Modified
Written by Mowsy Merethil and Bryce Ridgeway
Moonlight shined on the port city of Seaport, the name suited it. It was one of the most used ports and also one of the largest in Phyloria. Pirates, traders, and travelers used it from almost anywhere. Rumors also have told of a few things, ninja hideouts and genetic modification experiment labs, but none of them are believed. Just rumors... or so everyone else had thought. That's what Ryan Grey thought when he signed up for the military.
“Bullshit,” said the brown haired man sitting at the wooden table. He wasn’t the only one, 3 other men sat around the table which held 4 mugs and a lantern in the middle. The three other men’s faces and clothing was but a memory, they appeared as dark brown silhouettes that spoke to him. He couldn’t even remember what they had said, other than that they were trying to convince him of the military experiments.
Ryan joined the military regardless, that he could remember. He trained vigorously, but he cleared training in less than half the time of most recruits. He was already exceptional with firearms and he did very well in bladed weapons training, regardless of never using them before. He was shipped to Tarnica, which was at war with Phyloria.
“Ryan!” shouted one of his comrades as another explosion knocked him to the sand. “Ryan, god damn it!” said the same soldier. Ryan couldn’t remember him either, just his green camouflaged armor and helmet and that he had helped Ryan up just then. The two kept running across the sand, keeping somewhat low to avoid machine gun fire over their heads.
“Lieutenant! Lieutenant Kia!”
“What, Ryan?!”
“We have to kill those machine gun nests!”
“No shit?” Replied Kia with obvious sarcasm.
“I’ll take care of this.” Ryan shouted, ignoring the sarcasm and pushing harder, running faster, and going over the next sand dune to see the grey bunkers with a heavy muzzle flash of the heavy machine guns blazing down Phylorian troops. Ryan didn’t stop, Kia did. It was then, Kia was shot in the left kneecap by a sniper round, and he dropped and rolled back down the dune. Or that’s what Ryan had assumed.
Ryan didn’t stop for the lieutenant; he kept pushing towards the bunker as fast as he could. He closed his eyes, running faster. His lungs rapidly pushed air out only to bring it back in; the hot desert air wasn’t helping. But Ryan ignored it as much as he ignored the bullets throwing sand behind him. Somehow Ryan made it to the bunker’s wall; he pulled a small yellow charge from his back. The weight of the army outfit was just hitting him, his arms were incredibly heavy. He planted the charge, then something twitched in his memory and he was standing on a pedestal with his Lieutenant, both of them receiving a medal of honor.
The next day, Ryan was approached by Kia (who was travelling by crutches, his kneecap was completely shattered by the bullet. He was lucky not to have lost his leg) and was asked to join an experiment. Ryan thought nothing of it, and agreed there on the spot. He felt honored. He didn’t know what was going to happen, and he really didn’t care. He wanted the power.
Not too long after the experiments begun, Ryan realized he didn’t want this. But he figured he could reason out of it, and he was at Kia’s office door right now. His arms and back hurt after last experiment. It horrified him now that he knew what they did to him…
Two heavy knocks against the door was all Ryan gave, then he stood and waited. A few seconds of silence, then the door opened and Kia stood in the doorway.
-
“Look… Lieutenant…”
“Call me Kia.”
“…Kia… I want out. I don’t want to be a part of this experiment anymore.”
“Ryan, you can’t just… be out. We’ve worked on you for too long, you have to stick with it.”
“I don’t have to do anything, Kai. Now get me out of the program or lose me as a soldier.
“No, Ryan, you can’t do either of those.”
“Why not, sir?” Ryan asked, adding smart-ass emphasis to sir.
“Because if you do, we’ll make sure you never see daylight again. We’ll kill you.”
Ryan’s eyes shot open. “You… can’t!”
Kia quickly pulled a pistol from his desk drawer and aimed it at Ryan. “Tell me I won’t.”
It was the start of surgery when he decided he was getting out. He didn’t care, they could kill him. The doctor was about to inject Ryan with a needle to put him to sleep when Ryan made his move. He smacked the doctor’s arm away and thought for a moment about his arms. In an instant, his arms split open for the first time. Blood shot as Ryan screamed, wailed, and released the arm blades. The doctors has backed up to the edges of the room, Ryan couldn’t remember much else.
Now Ryan was back in Seaport, trying to find a boat to use to get out of Phyloria. The rain had formed puddles that shone in the moonlight, splashing as people stepped through them, ruining the perfect image in them. Most people walked through them, staring at the street marketers and signs posted on street lamps. One of these street lamp poles held a picture of Ryan Grey, WANTED in large black font just above it. And of all the people walking through these puddles, Ryan was running through them. His lungs couldn’t do this. He couldn’t do this. His brown cloak flowed behind him; tears ran down his face as he called back to his pursuers.
