They took everything away from us and left us to rot in a cage. But once we learn how to use these powers they gave us, we will become the ones they fear."
He stopped suddenly and looked back up at Leah.
"That...probably wasn't the kind of answer you wanted. Sorry."

Claus thought about it for a while, then he nodded back to her.
"It sounds a little unorthodox but it might just work. Besides, it's been a little while since I've had...
His voice trailed off and he had a dour look on his face.
"...What...was my favorite dessert? It looks like I haven't remember that yet, either."

 

Sagon agreed to go with him.

"Lead the way I will be glad to meet all of these people."

OOT: short reply. Sorry. I've been so exhausted for the past week.

 

Claus took some of the bags from Leah as he replied.
"Not at all. You did have a lot of shopping to do, after all. It seems you've taken on a good deal of responsibility trying to feed everyone in our motley band of renegades. This would be much easier if we had a vehicle of some sort."
He looked lost in thought for a moment.
"Did I...have a vehicle back then? I think I did, actually. Yes, I remember, I had my own car which I used to get to...hmm. It seems that's as far as my memory goes for now. I can't remember where I used to drive or even where I got the car from, but I know I had one."
He let out a small sigh.
"Well, I suppose that's something for now."
Then he gave a quick glance to Leah.
"Don't mind my incoherent ramblings."

OOT: No problem, I can work with it.

As Masato led the way back to the house, he started explaining what the group was like to Sagon as best he could.
"So the leader of the group, his name's Atlas and he's actually pretty easy to get along with. He seems kinda harsh at first, but he's fair and he was the one who seemed the most willing to give us a chance. Then there's Bran, he's a pretty easygoing guy, I think you'll like him. Frost is...well, kinda frosty, so don't expect too much with her. Then there's--"
He stopped suddenly, having finally looked over to Sagon while they were walking in the sun. Even though he tried to hide it, Masato could tell that there was something very wrong with Sagon's arms.
"Hey...what's going on with your arms? Are you alright?"

 

I should avoid bothering them. I can find my way back on my own.
Leaving the place he had been spying on Frost and the man she nicknamed "Blaze", Arc walked a short distance through the deserted area before jumping into the air with his enhanced cybernetic legs. He suspected his thrusters would punch holes through his long-sleeved pants and shirts, which
I'll need a vantage point if I want to reorient myself. I couldn't bring myself to bother that couple and their exercising.
Bounding and climbing up the four-story structure, Arc looked around, hoping to find where he came from. After a few minutes he found the area of the town he had came from before getting lost.
Now I know where to go.
Not willing to jump from the top of the building to the ground, Arc decided to take the stairs. Running down the stairs, he jumped the rest of the way down on the last flight. Hitting the first floor, the floor caved in. Arc gasped in surprise, making no audible yell. Crashing down, he landed in the cold, dark basement. Surrounded and partially buried by rotten sheets of wood, Arc pulled himself out of the old wood, coughing from the dust. Looking around and wishing for light, his enhanced vision increased what he could see subconsciously. The basement was empty, which was unimpressive. What did catch his attention was the stairway that led not up, but downward. Curious, he stood up and walked down the stairs.
Where does this go?
Walking down the long flight of stairs, he arrived in a round concrete tunnel thirty feet in diameter, lined by flickering, old lights. A stream of water ran down the center of the dank tunnel, with steel-grate paths on each side of the water.
A sewer? No, doesn't smell right.
Disregarding the idea of finding home and letting anyone know where he was going, he decided to explore the tunnel. Walking through the tunnel, he found nothing of interest.
This tunnel has to end eventually.

Two men walked through a circular tunnel lined by flickering, old lights. They each bore a Broken Heart emblem and a number on their jumpsuits.
"Are you ready, Three?"
"I am ready, Four."
"Six has spotted Thirteen enter one of the tunnel entrances, Three."
"Correct, he has, Four."
"Out task is to meet with him and capture him in these confined quarters, Three."
"Our combined skills and attributes will take advantage of Thirteen in this environment, Four."
"Indeed. Kill if capture fails... Thirteen has been detected, Three."
"Noted, Four. Beginning operation!"
"Acknowledged!"
The two men began running towards Arc.

