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RP: 188604 [Psychopomp] Alpha and Omega

Talarn

Inactive Member
?/??/YE 34
PP LLC Training Facility
System 87D

Up and down the line, instructors in their unmarked combat fatigues walked, either correcting combat postures or punishing those that showed "kindness" in their hits. Bloody lips, bruised cheeks, and a myriad of other such injuries ranged across the twenty-one twelve year-olds; forced to face off against each other. Nomine, being the odd one out, was given a single pair to work with; a boy and a girl that towered a good few inches over him. One of them was nursing an injury that Nomine had delivered during their last few minutes of full-contact sparring.

Nomine's lip had split open, fresh blood leaking onto her previously white shirt and pants.
It stung, itched, and above all else it hurt. She was tempted to bite it, end the pain with more pain, but Nomine knew it was just going to get it infected. This, alongside several other 'experiments', had come about when one of their numbers attempted an escape; causing trouble along the way until he was captured and re-processed. Having had enough, the faculty decided to punish their test subjects, throwing them against each other as a warning to the rest.

Try to escape again and this is what will happen.

There was little time for Nomine to worry about her friend as she awoke from her daze and, with a reflexive step back, felt the knuckle of the boy's fist graze her nose. Her right hand shot up, snapping around his left arm's elbow, gripping it tightly as she spun her body around and pulled the arm along with her; twisting it back and up until she felt the joint straighten and immediately smashed into it with her right elbow. The boy cried out in pain as Nomine felt it snap and go lax in her hand. A foot kicked him out of the way as the taller girl took advantage of this moment and struck her across the stomach with another; knocking the air temporarily out of her lungs.

Gasping, Nomine stumbled back and had barely enough time to bring up her guard as the girl relentlessly punched and jabbed at her, going around her raised arms with ruthless accuracy. Her ribs ached, but she felt the breath slowly returning to her lips, and, with a huff she sucked in a deep one and stopped in her retreat, pressing forward with one vicious step and promptly smashed her raised arms against the tall girl's chest. Nomine's foot then came around the achille's heel and swiftly tripped her, falling with and down on top of her opponent as hands shot out to grab her.

She felt arms coiling around her, hands attempting to force her body off and to the side. Nomine resisted and did the only thing she could do at this point -- she found the girl's chest and bit down. Hard. Hard enough to draw blood. The pain was important enough that Nomine's opponent relented her attempt at a choke-hold and attempted to push her off instead; fingers digging into her face and head like claws. It was the momentum that came from Nomine's release of the girl's nipple, a trickle of blood pooling around the front of her shirt, and the relaxation of her body that allowed the brown-eyed doe to raise her knee and smash it into her downed opponent's privates.

When she stood up in victory, her lip trickled a fresh trail of blood, her hair disheveled and messy. The beginnings of a nosebleed were starting to come about, Nomine simply sniffing and spitting the wad of saliva and blood off to the side. Her two opponents lay there, groaning in pain and agony. And when the combat high died down and the drugs ceased to course through her veins?

Nomine felt a swelling of emotion and tears threatening to fall down her cheeks.

Alex ... what have I done?
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?/?/YE 34
Living Quarters 2C
System 87D
Two hours after 'Excercise #24-B'


Alex marched himself into the living quarters assigned to him, he looked around curiously. He didn't know what he was doing here, but the grown-ups had told him that he should sleep in here. They had seemed nice enough.

Nomine looked over at the sound of the doors opening, immediately hopping down from the top bunk as she saw who it was, moving quickly to intercept and hug him as he arrived. "Alex!" She cried out, excitedly, squeezing him so tight that if it weren't for their post-enhanced state; his ribs and back would have been broken.

Alex shied away a little. Who was this person? Why was she hugging him? How did she know his name? These questions raced through his mind for a moment or two before he tried to break the embrace.

"W-Who're you? How do you know my name?" He asked, his eyes wide and his voice shaky.

Nomine, in her haste, let go of the boy, her friend, and took a step back. She seemed hurt that he didn't remember her -- but that soon passed as concern took over her bandaged features. A roll of the stuff had been wrapped around one of her eyes, a thick application of gauze pads bulging out from underneath; another set of gauze and medical tape rolled over her nose. Her lip, previously bloody, was now dry and cleaned; though the cut was still apparent and visible.

"I'm .. Nomine. You don't remember me? We've been friends for .. for .. I don't know. A long time?"