“What do you WANT with me?!” his hood blocked his view, but he tried to see behind himself regardless. He felt cold water splash on his leg as he ran through another puddle. He focused his attention back in front of himself and saw three more men in green. Camouflaged helmet and vest covered a dark green shirt on the men; all of them looked identical with black sunglasses covering their eyes. They all braced themselves as they readied to attack the man. Then Ryan noticed the blades slowly sliding out of sleeves on their arms. The military.
“I won’t let you take me back!” he screamed at them, not hesitating before rushing them. His eyes closed, he felt a few blades cut his arms, but they only stung for a bit. Then he felt something grab his legs, and he fell to the ground with masses on top of him. The military had their dog back.
“No! No! You won’t take me again!” he screamed.
It was at that moment he felt something inside him crack and spread, then his back ripped open as two metal wings shot out, shredding through the men. Blood shot in all directions; Ryan’s blood mixed with the blood of the military men fell to the ground. The torn corpses of the men were tossed over, parts of their clothing hung from Ryan’s bloody metal wings. Ryan stood and ran, not caring what happened to the civilians in his way. One poor soul took part of a wing to the arm and nearly lost it, but Ryan kept running. The ripped remains of his cloak followed behind, whipping in the wind.
Ryan turned in an alley, his wings just barely made it in. A fence with some trash against it stood in his path, so he jumped it. When he jumped, he felt his modifications kick in and send him jumping higher than he should have. Had he been normal human, he'd have to climb over a bit. He cleared the fence with no problem and landed with a loud clunk. He couldn’t run any more, he crawled along and hid behind a dumpster, panting and out of breath. He collapsed next to the dumpster and blacked out.
When he woke up, Ryan had no clue where he was. He could feel a soft cushion pressing against his wounds on his back. His "wings" were gone, he supposed, but more than likely they were just in his back again. He thought he could feel them, ready to shoot out whenever he wanted... or whenever they wanted. This thought scared Ryan, having the possibility of not controlling one’s self is enough to make the most stable man shiver. It also hurt like hell when the blades came out, and that was another reason to dislike them.
“Damn modifications... why did I ever sign up... why...”
Then he thought of where he was. As far as he could remember, he collapsed behind a dumpster. How did he wake up on a couch? He glanced around to see a front room that was falling apart. The room was long as if he was in a trailer, the roof seemed to be near the point of caving in and the house was bare except for a laptop plugged into the wall and the couch Ryan was laying upon. The walls were white and brown, where the paint and wallpaper had been ripped off. The ceiling was also white, but part of the roof was sinking in slightly in the corner and a large brown stain where rain had dripped through on the days you'd have to put a pot under the dripping to stop your carpet from being wet. This particular carpet was black. The black carpet ended leading to a hallway, where the floor went from black carpet to polished wood. In the hallway, a ray of light penetrated the darkness of the hall while a shadow worked away at something.
The shadow grew larger and eventually a black haired woman in an olive green vest emerged from the hall. Ryan would admit she was pretty. She was probably one of those people who were gawked at while walking into a bar, with one idiot standing and yelling "I wanna do you!" And Ryan wouldn't be surprised if that had happened in this woman's life before. Her skin was pale, but not too pale. For Ryan, it was hard to explain. Her face was thinner, but not too thin. That's the thing with Ryan; he can't explain what he needs to explain.
"Sleep well?" The woman said before Ryan could utter any sound. Her voice, strangely, sounded soft and unthreatening. Not what he expected at all.
"Uh... Yeah..." Ryan said, taking another look at his surroundings. "Where am I?"
"You're in a trailer in East Seaport, a mile away from the alleyway you passed out in. I was following you; I saw what you did to the military."
Ryan blinked. "You saw that, huh? So you're going to collect the bounty aren't you?"
“What if I am?” the woman said with a smirk.
“Then I’ll have to pull my blades out of my arms and dice you to pieces. I’m not going back there.”
The woman’s smirk was gone in an instant. “What makes you think you can take me?”
“The blood of those military men says that. I doubt you’d be able to beat me one-on-one, especially because you’re not armed.”
Not a second after he had said this, a blade about the size of his own arm came swinging toward his face. The blood that appeared on his face was not his own, but the blood of the woman. As modification to the brain allowed, Ryan saw the blade cut air as it moved only as fast as a snail. How the military pulled it off, Ryan didn't know, but with it he was able to move just fast enough to lose a bit of hair from the side of his head. To dodge the blade, Ryan had pushed himself sideways and turned his head, the blade took a bit of his brown hair as he fell to the floor.