Violet woke up after some time, and got up. Searching their apartment, she could not find Arc. After wondering why, she suddenly realized why.
Crap! I forgot to tell him where to go. I need to find out where that idiot went to.
Annoyed by her forgetfulness, she stepped out the apartment and began searching for him, hoping to find anyone who saw him.

 

Before opening the door, Claus took a brief look at the outside of the shack that they would be now be calling home. The building looked a little worn from the elements, but the construction was solid and everything seemed to be well-made. It certainly was small, just as Atlas said, and it was in a quiet neighborhood surrounded with more trees and foliage than houses. This sat well with Claus since he wanted a place to stay that was inconspicuous and out of the way. He gave a slight nod of approval.
"This should work."

He opened the door and stepped inside, placing his share of the groceries down on a nearby table. After taking a quick glance around the room, he could see that it had the basic amenities they would need such as a refrigerator, a freezer, an oven, a gas stove, a microwave and so on. He picked up a small remote sitting on the table and seeing that it was likely connected to an air conditioner, pushed the "power" button. Sure enough, a wall unit in the corner of the room hummed to life and began blowing air into the house. He also spotted another remote on the table, which he assumed went to the old CRT television sitting on a table across from the couch.

After taking a few steps inside and taking a closer look around, he saw through a slightly open door that the room to his left was a small bathroom-- smaller than he would've liked, truth be told. He guessed that the closed door on his right led to a bedroom since there certainly weren't any beds to be found in this room. Overall, their new home was more or less what he was expecting and even though it was a step down from what he was used to, he was content with it for now. After he was finished looking around, he turned to Leah.
"It looks fine to me, what do you think?"

 

Hearing the sound of footsteps in the distance, Arc stopped walking to listen for where the sound was coming from. Realizing the sound was coming from behind, Arc spun around and began running backwards. He could see the outline of two men in the dim lighting.
"Who's there?"
Instead of getting a response, two men charged him. The first one slammed Arc into the ground with an invisible force. Pinned to the ground, the first man kept Arc down as the other man knelt down next to Arc.
"We are here to bring you back, Thirteen."
Arc remembered the talk he had with Amy, and the details she had given about himself and the others from his unit. According to his unit that was now called the Broken Hearts unit, he was the thirteenth member.
"I am not Thirteen! I am Argon! Now let me go!"
"That we cannot do. Come with us peacefully; failure to do so will result in your forceful acquisition, Thirteen."
"No!"
Arc flexed his fingers out and willed for his electricity to discharge. The tendrils of electricity danced across Four, the man that had pinned down Arc with gravitational force, forcing him to release Arc. Now free, Arc kicked away from the men, falling into the water. Three, however, had been expecting resistance and launched a super-cooled fluid from his wrists, striking Arc. Arc dragged himself out of the water, but felt that his left arm was unresponsive and heavy.
What the...?
Jumping away from the two men to create some distance between them, Arc looked at his arm and found it to be frozen solid a block of ice that had been created from the water.
You bastards!
With his left arm out of commission, his combat effectiveness was significantly reduced. Three and Four charged him.
"We will terminate you, should you resist any further, Thirteen."
In response to their statement, Arc thrust out his right arm and released his electricity at them. However, Four raised a wall of water with his four-armed gravity device while Three froze it, absorbing the electricity harmlessly. When the burst of electricity ended, Four slammed the ice wall with his force, shattering it into high velocity chunks and battering Arc. Knocked off balance, Arc fell over to his left side. Hitting the ground, his frozen left arm shattered. Numbed by the cold, he felt no pain. Again, Three and Four tried to charge him. Arc knew if they got close enough, he would end up getting pinned. The close quarters may have made his attacks easier to score hits with, but the duo going against him right now were having an easier time. He knew that hitting them at a bad time was his only chance, and right now he had an opportunity. With the two men jumping the gap in the center of the tunnel, Arc tried shocking them again. This time, they had nothing to block with, and both men were struck. Keeping the flow of power steady, Arc stood up and continued shocking the two paralyzed men that had fallen into the water.
Amy said it was impossible to help them at this point. I'll just have to kill them now.
Arc walked to them, and after shocking them for a full minute, he stopped. They appeared to be dead now, shock marks marking their bodies. Jumping down into the water, Arc slammed his fist into Four's chest, puncturing it and crushing the man's heart.
Confirmed kill.
Looking at Three, his next victim to confirm a kill for, he remembered something he had read in his manual.
Your cyborg body allows for other cyborg parts to be added that once belonged to allies! This includes arms, hearts, lungs and more!
Arc reached down and gripped Three's arm, and after planting his foot firmly against the man's arm, he ripped it off with a strong, twisting yank. Examining the arm, Arc stomped on Three's neck, crushing it beyond function.
And another arm to replace my last one. Now I just need to strip these guys of their equipment and get this used arm attached to me.

