15 Dehumanization

The three of them proceeded with extreme caution. They witnessed as they entered the Lab, dozens of contaminants made of glass, established as a tube that was inside are humans while the others are machines that are currently offline, and the others are in process in the making. “Just what the hell are they planning to do with these?” Ken asked.

“This is inhumane. Using humans as their experiment subjects are so disgusting.” Linda’s eyes reflected pity to the people that were included in the experiment while Alastor didn’t faze from the dreadful act they’ve committed.

They further follow the path as they take a stroll down the stairs. Together, they unveil the inhumane act of the people that are working here. The body parts of the person were replaced by a metallic hand, his condition is like the other but the only thing that they have in common is that they were mutilated.

“There are no signs of Theo here,” Alastor reported.

“There’s nothing we can do about it, ok then, go to the main panel and collect as much data available,” Cid ordered.

Finally, across the dozens of stairways and conduits, they saw a room that is occupied by hundred types of technology and behind the transparent window, a row of computer panels lined at the back wall, operating on their own, in the center of it a giant screen hung into the wall showing the blueprints of various projects.

The door automatically slides apart as they get closer. They had entered the place without any alarm of breach nor crossed security.

All that left here is the buzzing noise of computers and the bubbling water coming from the chemical tubes and the computers, and looking at the widescreen, different blueprints load back and forth. Al and Linda begin to look at the computers while Ken altered his attention to the files that were arranged at the panel in front of the widescreen.

“Project Amalgam,” Linda muttered in a low voice.

“You found something?” Al leaned forward from resting in the chair.

“Yes, I’m not sure what it is though.”

She entered the file and showed a dozen notes and videos. She clicked one of them and the video played. They could hear the charismatic voice of a man that is behind the audio-visual as it narrates the experiment.

“Experiment test no. 1, human subject 2401, the subject is currently being tested as a potential candidate for the experiment. The subject is healthy, and his stats are currently normal. The candidate is caged inside the four-sided glass plane. One-minute by now, the subject will be exposed by a gas that comes from a newly discovered rock called Hemil Klust.”

On the right side of the glass cage, tubes connected inside of it release a violet gas that immediately spreads. The body of the man changed, nerves were thickened and for the past seconds it started to show violent behavior, not too long, the body started to degrade, the body melted, liquefied. The man behind it narrates and orders.

“Human subject 2401 body structure shows an aberration. The usage of the substance is inadequate to human cellular, nerves impaired to the synapses connecting to the brain. The extension of its capabilities is yet to be known, but no worries, this is the first experiment, the development will start to show to the next ones. Clean it up boys; we will proceed to the next one.”

“This is unpleasant,” Al said, his expression remains unshaken.

Linda changes again the directories of the output and inserts the Flash drive “Cid, can you copy all of this?” She asked.

“Oh yes, this is a big catch. I wonder how they will react if they know how I am going to destroy their mainframe.” Cid thrillingly said.

“Good, because we will not just be going to destroy their work, we will also blow this place.”

Ken aggressively looked at her “Are you out of your mind, those are people, living beings. They’re the victims here and you want to blow these places?!” He yelled.

“Yeah well, that’s the thing kid. Look at them, do you think that they will be pleased with their current situation? Their bodies are now mutilated, we don’t even know if they’re human anymore.” Cid calmly explained.

“Ken, I know it’s hard, but we have to do these. At least, we may be able to honor their sacrifices by stopping their doings.” Linda also justifies.

“But— “

“You’re a mercenary. We were hired to stop them, whatever it takes. So, you must toughen your guts… and besides, it’s none of our business if they die or not, consider them as collateral damage.” Alastor added.

“I don’t know how you guys can easily handle this.” He murmured.

“We were trained to kill our emotions and put first the request of the client.” The audible voice of Tin reached to them.

“I know that.”

“Then we must do what we must do to fulfill the request, besides, we can’t say if they’re humans anymore.”

Alastor noticed the change of contemplation, and what would it harbor to them. He’s unlikely don’t want to push him to make a stupid decision and finally decides to advise him.

“Ken, remember. In our job, ethics don’t apply. Look, I get it, you don’t want to kill, and you think this job is quite dirty, but that doesn’t mean that all our missions are out of being human. I mean look at this, Theo, he uses humans for his ridiculous ideas, and if you think of it for them, what would happen only ‘if’ they regain their selves…they would live in total depression and that is worse compared to dying.

Their sacrifices wouldn’t be useless. It would likely prevent Theo from creating more possibilities of such menace in this city…”

“I guess… you’re right…”

Ken fell in silence, introspecting to what he said.

Ɵ

Tin rested her back on the four-sided metal pane of a fan filter as she caught her breath from climbing the stairs of the abandoned building. She figured that it would be better to watch at the top of the building rather than staying in the small compartment of the structure that limits her vision. She held down the sniper and turned off her communication device because she doesn’t want to lose her concentration preparing her weapons, besides, they had already successfully infiltrated the site, all that waits now is fulfilling their objective.

“It has been a long time since I’ve used these babies.” She muttered as she unloaded the magazines from the guns checking if they’re loaded with bullets.