Upon landing, Ryan noticed the woman had the same "gift" (or curse) as he had. She had been augmented with metal and machinery to enhance her killing ability, and that ability was being tested on him.
Rolling backwards, making sure to push up when his feet touched the ground to get up from his somersault, he held his arms out and let the monstrosity show. His arms bled, ached, and split as the metal pushed through the skin. The blades were decorated with Ryan’s blood, and soon he screamed as his back split open again and his wings ripped out his back.
The woman didn’t stop. She had leapt into the air; Ryan noticed the blades were from her arms. A bitch to the military, she was. Ryan reacted by putting his blades between his face and her blades with not a second to spare.
The impact brought a loud clang and pushed Ryan’s back to the floor, his metal wings scratching and tearing the carpet.
“I’ll take you back in pieces!” The woman said in a mad rage. Ryan didn’t reply, but thought as quickly as he could while holding off the woman.
Ryan had an idea. He held her blades away and brought his feet to the woman’s pelvic area. She hadn’t been paying attention to his feet and when she felt them touch her thighs, it was too late. Ryan kicked as hard as he could, something pushing harder from inside his feet and legs, to send the woman’s feet flying out from under her. She lost her concentration on her blades, which Ryan threw off as soon as he could.
Bringing himself back to his feet, Ryan readied himself for another onslaught. To his surprise, the woman had not yet recovered, so Ryan would finish this as soon as possible. He quickly ran to her side, knelt down and grabbed the woman by the throat, holding one of his blades at her stomach. “Move an inch and YOU’RE going back in bits. Now, tell me who you are and what you want before I decide to change my mind on letting you live.” Ryan looking straight into the woman’s eyes, her face was red.
“I’m not telling you a damn thing!” she said, her foot moving toward Ryan’s crotch. In an instant, his blade moved from her stomach to her leg, slicing into it but not cutting it off. The woman screamed.
“What do you want; this is the last time I’m asking.” Ryan asked again, calmly. He really had no problem doing this; it was getting back at the military. To him, they weren’t any better than the pirates. The woman still stared at him, angry and insane.
“We want you back in the military, Ryan. You were the best of the experiments, and we can’t have you fall anyone else’s hands.” The woman calmed, breathing heavily. “Come back, Ryan. We can help you eradicate every pirate out there.”
Ryan let this thought dance across his mind for a few seconds, but shook his head. “No. You won’t. You’ll keep me locked up like a piece of equipment; I’m no different than the guns and swords in the armory. You may like that life, I do not.”
“You can’t escape the military, Ryan! This is the last time I’ll ask you to come back.” The woman said, apparently forgetting Ryan has his blade to her gut.
“I can, and I promise you, I will. You can’t stop me.” Ryan replied. The woman stared at him, clearly she was angry. She swiped at Ryan, who barley dodged the blade. Immediately after dodging, Ryan brought his foot to the woman’s arm. Her arm snapped, the woman screamed in pain and swung with her other arm. Ryan did the same thing, dodged and kicked. His kick broke her other arm and she screamed again. Her arms fell limply to the ground; Ryan retracted his blade back to his skin. He winced as the blade slowly crept back into his arm.
“It still hurts you, we can stop that!” the woman said weakly.
“You’re just a dog. And I’m not going to listen to you bark.” Ryan replied, standing and walking out the door.
Not long after, Ryan had his wish. He was on a boat riding off in the Atlantic towards god-knew-where. He didn’t care; he was out of Phyloria on a boat called the S. S. Lithum. Standing on deck, holding onto the wooden railing and staring off into the sea, Ryan sighed, relieved of the curse of Phyloria and bound to a new place to start a new life.
But Ryan knew better, the military would be searching for him. They wouldn’t give him up after one casualty. If they would have done that, they would’ve given up a long time ago. So Ryan’s only solution was to drop the name that he had been given and start a new life as Sam Reggin. He didn’t quite like the name but then again he wouldn’t like any other name than Ryan.
As he stared off at the sea, the sun held directly over his head. The sea was open and he couldn’t see any landscapes. He was away, and it felt great.
“Excuse me…” came a female voice from behind him. Ryan turned to see a woman, standing about 5’11” with long dark brown hair. Her hair reached past her shoulders and stopped around her chest. She wore a white dress, decorated with designs sewed onto the dress. Ryan was impressed by her looks.
“Yes, Ma’am?” Ryan asked with a smile.
“I was just wondering if you’d mind me standing next to you…”
“No, not at all, go ahead.”
The woman smiled and stood next to Ryan, holding the railing and gazing out just as he had done. He returned to staring with the lady.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” the woman asked him, not taking her eyes off the horizon where sky met see.