Violet, dressed in only her military surplus pants and wearing a tank top, searched for Arc for a little while. Eventually, she saw Claus and Leah walk into a house.
That must be theirs. I'll ask them if they saw Arc anywhere.
Seeing that the two had already entered, she walked to their shack, knocked on the door a few times and waited for a response.

 

Claus gave a dismissive shrug.
"That won't be necessary. If the bed is big enough for both of us to use it, we should. It's a simple matter of practicality."
He was carefully looking around the shack as he spoke. He was already looking for hiding places where he could store his weapons, armor and various other pieces of equipment that he was sure he would be using in the near future. He also made a mental note that he needed to get a cell phone as soon as possible to keep in contact with the local black market dealer, which he'd learned about from Atlas and Echo earlier. Of course, he would need to find this mysterious stranger first.

When he was done looking, he sat down in front of the television, still casually talking to Leah as he turned it on.
"There's really nothing to be embarrassed about. We're just two roommates who happen to be sharing a bed."
Despite his confidence in saying the opposite, he did start to feel a slight tinge of embarrassment after he mentioned sharing a bed, much to his surprise.
"It...only makes sense, given our current financial situation."
He started to sound a little less convincing.
"And we will both need to be well-rested and alert."
He was noticeably quieter than before. He also started to feel slightly warmer, despite being so close to the air conditioner.
"This is ridiculous! Why do I feel like a shy schoolgirl trying to ask out her crush to the prom?"
When he was flipping through the channels, he came across a romance film that made his eyes widen slightly and his left eye twitched a few times. He quickly turned the TV off again, shaking his head with a groan.
"Is this...some kind of side effect from getting part of my memories back? This is going to be...interesting."
He muttered this under his breath, thinking out loud.

As he struggled within himself to work out some very complicated feelings that were bubbling up to the surface, he heard a knock at the door. Though he was slightly annoyed, he also felt relieved to have any kind of interruption at the moment. He stood up and walked to the door.
"I'll see what's going on."
He felt a little wary and the thought crossed his mind that whoever was at the door might be a threat, so he approached cautiously. When he looked through the peep hole on the front door, he saw a familiar face and relaxed-- well, as much as Claus usually relaxes. He opened the door, giving Violet a very direct and somewhat curt greeting.
"Hey. You need something?"

 

Violet responded to Claus in kind.
"Yeah. Have you seen Arc-gon?"
She nearly said "Arc", but quickly added to the end of her mistake to try covering it up.
"Didn't tell him where we were going. Now I can't find that idiot. He can get as lost as a needle in a haystack when he starts wondering around."

Meanwhile, Arc stripped the two cyborgs of their equipment and any other gear that interested him. The two men he recognized: one was named Smith, and the other was Wesson. If it were not for the fact Arc was not in the mood to laugh, he would have joked about the two men's names and pairing, just as how it used to be before all of them got turned into cyborgs. Though he wanted to bury the men, he was unable to do so and decided to come back later to give them a dignified burial.
Leaving the tunnel, Arc hauled the gear and disembodied arm he had acquired and made his way out of the building. Dropping the items once he exited the decayed structure, he took the arm and pressed it against his missing arm's socket. With the flesh already thawed out and ready to be plugged, he was bleeding badly. Thanks to the nano-machines within him, the bleeding stopped and the new arm was quickly accepted to his body. The arm was longer and a different skin color from his last, but the nano-machines transformed the arm quickly and steadily, making it no different from his old one. Even the vectoring nozzles were recreated.
Nano-machines, son.
After a few minutes, he tested the arm and found it to be perfect. Giving a sigh out of relief, he could not help but feel regret for having to kill two more of his old squad members. Gathering up the gear, he began wondering around once more, with left sleeve missing, shirt bloodied, and his right fist stained in blood from caving in a man's chest.

 

Sagon hadn't realized that Masato was looking around until he called out his arms.