Alex frowned for a moment, and cocked his head in thought before responding. "I'm really sorry. I don't remember anything right now. All I know is that I woke up underneath some bright lights and the grown ups were nice to me and told me to go get some sleep."

"But .. but you hate them," Nomine then seemed to realize what was amiss, though she didn't know what yet. "Were there .. machines around you? Cables, tubes? People wearing masks?" She would inquire, frowning herself now.

Alex frowned again. "Errrr... yeah. There were a bunch of cables attached to this metal thing in my neck." As he spoke he turned slightly and tapped his OGU.

Nomine stared at the OGU, tilting her head this way and that as she didn't understand exactly what it was. She was smart enough to have figured out the basics but in the end she was just a little girl being told what to do. Sighing, she went to sit down on the bottom bunk and looked towards Alex. "Well, I .. I guess we can get to know each other all over again?" She would suggest, then smiled as she extended her hand towards him.

"Hi, my name is Nomine. What's yours?"

Alex took the hand offered, and gave it a gentle squeeze before shaking it.

"My name's Alex. It's nice to meet you Nomine. Umm... If you don't mind me asking, what happened to you? You look like you're hurt. Is there something I can do to help?"

She shook her head, her free hand coming up to gently touch the bandages and gauze pads. "No, it's alright. How are you enjoying your time here? Did you .. make any friends yet?" Nomine would ask, pulling her hand away from Alex's. It bothered her that he no longer remembered. She wondered what they did to him for all of his previous fire and action to have just been snuffed out.

"No. I just woke up a few minutes ago. They told me to come in here. I guess I sleep in here now."

"Yeah, I .. yes, here," Nomine slid off the bottom bunk bed and patted it, as if that would make the mattress, sheets and paper-thin blankets more comfortable then they seemed. "You sleep here. I sleep on the top bed." She would emphasize this by reaching up on her toes to tap the metal hinge holding the thing up, before grabbing hold of it and pulling herself up, legs hanging over the sides as she looked down at Alex. "Well, we're going to have a long day ahead of us tomorrow. You should get some sleep, Alex."

Alex slid himself onto the bottom bed, wrapping himself in the thin blanket and resting his head on his hard pillow as he fell asleep.

Nomine laid down, thoughts wandering as the lights in their room flickered off, the door clicking as the internal and electronic locks engaged; sealing them in until the next day. Lights out. Curfew. "Good night, Alex .." She whispered, sighing softly as she closed her eyes.

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?/??/YE 36
PP LLC Training Facility
System 87D
Two Years Later ...


The same routine as two years ago, except their numbers were now consistent at twenty-two young adults. Nomine had did her best to keep Alex from repeating what had caused his memory wipe oh so long ago, an anchor to his propellor that refused to stop spinning, moving forward constantly. The first year, he was docile enough, happy to listen to the adults in the white labcoats, at least until they started up their brutal regime and Alex found himself feeling a little too conscious about what was going on. It wasn't until nearly half-way through the second year that he became fed up with what was happening and, had it not been for Nomine foiling his attempts at every turn, he most certainly would have had a repeat. She couldn't, wouldn't, and absolutely refused to let that happen again. Each attempt he made, Nomine was there to stop him, always scolding him for being so impulsive without thinking. A time will come. Just be patient.

Here, Alex and Nomine stood side by side, a pair against another; drugs pumping through their veins as the combat high and adrenaline took hold. The OGU prevented them from doing otherwise, the subtle effects and suggestions taking hold as, despite the two knowing that what they were doing was wrong -- they had little choice in the matter. Today, they were armed with IAW rifles, loaded with live ammunition. The room they were located in differed in the fact that it was filled to the brim with vegetation, foliage, and trees that stretched high up into the canopy. The air was hot, tropical, and humid. They wore multi-cam fatigues, somewhat matching the environment they were supposed to blend into.

A bullet whizzed past Alex's face as the tree he used as cover spit up splintered bark. The two had encountered the other pair early on, barely five minutes in before the skirmish began. An intense chase eventually led the duo here, surrounded on both sides by former friends turned enemies. Nomine resisted the urge to call out Alex's name, biting her lip as she went back to scanning the area in front of her; having taken some cover behind a rock; thick foliage allowing her to blend in somewhat.

"You okay?" She would simply say without turning her head, audible enough due to their proximity.