“I suppose…”
“Think, beyond that horizon lies millions of people all going about daily life, not a thought in the world that there’s people this far away.”
Ryan took it to thought for a moment, but blew it off as nothing. “It’s cool… I guess.”
“I’m sorry.” The lady said, ripping herself from her daze. “I’m Autumn. Autumn Illaina.”
“Nice to meet you, Autumn.” Ryan said, offering his hand. “I’m Ry…” he stopped himself as she took his hand. “… Samuel Reggin. You can call me Sam.” He gave a nervous smile, hoping she didn’t notice his mess-up.
“Nice to meet you too.” Autumn said with a slight amount of suspicion and a small laugh afterwards.
“What brings you on the Lithum?” Ryan asked her. “Not that it’s any of my business.”
Autumn laughed and kept her smile. “I’m just going to be a tourist. I’m so excited to go to the Divided States!”
Ryan blinked, and then thought for a moment. Divided States? He’s never been there, much less out of Phyloria. He did travel to a few other continents for fighting but never the Divided States. “I’ve never been there.” He said, half in thought.
“Well isn’t that why you’re on the boat?” Autumn said with another laugh.
“Well, Yeah but…” Ryan felt stupid now, so he did what any self respecting male would do in the presence of a beautiful girl. He shut his mouth and stared back to the sea.
From somewhere on the deck, someone yelled. “Pirates!” and suddenly the ship jerked as another ship, slightly smaller, slammed into the side and dirty pirates wielding scimitars boarded the Lithum.
“Oh my god!” Autumn said, looking to Ryan. “We have to get somewhere safe!”
Ryan didn’t have time to say anything, but he saw the pirate approaching Autumn. The pirate wore a blue bandana around his neck, his rotten teeth showed in a huge grin across his unshaven face. It made Ryan sick, and the dagger in his hand would spill this girl’s blood if he didn’t do anything. So he did the only thing he could do, and with a scream, one blade shot out Ryan’s left arm. Blood hit the deck, Autumn backed away from him and in the span of maybe 2 seconds, Ryan had driven his blade through the pirate’s chest.
“You’ll never take anything from me again.” He said to the pirate who hung from the blade. The dagger in the pirate’s hand dropped and the pirate’s eyes faded. Ryan pulled his blade out, glancing to Autumn who was in shock.
“Sam! Oh my god… What…” She said, fumbling her words in amazement and fear. Ryan turned to her, his blade still dripping blood.
“Autumn, listen to me, I won’t hurt you. Stay there, I’ll protect you.” Ryan said, feeling like a real hero. But Autumn’s eyes were still wide, and suddenly she pointed behind him. “Look-“she said, but before she could finish, Ryan winced and let the wings rip his back to shreds along with an unfortunate pirate. The blades spread gloriously, glistening with blood. The pirate screamed, falling backwards with gashes across the front of his body.
Ryan turned around to see the pirate hit the deck with a thud; blood already began to pool around him. Ryan surveyed the area, the deck was already littered with bodies of pirates and a few innocents he had seen earlier. One of the pirates yelled “Retreat!” And the few remaining jumped back onto the smaller boat and sailed off.
“Well… I didn’t have to do much.” Ryan said, looking back to Autumn. He turned back to the retreating pirate ship as someone yelled “Fire!”
The pirate ship only took one cannon ball to the middle of the hull and began sinking at an alarming rate. The few remaining pirates abandoned ship and swam off in helpless directions, a few floated on debris of the ship. Ryan chuckled and turned back again to Autumn. She just stared at the modified man.
A few hours passed and Autumn sat with Ryan in one of the rooms inside the ship. It was a standard room with a bed and a chest at the foot of the bed. The blanked over the bed was a simple plain green color, made of 90% cotton like the tag described. Autumn sat on the bed in a night gown; Ryan sat on the floor in a corner. Autumn sat with her legs up to her chest, the night gown was short and from Ryan’s perspective, he could get a clear look at her underwear. Ryan resisted that though, he didn’t see this as a time for being ‘frisky.’
“So…” Autumn asked, her hair was wet from her bath earlier. “Tell me again why you have those..” she pointed to his arms.
“I was in the army; I fought at Tarnica when Phyloria was at war. I went from a Private to a Sergeant in a few days of work, I showed great leadership and weapons expertise and they decided I should be in a new experiment. Well, they did their experiments and performed some surgery on me. They never told me what it was or why they were doing it until after. I’m a killing machine, I’ve got countless modifications and I won’t be dying any time soon.”
Ryan considered adding unless I’m killed, but he didn’t see that happening any time soon either.
“I see…” Autumn said unconvincingly. “So why are they following you?”
