Why does every story start at the beginning when the end is the best part. Well this one will start with an ending. As the final stages of the war draw near, both sides face total destruction. The mortals have made the gods paradise an irradiated wasteland, while the gods have whittled down the remaining humans to only a few thousand. Neither side has the ability to survive their own weapons anymore. So that's how the war ended with the gods and humans promising not to fire the last shot. But the question remained who could arbitrate this cease fire. No god nor human would be trusted with the task. That's how we ended up with the demigods as the new rulers of the planet.
Now five centuries later both sides have recovered and the demigods have grown corrupt in their rule. Using the magic of the gods and the mecks of the mortals as their primary peacekeeping tool. Both the gods and humans are close to open revolt and this causes the first among the peacekeepers to tighten his rule.
No human has been able to produce a truly living machine. This has remained forever the realm of gods. And gods collections of psychic energy that reach the point required to trigger a self sustaining reaction. Find technology hard to interface with.
As the peace continued and the resentment shifted from each other to the peacekeepers people from both sides started experimenting as is the nature of any living being. As their societies spread across the stars the tight fisted control of the peacekeepers chafed more and more.
The first thing I see when I open my eyes are the warped faces of a group of disparate people only linked by their lab coats. Some of metal, others of fur and scale. Then boxes flicker flash into place in my vision, one surrounding each person's face. Each box identifies a person with their name and security clearance. The man in the front kyle is his name he is the only one still in any sort of human form says “is it on” a timid boy named Patrick with four arms each with a data pad says
“i in initiation successful. The mark 34 prototype is online.”
“good good” the man in the front says “no signs of madness? No, none good.”
“Well,” asks the metal woman named Selena. “Does it work?” just then the sirens start blaring.
“Peacekeeper raid in progress, please hide all illegal items and have the necessary bribes ready.” The door collapses inward cut through with welding torches. The scientists all reveal weapons built into their forms. Metal lady's arms open into two glowing barrels that shoot energy beams into the oncoming seven foot mechs. Four arms produces a blade of scisiling energy from each arm. The one non augmented human has been killed in the split second it took for this to happen.
The same bullet that punched right through the man impacts the glass of my enclosure and shatters it. The water carries me out onto the floor as tubes break away from my skin. I stay there on all six of my limbs staring at my two metal hands and two flesh. Each is of a different design. Top right is metal smooth as silk no joint no seem nothing. The bottom right is flesh. It is made from a dark reddish purple reptile. It's covered in scales and has claws instead of the fingertips. My top left arm is that of a cat with the addition of an opposable thumb. My last arm is made of strands of metal shaped into the form of an arm.
Then a shot rips through the arm made of wire. Leaving strands disconnected slowly coming back into alignment. I shoot to my feet and run for the emergency exit. I'm at the door when an explosion plants my face straight into the door, shooting the door with me attached out of the building and landing thirty meters away. I slowly lose consciousness as I feel the rain pitter patter down on my back.
I wake up thirty two minutes later as my interface informs me. I see the skyscrapers passing by at a crawl. The door I'm lying on is being dragged down an alley by a drone marked waste disposal. I roll off the door and climb to my feet. I look to the street and see passers by all walking fast. Most of them have boxes but no names show up, only a no data yellow light. All the buildings around me are so tall that street lights are needed till nearly halfway up as flying vehicles tear their way through the air between the skyscrapers. I'm still unsteady on my feet with walking being new and all. This man yells at me from behind me down the alley “Worthless drunk go back to wherever the drone found you.”
Ignoring him I brace myself against the wall and stumble my way out onto the street. Most people are in a hurry and push their way past me with no regard. I end up getting carried through the traffic with no real destination. i bump into people constantly getting curses apology's and a few stick their hands in my pockets i don't know why. About thirty minutes go by and I end up leaving the flow of traffic in a strange part of town. It looks like it went halfway through being gentrified then was given up on. I see a building with people streaming into and out of it. i think it looks to be the most likely place for me to find some sort of help. Opening the door a wall of noise hits me.
The building has tables scattered around with a few blinking arcade games. In the back, there is a long counter with a red haired bear of a man made half from steel standing behind pouring people drinks the wall behind him is filled with displays of the drinks available.
“What’ll you have?” he asks.
“Um I'm a bit lost could you help me out?" I ask.
“Sure, just wait here a moment and I'll be happy to give you directions after you buy a drink.”