As soon as she finished checking her weapons, she turned on the communication device. She altered her gaze at the lunar light, and she gasped at the breath-taking beauty of it. Tin is just silently listening to them while taking turns of monitoring outside the factory.

Clad in green combat and a closed button brown trench coat, equipped beneath a vest, warms her entire body from the passing breeze of the night that blew a strand of her hair across her eyes and she pulled herself from the metal panel, stretching her body.

The edifice is abandoned and was surrounded by countless empty buildings, add to it that it is nighttime, proving that it is convenient to not easily noticed by people that are currently celebrating festivities.

She wails as soon the crackling bones sounded from the stretching legs. Preparing for the worst, Tin rested the guns and opened the bag revealing dozens of hazardous items, there were flash bombs, a grenade launcher, shotgun, M-16A1, and a grappling hook that rested back on her waist. It may be impossible to equip these weapons, but she has her ways of fitting it to her outfit and able to pull off the strain of it.

Two handguns resting in her waist, flash bombs hung in the utility belt and a knife in her leg, M-16A1 assault rifle rest slant in her back, the Shotgun clung to the trench coat holder in a horizontal position. The magazines rested in her chest and the midriff and the shotgun shells were horizontally applied in her belly.

This over-composure in equipping weapons is but a bad habit that she developed, ever since when she was in training back at the haven, Tin is madly attracted to weapons, she has been considered as a protégé in the art of armaments.

She holds the sniper and adjusts the scope to the factory, she notices that the place has become quiet, and there was no presence of the workers. She immediately contacts them.

“Hey, the outside had suddenly become quiet, something’s fishy about it.” She warned.

“Don’t worry, we’re just about to get rid of this place,” Al replied. The three of them started to fiddle on computers.

“How are you going to do it? You don’t have any explosives left” Cid asked.

“We don’t need explosive devices to blow up this place... we’ll just improvise,” Linda replied. They breathe heavily jogging across the platform taking the south route, which leads them to the electric chamber. Entering the room, they could see dozens of electric conduit containers.

Tin stands gazed afar to the factory she leans down to grab the bag, but a wandering red dot aiming catches her eyes. Traversing towards her body, she already knew what it aimed. “Oh, crap.” She rolls and evades the incoming gunshots; she quickly draws out her pistols, she aimlessly shoots as she hides behind the fan filter.

“Whatever you had to do; you better do it fast. We got some company here.” A few of his shots missed and grazed the nearby filters. She rested her sniper and switched to an M-16A1 assault rifle, when the enemy stopped, she volleyed to where it came from. She strongly gripped the handle and caressed it, pulling the trigger.

Bullets came volleying as she rolled, hiding in a cement wall.

“I don’t know who you are or where you came from but creeping out in the back… is so unmanly.” She howled and reloaded then clutched the charging handle for another round.

A few seconds had passed, the entire field had become quiet. She huffed softly, aware that there might be more enemies she called Cid “Hey, would you check if there’s more enemies?”

“I don’t think my computer’s working properly, there’s no one there but only you,” Cid reported and continues to tap the computer.

“Wait a sec. Hide around! He’s on the right side of the other building!” He rattled.

“Oh, you gotta be kidding me.” Tin staggered as the bullet nearly grazed her cheek. She leaned backward, side rolling, and hid at the other side of the fan filter. She inserts a 30-round magazine into the magazine well.

She firmly clouts the bottom of the magazine to ensure it is fully seated, before pulling back the charging handle and allowing the rifle’s bolt to snap back forward with a cracking sound, stripping a live round of the bullets. She instigated an attack at the enemy’s position as soon she heard the soft thumping of boots tending to move for another position.

The nose of her gun follows the man as she firmly pulls the trigger. The loud noise of her shooting bullets creates an alarming sound of death that could any time take someone’s life.

Fortunately to his side, the bullets only graze his black cloak. She crouched and unloaded the magazine and reloaded it again, gazing back at the enemy she had noticed that it was only standing – staring at her position.

“What the hell?”

Looking underneath it, he wears black garb with a dozen magazines resting vertically trailing to his shoulder and in his chest. The last thing she noticed is the hood trailing a coat down to beyond his knees and the gas mask he wore, the eyeglass of it glows red as if his arrayed likely to describe the grim of death.

She considers it as a chance, standing firmly clutching back the charging handle. She’s ready to pull the trigger when a clanging sound catches her ears. A one-foot silver container throws four feet away from her, the tickling sound of the bomb makes her heart skip a second.

She instantly jumps away from the building. The last words she heard from the mysterious man was “Boom.” The canister exploded and she could feel the shock of the wave. She reaches her back pulling something, she shoots the grappling hook at the ledge near a window and lands safely on the ground.

She looked again at the man but found nothing; only the cracking sounds of the debris that came from the explosion could be heard. She fastened away at the site. A van stops in front of her and calls her name.

“Hey, we need to get out of here.” Cid opens the window for her. She entered it and proceeded to the factory.

The mysterious man was left standing, gazing at the rushing vehicle, with no intention in pursuing them.