“They think I’m going to the Divided to join a different military presence and come back to… basically tear Phyloria apart. They think I’m very dangerous and if they can’t have me, nobody can. Problem is…” Ryan said with a sigh. “… If I go anywhere, I could spark a war. In a way, I AM tearing Phyloria apart. But I won’t have any real action in it, to everyone else it’ll be ‘Phyloria invaded, we reacted’ and Tarnica will likely join in with the assault against Phyloria…” Ryan paused. “Yeah. I just want peace and quiet now, I don’t care about wars or how strong I am…”
Autumn smiled, shifting. Ryan couldn’t see up his gown anymore, and that was a good thing. “Well,” she said, “I think I can help you.”
Ryan tilted his head. “How?”
“This is crazy” Ryan whispered to Autumn, who had changed (‘in front of me’ Ryan could’ve bragged) into a pair of blue jeans and a pink T-shirt that hung loosely off her body.
“It gets better.” Autumn said back to him, also in a whisper.
The duo was creeping on the deck; the night sky with a half moon didn’t light the deck much. Sneaking was easy. The plan Autumn had concocted was to take one of the life boats to the Divided States. Maybe they would assume Ryan and Autumn were dead.
Autumn didn’t come unprepared; Ryan was carrying the chest from their room which was now full of food from the ship’s pantry. They had snuck into said pantry successfully. Mostly vegetables and fruits filled the chest; meat wouldn’t last for the long way to the Divided. The two reached the side of the deck, off the side of the board sat a life boat hooked to two winches. Ryan set the chest down and pulled a lever, bringing the life boat next to the deck.
It was hard to see it in the moonlight, but the boat was made of wood. Just like he had imagined, it was only big enough for two people comfortably, along with the chest of food.
“This is such a bad idea…” Ryan said, setting the chest on the small wooden boat.
“Oh come on, Sam. It’ll work.” Autumn said, stepping into the boat. Ryan followed her.
“Oh yeah… I forgot to tell you, my name isn’t Sam. It’s Ryan. Ryan Grey.”
Autumn turned to face him and smiled. “Well, nice to meet you Ryan.”
With that, they lowered the boat into the water and set off towards The Divided States.
Ryan took another bite of the red apple, staring off into the sea. He couldn’t take his mind off of it, if he fell out of this boat he would drown. Modifications or not, he couldn’t swim and the metal in his body would make him sink like a block of marble.
Autumn noticed him lost in thought; she could tell something must have been wrong.
“Hey…” she said, but he didn’t respond at all. He took another bite of the apple, he seemed in a trance.
“Hey!” she said again, but again her attempt was in vain. She carefully moved near him and pushed his shoulder slightly. “Wake up.”
The push dislodged him from his day dream; his green eyes glanced to her. He uttered a soft ‘hm’ with a mouth full of apple. After swallowing, he blinked and waited for her to say what she wanted. But she didn’t say anything, to Ryan’s surprise. She just stared, almost at him. He glanced backward and saw the small silhouette of the California State of the Divided.
“Land ho.” Came Autumn’s voice from behind him.
“No, there isn’t a lot of those.” Ryan replied. “Prostitution is outlawed there.”
The two chuckled and sailed onward.
The boat propped up on shore, Ryan jumped off and grabbed Autumn’s hand, helping her off the boat. After she was standing on the sand of the (rather short) beach, Ryan kicked the boat back to the water. The boat sailed a good 20 feet from the simple kick, of course Ryan had no idea what was in his leg to cause that.
“Wow” Autumns said, watching the boat drift back to see. “Those modifications can’t be that bad.”
Ryan shook his head. “It hurts… every time.” He turned and continued up the small beach to a dirt drop off. He climbed it, turning to help Autumn up. From here, Ryan could see the beach was polluted and dirty. It wasn’t cared for well. Behind Ryan was a large building, some skyscraper for offices or something. Ryan never cared for these old buildings, but off the side of the building was a balcony which cast a shadow down onto the concrete patio under it.
“Well… we’re here.” Autumn said with a smile. Her smile didn’t live long, it disappeared as a series of gunshots filled the air.
“Uh oh…” Ryan said. He pulled Autumn closer to the corner of the building and checked around said corner. He saw one force he recognized, green camouflage and arm blades. The Phylorian Military had already invaded! The other force was a red camouflaged and held rifles, but Ryan knew (and why wouldn’t he? He was a step higher in the experiment line) the rifles would only hit if they got lucky.
Most of the military of Phyloria was now modified but only in small ways. The blades the normal soldiers had were in sleeves that could be taken off, and they only had a few reflex enhancements. But it was enough to dodge a certain number of shots from a rifle.