“oh i don't have any money.”
“What kinda idiot walks into a bar with zero credits.” asks the man.
“One who doesn't have any idea where they are or what to do” I say.
“Look lady, I'm not looking to start up a charity here. You don’t got something to offer then it ain't my business.” he turns away.
“Wait, no I can have something to trade.”
“Well why didn’t you say so." he says turning back like a wolf that smelled fresh meat. "Whatta you got.”
“Well i don’t know what do you want” i ask
“So offering to procure me something huh?”
“Yes” I say confidence building.
“Okay I'll bite, I'll give you a job but” he raises one finger made from metal “you gotta tell me who told you i was in the business of procuring jobs for people with less than legal skill sets.”
“Soooooo?” “who was it he asks”
“Oh no one just dumb luck.”
“Fine, play that way but see if you get any easy contracts from me.”
“Will you answer some of my questions before I go out?” I ask
“So where am I? What's this place? Who are you? Do you know where I'm supposed to go?”
“Wow where you been, how'd you not know basic info like that.” “It's like you just woke up for,, the,,, first…..” “ohhhhhhh i get it you a loose clone or something?”
“Super convincing” he says “hey Alice come man the bar.”
“Sure boss” says a woman as she comes around to behind the bar. He brings me through a waiting room to an office. There's a lady in a big swivel chair behind the desk.
“Hey boss, found something you might be interested in.” he says.
“Thanks for knocking Rick and thank you sooo much for waiting for permission to come in.” says the lady in the chair.
“No problem boss.” says the man leaving without another word.
“So what's your story, Arms?” asks the lady.
"because it's your best option. people who have better options don't come to me." i shrug.
“okay I woke up for the first time in a vat then these people came barging through the door and I made a run for it after getting shot.” I inform her as an interested look grows on her face.
“Not the craziest Tuesday ever but still bad.” she says. “So I'm thinking we help each other out. Sound good?”
“Okay first don’t agree to stuff you don’t fully understand.”
“Got it” she rolls her eyes
“Second, I'm thinking you would have a rough time of it doing anything legal. considering your,,, situation. so we’ll set you up as muscle and you can do some jobs for me. Anyone who can walk off getting shot is welcome in my books. sounds good?” I nod “good.”she says. “We’ll start off with something simple to get you going.”
“Okay?” I agree tentatively.
“So your first target will be the peacekeepers” she says.
“The ones who shot up the lab you were born in.”
“I thought as much. Now listen. Your job is easy, you'll be an extra pair of hands. This is a classic fast in and out. They have valuables. We have people who pay well to have them. You get the valuables I sell them. We all get paid.”
“Sounds good,” I say. “Where do I start?”
“Out in the bar they’ll be gathering soon. Go go now. Bye.” she shoos me out and i walk out into the bar the guy behind it asks
“Hey the boss lady give you the go ahead?”
“Good good” he says “the rest are meeting in that far corner.” With more than a little conversational whiplash I nod in mute stunned silence and walk over to the indicated corner.
I walk up to the people in the corner. They all have a gruff look about them. “Hey I was told you were the ones who needed an extra pair of hands on the job.”
“Yah says the least visibly augmented one. Who might you be?”
“Sure if you want it like that” says the guy. “I'm Victor, this tall one to my left is Nick, the short red haired lady to my right is Beth and the guy behind you is Red. He don't talk much. With you that makes five. We’ll be calling you Jane doe.”
“Okay so what exactly are we doing here?” I ask.
“We are doing a very intricate job, you are here to help us carry more shit out.”
“Fair enough” I say. “Let’s go”
“I like the attitude” says Beth, “but we are waiting about 2 hours before we head out. We need to get there in time to miss the patrol but with enough time to set up and ambush the convoy.”
i sit down. "so whats your deal? asks victor.
"me? I'm just hired muscle specifically to help carry boxes."
