The Future Must Be Beautiful.

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In a spacious laboratory, scientists crowded around 12 individuals, checking their vitals making comments and logging who knows what into computers and notepads. The technology being tested was going to be epoch breaking and would leave their names in the annals of history for eons to come. The mere thought of it motivated them to work with a somewhat crazy fever.

Cryostasis, a term only spoken about in relation to microorganisms in the real world and only fictional works had managed to conquer the hurdle of it. Freezing a living body and preserving bodily function whiles extending life was thought impossible by many. This group had succeeded in maintaining the life of some chimpanzees in cryostasis for 3 years and were moving on to human experimentation.

It seemed that the roadblocks of human rights and all the various blocks of legislature were against them making progress until the a certain rich heir was diagnosed with late stage cancer in almost all major organs. The man was doomed as it was. Upon his discovery of the successes of the Cryostasis group, he invested all his wealth into pushing through all their road blocks and funding their research to further fine tune their results.

After another year on life support. The project was finally ready to start on humans. With a life stuck to various machines and no fun. The man used to the opulent and rich lifestyle was all but ready to reincarnate. Eleven others, with the characteristics of the most common population, were found by giving exorbitant cash prizes to their families with a promise of more if they were to survive.

A plan was immediately developed and a cancer killing drug was developed to be injected into him over the period of his cryostasis. A blend of otherwise lethal military body enhancement medicines was deployed with cancer killing drugs to effectively strengthen his body to survive the process and a nutrient solution capable of feeding a 100 men for a few centuries was hooked to him.

The process was going to be gradual and last for 30 years. Three slow decades of killing cancer and retaining normal bodily function. As far as scientists and sponsor were concerned if he made it out with even just the cancer gone, it would be a success.

As a man so reluctant to die. Nothing was left to chance. The power for their stasis machines was from a nuclear generator meant to power a whole city. The nutrient solution was loaded ten times over for the others as well. The holding facility was underground in the city centre with a wholly independent system surrounded with alloy metals that were resistant to all surface missiles of the time. he was determined to make the test succeed.

And succeed he did. Too well even. Within 10 years 4 people were revived from stasis and the success of the experiment exploded the wealth and status of the scientists and of course himself as by virtue of his funding he owned the whole project.

5 more years into status and abundance, discordant voices rose within and an attempt was made on his life. In a bid to save him the lockdown procedure's were triggered by one of the less sinister scientists. Later, efforts were made to reopen the alloy box but no safe method was found unless the nuclear power was to run out, which would trigger a natural end to the stasis and opening of the alloy box. The sponsors desperation and sheer paranoia after saving him from being killed, became the shackles holding him in. It was either he died in stasis or the power plant run out.

Years passed and he was eventually forgotten. The other seven weren't even thought of in the first place. The world moved on.

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TAKKA TATA TAKKA...!!! BOOM!! BOOM!! The sound of automatic fire and explosions came from the shelter. The first wave was being steadily decimated by the organized defence of the shelter. If Bane was still alive these zombies and basic monsters won't even matter. Such was the strength of an awakened. The screeches and roars of the zombies echoed about in the underground chamber. They didn't have unlimited bullets and they needed Bane to come over soon. 

Urrggghhh!! The groan from the pit was louder and clearer now. The dust began to clear and the guards inched closer to the pit to help Bane and curry favor. The first guard froze as he saw the scene in the pit. The others immediately got impatient and berated him. "Idiot move out of the way if you're scared." A female guard shoved him out of the way and promptly froze in place like that first guard. Immediately realizing that something was wrong the rest of them spread out and readied themselves for any trouble. 

The dust finally cleared and a bloody scene greeted them. Entrails, blood and body parts spread out in the pit from the explosion. Bane lay on the ground with the front of his skull exposed, ribs collapsed inwards and his organs exposed to the air. He had lost the skin on his front, along with one arm in the explosion. A bald muscular man with blades for arms was trying to get on his feet. That's where the scrapping sound came from. Bane had a terrified expression on his face as he breathed less and less.

Damien now bald, dragged his blade arms along the wall as he staggered towards Bane. The man's eyes revealed his panic as he subconsciously started to breath faster. But his lungs were damaged and his increased activity only quickened his death. Silent, but with murderous eyes, Damien finally reached Bane. Without any hesitation he plunged his left blade arm into Bane's exposed guts. Slowly followed by the right. In and out in such a mechanical fashion that all the guards above were scared out of their wits. 