“Hell…” Ryan said, turning back to Autumn. “They’re already here.”
“You’re kidding…”
“Look for yourself.”
Autumn moved forward, glancing around the corner and coming back a second later. “Damnit…”
“Stay here.” Ryan said, creeping out the corner. “I’ll go take care of them.”
Autumn tried to make him stop, she reached out but he had already disappeared. So she stayed.
The street was empty, save for the soldiers all behind some kind of cover. The red camouflaged soldiers were behind red camouflaged jeeps and military vehicles. The Phylorian military, however, were using shields attached to their arms that grew out to cover most of their torso.
Ryan knew his targets, the more advanced Phylorians. He knew whatever military California could muster up wouldn’t stand a chance, so he decided to step in. He burst into the street, running as fast as he could (being careful not to run into too much crossfire) and ran directly towards one of the few Phylorians in the street. The Phylorian was caught off guard, his blue eyes shot open in surprise.
By this point, Ryan’s arm blades were both extended, protruding from his arm. Ryan’s first choice was the legs, the only place unprotected by the shield. He bend down and swiped quickly at the man’s legs, his blade cut across both smoothly and brought the man to his knees. The lower shin of the Phylorian split open to the bone, blood stained the ground when the man fell to his knees.
Ryan straightened himself and jumped into the air on his left foot; his right foot was bent back. Ryan used his right foot to punt the man’s head. The shield was lowered so the man took the kick full force to the chin. His head spun, a sickening crack filled Ryan’s ears and the man’s body fell to the ground.
By the time Ryan landed, the rest of the Phylorians had gotten their wits together.
“That’s him!” one of them said, “The man we’re after! Get him!” These words were followed by a flurry of orange beams directed at him. Ryan was already running for cover by the time they had almost reached him.
Ryan ran and dove behind an unoccupied jeep, red and black camouflage painted the vehicle and indicated Californian control. Ryan slid into a short man with a red camouflaged helmet and vest, wearing a dark maroon undershirt and an old fashioned M16 in hand.
“The hell…?” he said as Ryan bumped into him.
“Don’t worry about it. I’m on your side.” Ryan replied. The man just shrugged and popped from cover again to fire at the Phylorians.
“Shit! I think they’re bringing in reinforcements!” another one of the Californian men. When Ryan’s eyes met the sky, he saw a large metal drop ship. It had a slight green tint to it, the back of it opened revealing a passenger compartment. The cockpit was small, the ship narrowed from large open back to small cockpit of tinted glass. The drop ship’s back was open and a few Phylorians were visible in the back but the drop ship landed behind the large office building Ryan had been behind just moments before.
“Oh no…” Ryan said just before sprinting from the cover. He wasn’t sure if adrenaline or his mods were pushing him faster, all he knew was that they were going to take Autumn. No doubt hold her hostage, Ryan would play the savior and take her back or something dramatic. Ryan intended to avoid that scenario, but as he turned the corner he noticed they already had her by the throat and were already taking her back into the ship. Ryan sprinted harder, but the ship began to take off. Ryan jumped and managed to grab the very edge (which was decorated in white and black paint as caution) and held on. The ship continued its ascent when one of the Phylorian men approached the hanging and helpless Ryan. He pushed the barrel of a strange green rifle to his face and pulled the trigger.
Ryan was lucky to have modifications. Without them, he wouldn’t have been able to let go and push off of the ship before the orange beam obliterated his head. The down side to having to dodge the beam was he was now a good distance from the ground and he was now falling.
“Shit.” He said, staring up at the ship that grew ever more far. The wind whipped his hair and his clothes, his arm blades retracted and he let himself fall. The impact was hard, but he lost consciousness the moment he hit.
“Your story doesn’t end here.” Came an elderly woman voice. When Ryan thought about it, the voice was inside his head. He was in pure darkness, floating above nothing.
“Where am I?” Ryan said, his voice echoed in the darkness. “Who are you?”
“I am nothing and you are nowhere.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“You want to save her; you want to end the torment of chase. You must follow my instructions.”
“Show yourself!”
“There’s nothing to show, now listen arrogant one.”
Ryan frantically looked around for the source of the voice, but everywhere he looked only held darkness.
The elderly woman spoke again. “There is a man you must find. He is the key to your success and survival. He is in the city of Seaport, wandering aimlessly for revenge that you too seek. His name is Bryce, and you must guide him.”
As the woman spoke, the image of a brown haired man appeared in Ryan’s mind. He was tall, but he looked to only be 15 years old. He wore a plan tan shirt with blue jeans; his hair covered his clean shaven face. His eyes were brown, he wore an angry expression.
“I have spoken. Good luck, Ryan.”