Alex whispered back in a similar fashion. "Yeah. Do you see anything?" He was furious at Psychopomp for forcing their child soldiers in the making to fight like this.

"No, they're hiding pretty well. I think I saw Daniel on top of one of the trees .. he always did like being a marksman," Nomine found herself smiling, despite the fact they could get killed at any moment. "And as for Cecila, your guess is as good as mine .. she's good at stealth. She's probably well within range and out of sight at this point." It was a bad situation all-around. Their opponent's complemented each other well. The perfect assassination team, they were rumored to have been named.

Alex gave it a moment's thought before responding. "I think what we need to do is make a quick move into the open, I'll dodge Daniel when he tries to shoot, and then you take him out. After that we'll be safe to move into open space where Cecilia will be at a disadvantage when it comes to sneaking around."

"Alex, wait, Daniel's probably waiting for you to do just that - we've been paired up with them twelve times just this month alone. They know how you think. And they'll know I'll have no choice but to follow through with you when you act." Nomine would say, doing her best to dissuade him from doing something foolish. Then again, there was a side in Nomine that believed he could pull it off, if only because there was a chance the initial shot could miss. There was also the fact Cecilia was out there, just waiting. Watching.

"But you're right, we can't sit here for long. Let me pop out and draw their fire. They won't expect me, out of the both of us, to do something so tactically disadvantageous." It was another word for 'stupid' -- and she volunteered to be it.

"Right, then while you're drawing fire, should I go after Cecilia or Daniel?" Alex asked. Either of them would be vulnerable as soon as they opened fire at Nomine and exposed their positions.

As if reading his mind, Nomine fingered the safety to her weapon. "Either or, I suppose, whomever decides to break their cover first." She nodded, her legs tensing as she crouched low and raised her rifle up. "We'll meet up on the other side. If I go down, don't come and help me. Our bodies are enhanced, remember? A bullet won't kill me." With that said, Nomine took in a deep breath and -- jumped through the foliage, making as much rustling and movement as possible as she came out the other side; leaves and twigs clinging to her as an unmistakeable crack followed by a zip and a bang echoed nearby. Though it seemed to have gone towards Alex's end instead of Nomine's.

As Daniel re-adjusted, silently cursing at himself for listening to Cecilia's warning, moved his rifle over and trailed the running Nomine, firing off another shot. Snap. Nomine spun around as the round penetrated the exposed end of her vest, hitting her just under the armpit. She gritted her teeth and hissed with pain as she fell to the floor, though she raised her weapon and began firing off a couple of bursts towards the tree Nomine surmised he would be in.

Meanwhile, Cecilia creeped in for the kill ...

Alex swung around the tree he was hiding, and began to search for a target. He thought he saw some rustling ferns to Nomine's left, and fired a burst into them, sure that it was Cecilia. Daniel still had too much cover to take a shot on him.

Daniel maintained his position, at least until the shots coming from Nomine started getting too close for comfort. He jumped down from where he was, make-shift ghillie suit rustling in the air as he dropped to the forest floor and did a tactical roll, getting back up to move to another location. Cecilia cried out as she was shot through the arm and right side, falling over. She felt the hard barrel of a rifle poking against her head as she made a move to get up, Nomine's pale face curling into a smile. It would have been a hilarious thing to see were it not for the seriousness of their situation. Nomine was literally holding the rifle, though thankfully it was resting against the forest floor for maximum comfort, with one hand; arm extended to ensure the barrel just barely tapped against the back of Cecilia's head.

"Don't even think about it .. it's time to let the boys play. Reach for your knife and I'll put a bullet through your head." She would warn her counter-part.

Alex began to dash towards the last place he had seen Daniel, whose ghillie suit had undoubtably slowed him considerably, before scanning the area with his eyes, searching for more movement, particularly in the trees.

Suddenly, seemingly from out of nowhere, Daniel came; his sniper rifle now a bat as he swung the grip and handle towards Alex's head. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!" It would appear he was also going out of the norm in an attempt to catch his adversary off-guard.

Alex, thanks to his enhanced reflexes, was able brace himself for the hit before attempting to catch the sniper rifle with his left hand while pivoting and striking up at Daniel's nose with the palm of his right one.

The resistance Alex felt coming from the make-shift bat disappeared as Daniel promptly let go and kicked out with his foot; straight into Alex's face as he pivoted in.