They didn't dare to make a move despite having some pistols and knives in their possession. Awakened were a different level of life from normal people. The fear and domination they represented had been ingrained into all survivors of the apocalypse of the current era. 

The stabbing was slow at first but it picked up pace and a twisted expression appeared on Damien's face. His emotions slowly going out of control. He roared hysterically as he tore Bane to shreds. The man already dead by the fifth stab unbeknownst to Damien who was too mentally shocked to care.

Frozen for God knows how long only to wake up to a broken world filled with monsters after your life. Just when there was hope for the future with their rescue, he was plunged into hours of brutal and inhumane torture. Where had he ever experienced this. He let out all his emotions as he roared and swung his arms.

Slowly as he gained clarity, his arms started recovering. The blade grew longer and soon he seemed to have conjured two long knives to cut with instead of transforming his hands into blades. The phenomenon jerked him awake from his frenzy. Slowly he pulled himself up whiles he looked at the knives. He understood his ability. The time spent in the world source proved beneficial and he was immediately familiar with his ability. 

Looking around at the carnage, he broke into tears. He was from a way too peaceful age and no amount of torture and hatred was going to make him feel better about the carnage around him. Sobbing softly he turned to look around him searching for the people he came through time with. They were dead. By his own hands as well. Laughter leaked through his sobs. Tears down his face and laughing madly whiles holding two long and sharp knives. It seemed the new boss was a lunatic the guards thought. 

At a point in his laughter the knives tuned into specks of light as they seemingly disintegrated. Damien covered in blood couldn't care less. The female guard from before seemed to have a flash of light in her eyes as she remembered a rumor from a long time ago. A chill flashed through her eyes as she gazed upon the only automatic rifle in the room. It was from Bane's confidant. The only one who stayed in the room to the pit whenever Bane was here. Lunging towards it she grabbed it and swiftly approached the pit again.

She checked ammunition and loaded and aimed in one smooth motion at Damien in the Pit. A burst of fire sounded as a rain of bullets poured on Damien. A thin shield of origin force protected him from the bullets however the impact of the bullets drove him to the ground full of blood and gore. The pain from the bullets and sticky and wet sensation startled him out of his madness. Instinctively he called out a shield on his body to protect himself. The sound from the clanging of the bullets onto the shield was deafening and disorienting. It however enabled Damien to firm up his mind. He could think about all this later. He needed to survive, thrive, and climb back up to the top of the world like he was before the cancer. 

"Leah!! What are you doing!!?"

"He'll kill us!"

"She's gone mad, you can't kill an awakened!"

"The world protects them!"

The other guards immediately fell into chaos with the actions of the female guard named Leah. The female guard upon realizing that Damien hadn't died was immediately gripped with deep fear. The magnitude of her actions finally dawning on her and the implications of her failure. She was dead at the very least and fears of even greater pains were also possible. 

"Grab her!!! The Lord awakened would spare us if we catch her!" , the other female guard shouted. Immediately a barrage of gun fire sounded as Leah started to fire at the other guards and them at her. It was a massacre. The automatic riffle she had was advantageous but the guards weren't in a single direction and very soon she had bullet holes in her. Only three out of 16 guards survived the short fight. Leah leaned against the wall with bullets in her thighs and legs with one in her abdomen and another on her shoulder. At the cost of their lives the guards tried to capture her alive to please Damien. 

The shield was removed and Damien staggered to his feet. the whole experience was too surreal for him. Looking up to the edge of the pit a few meters up. His feet transformed into thrusters and he propelled himself upwards. it was unsteady and he almost crashed into the ceiling. Finally hovering steadily after an embarrassing minute of dipping up and down and almost crashing into the wall, he gazed with deep malice at Leah. Why was the world out to kill him. What had he ever done to deserve this.

Angry he propelled himself over the edge and lifted the thruster state of his feet and landed. Marching aggressively towards her, he slapped her and proceeded to punch and kick at her. Venting some more on her, he stopped before he killed her.

"Why!?" he almost screamed at her. There was no answer as she looked at him with pain and fear in her eyes. She noticed he wasn't even injured after he got close to her. Her fear only intensified when he flew out of the hole regardless of how embarrassing it looked. First blades and now thrusters and the earlier explosion could almost be attributed to him. It was obvious he had a rare ability and such awakened were the most difficult to deal with. 

"Why!!??" he roared at her again. His eyes bloodshot and his breathing heavy. 

"Power." she finally whispered. Raising her pistol to her head, she shot.