“Easy for you to say, you’re nothing in nowhere.” Ryan said under his breath before losing consciousness again.
Ryan opened his eyes to the dark night sky; the moon above was brighter than ever. His head pounded, his back ached. He was half way inside the ground, an indention around him. He sat up, bending a bit to pop his back and joints. Where he was, he wasn’t sure. But he knew he needed to get back to Phyloria. It was his only lead to where Autumn was. He thought back to his “dream” and remembered the strange woman’s words.
“He is the key to your success and survival”
What did he have to lose? He already lost his only ally, he didn’t have a home. So off to seaport he would go.
“No money? No money!?” said the balding bearded man. “Hey Griggs, listen to this stupid fuck! Thinks he can get a ride with no money!”
The man named Griggs was hauling a box from the dock to the large wooden ship, a cruiser Ryan guessed. Griggs was built, shirtless, very tall, and very hairy.
“No money? Who th’ Fuck do y’ think y’ are? Arnold Shwartz?” Griggs set his last box down and stood next to the bearded man who was popping his knuckles.
“I don’t mean to cause any trouble… I just need a ride to Phyloria. You won’t even know I’m there.” Ryan said calmly.
“ I got enough problems with pirates. I don’t need no weirdo stabbin’ me in my sleep.” The bearded man was getting agitated, Ryan could tell.
“I won’t stab you in your sleep. I just need to get to-“
“Listen ya stingy bastard, you’re not getting a ride! Now fuck off before I break your kneecaps!”
“I just want a ride!”
The bearded man’s face reddened, he threw a quick punch at Ryan. Ryan ducked under the punch, grabbed the man’s bulky arm, and snapped his wrist. The crack was loud, but it didn’t seem to stun the man. He threw another punch with his other arm, this time it struck Ryan in the left cheek and he fell to the ground. It didn’t hurt, just pushed. Ryan was back on his feet in an instant.
“Don’t make me hurt you…” Ryan said to the bulky man. But he didn’t mean it, he had every intention to hurt him and his sidekick, and then hijack their boat. It was his only shot at getting back to Phyloria.
“Ya shouldn’t worry about me ya skinny fuck. You should worry about yourself.” The bearded man looked back to Griggs and nodded. Griggs then whistled and from the boat came three men armed with scimitars. They were all shirtless and wore torn tan pants. When Ryan turned back to the bearded man, he had produced a dagger from somewhere and was now holding it, blade outward like some kind of bad ass.
“Please, I don't want any bloodshed.” Ryan said, backing up and holding his hands up.
“Y’shoulduh thoughta’ that b’fore ya went n’ broke my wrist! Griggs, show this scurvy what it means to attack us.”
Griggs nodded, and then motioned the two shirtless shipmates forward. “Make it quick.” He said to them as they dashed towards him. Ryan backed up a bit; his back was to the water.
“I’m warning you two, come near me and you’ll regret it.” He said, readying himself for the two. They didn’t stop.
Their cutlass’ both stabbed towards him, he turned sideways and avoided them both. They were close though, too close for comfort. The shipmates were shocked at Ryan’s speed, their mouths hung open in surprise. Ryan threw both his fists at them, hitting both of them square in the temple. Their heads bounced back together, and then they fell. The cutlass’ fell to either side of Ryan, he knelt to pick one up.
“I told you, don’t come near me.”
Griggs and the balding man stared for a second. The balding man came from his trance first and motioned Griggs forward. “Get ‘m, an’ do it right.”
Griggs stepped forward, slowly moving towards Ryan. Ryan readied the cutlass, it felt weird in his hands now. He was so used to using his own blades. Griggs came within a few feet of Ryan, Ryan put his cutlass up to the air. Griggs placed his cutlass against Ryan’s and they stared at each other for a second.
“Scared?” Ryan asked Griggs.
“Nope.” He replied.
“You should be.”
“Why is that?”
“Because if you spend your time talking…”
Ryan swung his blade against Griggs’ and knocked it out of his hand, then placed the cutlass to his throat.
“…you could be dead in an instant.”
Griggs’ hands raised to the sky, his eyes were closed. Ryan looked past the surrendering Griggs and saw the now infuriated balding man. His dagger still in hand, he rushed forward towards Ryan. Ryan pushed Griggs aside, throwing him to his side, and held the cutlass out in front of him. The balding man didn’t stop, he ran right into the blade. With a scream, he took half the blade through the stomach. Blood ran from the man’s mouth, the dagger still held in his hand.
“Damn you!” he uttered, pulling the blade farther into him, “Damn… you!”