Alex winced at the pain as his nose broke and blood began to stream from it. Now that Daniel had let go of the rifle/bat Alex was able to swing it towards the now weaponless marksman's head.

Daniel's arm came up to endure the brunt of the attack, grunting as he felt the sharper parts digging in, the once proud rifle was reduced to a bludgeoning tool. His other hand came around to throw a swing towards Alex's face.

This time, Alex was ready for the attack, and it missed as he ducked and let go of the rifle while Daniel was still off balance, before performing a kick in which he spun 360 degrees before his left heel slammed into Daniel's chest.

Daniel fell back, stumbling as he struggled to regain his footing, a series of undergrowth caught his right foot and promptly caused him to tumble back; back hitting the floor hard. His hand fumbled, grasping for a make-shift weapon, finding it in a small and sharp pebble, throwing it towards Alex's head as he started working his foot out of the twisted vines.

Astonishingly, Alex managed to catch the pebble, and while it didn't hit his head, it cut a gash in his hand. He strode towards Daniel slowly, and unbeknownst to him his figure was something out of a horror film or a nightmare.

Sensing that the end was near, Alex and Nomine's OGU implants were temporarily taken control of, their motor functions and logical imperatives overriden as one single order was given.

Kill them.

Nomine seemed to realize what was happening and, despite her best efforts, could not pull the gun away from Cecilia in time; her eyes glassing over as she pulled the trigger. Cecilia's head snapped back, eyes rolling back into their sockets as the bullet passed into her cranium and perferorated the inside, before coming out the other end in a bloody hole.

Alex did his best to resist the chemical impulses being pumped into his body. He attempted to pull the barrel away from Daniel's head in time to avoid killing him.

The order was difficult to resist and Alex felt it, his hand twitching and trembling as mind and body fought for control. The first shot grazed Daniel's ear, blowing it off. "AAAAAH! J-just finish it, Alex! STOP FIGHTING IT!" He yelled out, a hand coming up to cup his bloody ear, trickles of red starting to drip down his arm in a steady stream.

"N-no!" Alex shouted back. But this time, his efforts were insufficient and his body, no longer under his own control, fired a round point blank into Daniel's skull.

Daniel fell back, his end swift and painless as the bullet opened a hole on the back of his head. The OGU's impulse subsided soon after his expiration, giving Alex full control of his extremeties once more. A rustling came from behind, and as he would turn, he would see Nomine -- with her rifle raised at him?

Then it returned as abruptly as it left.

Now. Kill her.

One thought came through Alex's mind. No. He fought the impulses the best he could. No no no no no. He wouldn't, he couldn't kill her.

Nomine's eyes were lifeless, face as expressionless and robotic as the order she seemed to be forced to follow continued to transmit. Like a marionette on strings. With little hesitation, she turned the rifle around and placed the barrel under her chin, thumb held against the trigger.

Then I will.

Alex dived forward, attemping to tackle her to the ground.

BANG. Alex felt the heat of the round exiting the barrel as it passed near his cheek, the rifle dislodging itself from Nomine's hands as she was tackled to the ground. He was relieved at first, until he found his hands inadvertently wrapped around his friend's neck. Despite his best efforts, he could not pull away, as if super-glue had fused his fingers with Nomine's throat.

Kill her.

That order continued to impose itself upon Alex's mind, like an annoying tick that refused to go away until the urge was satisfied.

Alex continued to try to resist, but his hands began to shake and slowly close. He groaned with effort. "Hrrrrg... I'm... sorry... Nomine... I... can't... stop... it..." His words were punctuated by more groans as he failed to keep his hands from closing on her neck.

Nomine's wits returned to her just as her airway came under attack by Alex's invading appendages. For a moment she considered struggling, before realizing that even if she did, her mind would black out and it would happen anyway. They were forcing them to kill each other now, sorting out the wheat from the chaff through elimination matches. Alex would survive, him being the original template, but the rest appeared to be fair game.

As she felt herself struggling to breath, Nomine's hand squirmed out from underneath Alex, fingers going over the pommel of her sheathed knife and began pulling at it; biting her lip to silence her body's self-preservation. With some effort, she pulled the knife out and promptly plunged it into Alex's left side. The jagged edge and tapered tip easily cutting through flesh and penetrating vital organs.