"Yeah, I'm alright. Don't worry about it, I don't know whats going on with it, but I'll manage. It seems like I'm regenerating myself, as time passes and I check on it, the pain is slowly leaving, and more of it is covered in skin. I don't think I'll die from it." He moved his hands to show the extent of what was going on with them. It was mostly fixed, except for his hands, You could still see bones around the finger area and the muscle surrounding it. "I hadn't really noticed it was still going on the pain subsided a while ago."

enjoying his time in the sun however, he took in who he was going to be meeting.

"I'm uncertain if I will really be willing to accept so quickly and easily. I was given no choice really, but to trust you. Though I don't mind the friendly banter, i hope you understand I've been on lockdown for god only knows how long, I've no recollection of the past months, in short. my memory is shock. every day just seemed like one long day."

 

Claus was about to tell Violet that they hadn't seen Argon and send her on her way, but Leah spoke up first, much to his dismay.

"Yes, of course," Claus added in a rather dry tone. "Apparently, we would--"
He stopped and cleared his throat.
"What I meant was, obviously we would be more than happy to help."
The only thing that was obvious in this discussion was Claus' reluctance to involve himself in this situation. However, if Leah was serious about her offer to help, he wasn't about to let her go alone. The thought crossed his mind to try talking her out of it, but he quickly dismissed it as a fruitless effort.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------


Even though the sight of exposed bones and muscles was quite a disturbing one to Masato, it wasn't even close to the strangest thing he's seen in the last few days and he managed to keep a straight face and an even tone.
"So you've got some kind of...regeneration power? That sounds pretty handy. Too bad it doesn't work a little faster, though."
He scratched his chin, letting his mind wander to different possibilities.
"Maybe your power will get stronger as time goes on...then at some point, you'll be able to take a shotgun shell to the gut and walk it off. Man, it'd be like something out of a movie!"
He laughed a little, but it soon died down as his expression turned somber.
"Actually...all of this seems like something out of a movie. Nothing about this feels real, even though I know it's not just a dream."
He gave Sagon a sad smile.
"Sorry. I'm sure you've got plenty of problems yourself, you don't need to hear me complaining like this."

 

Violet shook her head, having seen how they had just come home.
"Knowing that the both of you haven't seen him is enough. Unless you really have nothing better to do. That guy once got lost in an empty room."
Saying that and remembering the event, she began to feel embarrassed even mentioning it.

Arc made his way towards the functional part of the looking around to make sure no more threats were nearby. Although the new arm had adapted to his body, it still lacked the fully developed thrusters like his last arm. He was annoyed by the mess his new clothes had been made into, especially with a sleeve missing and exposing his arm.
So much for keeping it covered up.
Looking towards the mountain of a distant island, his advanced vision picked up on a light glaring from it. After looking at it for a moment, he realized what it was.
Sniper!
Arc jumped for cover, and a bullet slammed into the ground behind him. Several seconds later, he heard the gunshot ring out.
That must have been Six! He's the one that spotted me earlier.

 

Claus' stoic expression gave way to a puzzled look as he raised an eyebrow at Violet.
"How...?"
He cut himself off, waving his hand dismissively.
"On second thought, I'd rather not know."

"Hmm...it may not be quite that easy."
He looked past Violet to make sure there were no neighbors in earshot before continuing.
"As we mentioned, we only made it to this house a short time ago. Since we just got here, we haven't had a chance to settle in and-- more importantly-- find a place to store our "borrowed" equipment from the island. In other words, our gear is back at the hideout with Atlas' crew and we'd have to go back to retrieve it. Alternatively, we could take our chances and rely solely on our powers if we run into any problems, though with our limited control, that would be...less than ideal."
He turned his head towards Leah.
"What do you think, Leah?"

 

Violet nodded her head.
"I understand. I doubt he is in trouble anyway, so I just wanted to make sure if he has been seen."

As Violet finished speaking, the echo of a distant gunshot could be heard. Upon hearing it, she pushed past Claus and shut the door quickly.
"That sounds like an anti-material rifle! Perhaps something even meaner. Not sure why that is being used, but it can't be good news. I don't think we were being aimed at, but we need to know where that was coming from if we are to venture outside and look for Arc."
It was here she slipped up by accidentally speaking Arc's name rather than his code name. It did not matter if anyone else knew their real names, but use of the code name would have helped reduce any emotional attachments to anyone.