Ryan knew what he was trying, so he simply let go of the blade. The man didn’t have any strength left anyway, and he fell to his knees. “Damn….” And then he fell onto the hilt of the cutlass, pushing the blade fully through his stomach. Blood began to pool around him on the docks.
Ryan ignored the now dead man and turned to Griggs.
“How about that ride?” he asked him, offering his hand. Griggs stared at his hand for a moment, and then looked into Ryan’s eyes. Ryan's hand twitched and he smirked. Griggs grabbed his hand, and before Ryan knew it, he was back in Phyloria.
“So what’re you doing here?” Griggs asked him, pushing past the everlasting crowd of people to stay next to Ryan. The height difference was amazing.
“I need a way into that.” Ryan pointed to a tower overlooking the entire city. It was crafted from steel, like a sword jutting from the bowels of the earth.
“Well you’re not going to get through with pure bloodshed.” Griggs said.
“Do you have a better idea, Griggs?” Ryan asked, still staring at the giant blade.
“Actually, I- “But suddenly, ahead of them a blast of wind threw a suited man into a bench, splintering it. Trees behind the man nearly flew from the ground. He looked like what you’d expect from an FBI officer, straight black hair, sunglasses, and all.
“You’re not taking me back!” A scream emitted from ahead. A man in brown cloak ran out, then suddenly became a blur and appeared in front of the man who was recovering from the broken bench. His fist planted square in the man’s face, throwing him backwards onto the bench. Ryan was amazed at how fast the man recovered again.
“I’ll fucking kill you!” The cloaked man said, holding a hand up to the man. The man lifted off the ground, the veins in his neck showed as he scratched at his neck and in maybe a minute, he fell limp. The cloaked man let his hand drop, and with it he let the man’s corpse fall to the ground. He turned and walking down the street towards Ryan, the crowd that had formed opened up for him and then closed around the dead suited man. Ryan recognized the man. It was who he was to look for, Bryce. When he passed, Ryan pushed his hand into the man’s chest. He was shorter, but not by a lot.
“Hey.” Ryan said, turning to him. Griggs stopped beside him.
“Leave me alone before I snap you in half.” The boy replied, not looking up or raising his voice.
“Try me.” Ryan said with his hand still on the boy’s chest. Suddenly, he was pushed backwards. His feet skidded against the ground, but he kept his balance while Griggs fell backwards and rolled. This boy, this teenager, had something special.
“You’re not normal either.” The boy said, the wind suddenly dying down. “The old hag told me I’d find someone like you. I’m Bryce.”
“So you’ve seen her?” Ryan replied, holding his hand out. “I’m Ryan.”
“Seen her? I’ve spoke with her. Never seen her.” Bryce took Ryan’s hand and shook it firmly.
“Then how do you know it’s an old woman?”
“She just sounded like one to me. She told me to follow you, she told me I had to do what you said when you said it. I take it you’re after Kai?”
“Of course.” Ryan nodded, letting his hand fall back to his side.
Bryce let out a huff. “What’d he do to you?”
“He initiated me into an experiment. He tried to make me more equipment than man, and he succeeded halfway. Now he wants me dead because his human tank is on the run.”
Bryce nodded. “That sounds pretty bad.”
Ryan nodded back. “And what’d he do to you that pissed you off so bad?”
“Same thing. Except it was maybe 800 years ago.”
Ryan shook his head. “Kids and their imaginations.” He looked back to Griggs, who chuckled. “So can you prove this, Bryce?”
Bryce didn’t skip a beat, he instantly jumped on the history of the world. “In 2008, I was abducted while walking home from a thing called High School. Kai had kidnapped me and a few other highschoolers. He knocked us out, took us to some lab somewhere, and fucked with our genes, DNA, and all that other shit we have in our bodies. We escaped after we figured what we could do, most of us died, and I’ve been on the run ever since. I’ve almost killed Kai 6 times but each time he’s gotten away. I haven’t aged a second since that day. Don’t fucking laugh, I’m not lying.”
“Right kid…” Griggs said. Suddenly, he was lifted into the air. He clawed at his throat as the man in the suit did, but he was let down before his demise.
“Do you believe me yet?” Bryce asked, looking to Ryan.
“I should be able to believe anything. I’m half machine anyway.”
Griggs looked from Ryan to Bryce and back again. “Wait… You’re not joking? We’re seriously going to go kill Chancellor Kai?”
“Chancellor Kai? When the fuck did that happen?!” Ryan exclaimed.
“That happened a while ago.” Bryce said. “They voted him in because of the war sparked in California. Who better to run the country than a former Lieutenant? Especially one who’s lived as long as I have.”
Griggs rolled his eyes. “Here we go…”
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That's all, for now. |
Submission Name: Modified (Still Unfinished) (Updated to hell)