The pain was enough to override the OGU's indoctrination, Nomine's hand coming up to pull and push Alex's hands off and away from her neck. Wheezing and coughing, she managed to shove him away, keeping the knife inside so that he might maintain some semblance of free will. The raven-haired girl crawled over and held his head against her chest, her next words a bare whisper. "You need to get out of here .. I'm going to get you out. I promise."

The sound of alarm klaxons signaled the end of the exercise. The simulation sliding into the walls as masked men wearing blue-white uniforms came out from behind a tree and loaded the deceased Daniel and Cecilia onto stretchers, carting them off. Another came to take and pull Nomine off of Alex, an additional two peeling off from the main group to hold her still as one withdrew and prepared a syringe, injecting a knock-out agent into her neck. She cried out briefly as, seconds later, her body went into a violent seizure and began foaming from the mouth. Alex last sight of her was her still convulsing body being half-dragged, half-pulled away.

A trio of similarly clad men wearing white coveralls and blue surgical masks approached, kneeling over as they immediately went to work treating his injuries.

He was the most important investment.
He was her friend.


Tears were streaming from his eyes, his hatred for Psychopomp burning like a coal fresh from the center of a raging fire.

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12/30/YE 37
Hangar Bay
Transport Ship Theta 54-ATC "Argon"
Engine Room
System 87D
One Week before Liberation


Nomine's hands shook as she re-wired the last of the explosives, a dried splotch of dark-red blood staining the back of her neck as she stopped working on the delicate internals for a moment, reaching back with a hand to check on her OGU, wincing as her cold fingers touched the open wound. She shuddered and immediately went back to work, tearing out control panels and putting them back on hastily to make it obvious enough to cover up her finer points of sabotage.

Alex was on-board this ship, having been put into ice and sleep since the training "incident" where thirteen of the twenty-two A.H. clones were pitted against each other and killed. As the original, the progenitor, and the most valuable of Psychopomp's first foray into genetic manipulation on a molecular level; he would get to live out the rest of his life on a cushy comfort planet. After the incident they began wiping his mind every few weeks instead of once a month. It was lucky of him that Nomine eventually learned to have a journal written down of everything so that she could catch him up again. She used it to remind him of his hatred for Psychopomp, his drive to escape, to come back stronger then ever before and destroy the corporation for what it had done to them. To him. To her. And the promise she made to him.

Eventually Alex began writing in it himself, making the memory course all the more convincing when a newly wiped Alex came back to see, in his own hand-writing, that Psychopomp was not what he thought it was. Things seemed well until he was taken away once more for his daily mind wipe, except this time he did not return. Days turned into weeks, weeks into months as Nomine waited; eventually hearing rumors come down the corporate grape vine that "Subject A.H." was to be transported out to another facility by the end of this year. Gossip was the killer of all secrets, as one could not resist the urge to tell.

Covered in grime, grease, and oil from crawling through the inactive engine core, Nomine pulled herself out and, just for the sake of throwing the trail off even further, smashed a power wrench against an insignificant portion of the ship's interior; denting it. It was then dropped and lay forgotten as she walked out. She had been patient, biding her time until she was certain this last, foolish plan would help her fulfill the promise she made. This moment and the results of her actions would seal the girl's fate. Nomine would be treated as a rampant child, foolishly lashing out towards the company in a series of temper tantrums, all of it culminating to this final act of defiance.

When they found her, heavily armed guards and all, they beat her to the point of death and asked her what she had done. They explained to her the futility of it all, that they had found her bombs, that her accomplices in the remaining children had been punished accordingly and executed, that she was going to be next. She balled up a thick wad of spit, blood, and snot; promptly expelling it from her mouth onto the Psychopomp employee's face, earning her another series of brutal kicks, punches, and weapon's bashing.

It was one man that stopped it all.

"Save her. She's the last one. We'll find a use for her, make her obedient. Let her no longer have to feel the burden of responsibility, emotion, and let's see how long she'll last without anesthetics."

Blood trickled from the sides of her mouth as Nomine rested her aching head against the cold floor, eyes blinded by the malfunctioning OGU she purposefully sabotaged to remain sane. Her dark-brown eyes glassed over into a misty white, irises blood-shot as the organic circuits and connections malfunctioned. She "cried" tears of blood, bleeding from them as the pain of fractured ribs, multiple internal hemorrhages, and a punctured lung seemed to pale in comparison to the immense relief she felt.

They knew nothing about the virus. Alex would be free.
 
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