"right right but how'd you end up here in this line of work? you can carry boxes other places with much less danger." asks nick
"hey man don't freak her out." hisses beth. in a louder voice she says "not much danger here we'll take care of the risk all you need to do is grab as many boxes as you can carry in those four arms." after 2 more hours and 2 minutes of talking we then head out to the van parked in the lot behind the bar. "alright everyone in here you know the drill." everyone piles into the car and we head through the streets and park in an alley. "okay we are a way down from where we are setting up the ambush." “Hey you” victor's new way of referring to me. “Bring this case down there carefully and give it to Red, he's our explosive expert.” i walk down the street carrying a little case about five inches on each side and give it to red. He of course grunts in reply then opens the case that I see is filled with small half inch cubes. He then lines them up one after the other across the street that the car will be driving down. next he sets up a lazer crossing the road on top of where the cubes are placed. We then retreat down the road and wait for 6 minutes before the action starts. The car comes driving down the street it hits the line of explosive and the front of the car flies up then back as it lands upside down. The others in the team run over guns drawn. The two men are stunned one recovers in three seconds the other takes a full minute to realize what happened. the fast one silently hits the release button on his seatbelt drops to the roof of the car and rolls with the impact. the other just now realizing whats happening tries and fails to do the same. after the fast one helps the clumsy one onto his feet they both come out with their hands up, Beth grabs them and ties their hands behind their back.
Victor yells “come here jane and help us carry all this.”
“Okay” I reply. We get to the back of the car and Nick is prying the doors open.
“Hey boss these are pretty tough but I've almost got it” he says.
“Okay” says victor. "but hurry it up we only have so much time."
“Hey Vic I'm watching the guards have jane bring my load over so i don't have to take my eyes off them”
“Okay jane your on that” says victor as Nick finally gets the doors open and I see what we are stealing. It’s ten steel crates.
“I see why you needed some extra hands” I say gesturing with both sets at once. “I'll grab a and bring it back to beth.”
“Okay good” says victor. I grab the crate and lift with much more strength than is required it is easy to lift surprisingly easy to lift. I bring it over to Beth and put the crate down next to her. Then one of the guys she’s watching breaks his steel cuffs when she’s looking at me and the crate. The man then lunges at me making a grab for my shoulder. Something clicks into place in my mind and I can suddenly see better, hear more and it feels like time has slowed down to a crawl though I know I've just sped up. As his hand approaches a thousand possibilities pass through my mind each a variant on how I should respond. I sift through them and pick the most efficient option. I slap his hand to the side with bone cracking force then step up and to the side of him where I then sink the claws on my right bottom hand into his shoulder. then once i have a good grip throw him against the side of the car making a dent and a clang.
“Good job newbie” says Beth as she goes to check on the man. “He’s alive, thank the creator. We don’t need that kinda heat on us.” “But newbie what happened? I thought you didn’t know anything.”
“I don’t know, it just sorta came to me.” i say.
“Must be some high grade augment. You sure no ones gonna come looking for you?” she asks.
“Well i don’t think so most of the people where i woke up were all pretty massacred.”
“Well that certainly makes it much less likely you'll be targeted.” She says. “But does the big boss know about you?”
“If by big boss you mean the lady in the back of the bar then yes.”
“Good. you go get the rest of the crates we’re taking I'm gonna watch the one conscious one.”
“Sounds good.” I reply walking back to grab two crates this time seeing as I have the extra hands for it and the strength. “Hey boss we ran into some trouble with one of the guys but beth says he’ll make it.” I report to victor.
“Good” he says “we’ll need to move out now. Nick, Red grab a crate each.” he says while doing the same himself.
“Sure thing boss.” says Nick while red silent as ever just grunts. We all get going to the van each with a crate, me with an extra. As we load up the van we can hear noise building in the far distance.
“Alright everyone, good job.” says victor. “Now we head back to the bar.”
“Um, I have a slight worry.” I say. “I noticed some cameras around, won't they know who we are?”
“No no see we have nick here for that reason.” says beth red grunts an agreement.
“Hey I thought it was for my winning personality,” Nick complains.
“Sorry to break it to you man” says victor. “But no.”
“I'm hurt, wounded, devastated, I'll never recover.” Nick says.
Confused, I say “but you look fine.” Everyone burst out laughing. “What what’d i say?”
“It'll make sense later on.” says victor.
We get back to the bar and pile out of the van. “Alright everyone the boss will have our haul taken and everyone will get a share.” says victor. “Jane, you and me are gonna go talk to the boss. We’ll get your payment sorted out." I nod and follow Victor through the back door of the bar and through a few hallways to the front where we then go to the waiting room. We sit down and wait for three minutes and thirty nine seconds. Victor stands suddenly just as I'm about to ask what the holdup is. we walk into the room and without preamble victor starts off the conversation with “Hey boss jane here did pretty well and since we had five people i was thinking 18% of the profits?”