Dark Horizon

Act 2 – Cycon Strikes Back

Part 4 – The Offer

Location: Cycon Research Facility

V1RUS, Faithless, CaSh and Alucard awaken to find themselves contained within prison cells.  Alucard and Faithless are being kept in one cell while V1RUS and CaSh are in another.  The cells are constructed with strong, durable steel and contain only a single tiny window in the center of the door.  Outside each cell stand two guards keeping watch on the recently captured prisoners.

Alucard stands up and looks around the room.  He notices a beat up, ragged bed set in the corner and a dirty toilet next to it.  A puzzled look falls upon his face as he tries to gather his exact location.

Faithless:  Something wrong?

Alucard:  Yea…where the hell are we?

Faithless:  Looks like a prison to me.

Alucard:  You gotta be shittin’ me.

Faithless:  Sorry, but it’s a prison.

Alucard:  Yea I realize that.  But the fact that they stuck you in a prison with me…they are true assholes.

Faithless:  Funny.  Nothing can change you can it?

Alucard:  Come on!  We have one bed, one toilet…how is a man suppose to shit with somebody like you sitting there watchin?

Faithless:  Please…I’ve had my fair share of knock-out gas today.  I don’t need anymore.

Alucard:  Ha!  You thought that was bad?  You just wait cause I’m gonna muster up somethin’ really nice for you.

Faithless:  You’re gross.

Meanwhile in the cell of V1RUS and CaSh.

CaSh:  I can’t believe this.  Come all this way to get stuck in Cycon’s fuckin prison dump.

V1RUS:  Looks like they knew we were coming.  Placed us right into their trap.

CaSh:  Well we gotta get out, quick.  Spickster is up there somewhere getting mind fucked and we’re stuck here, probably next in line.

V1RUS:  It’s possible, but I highly doubt it.  If anything I’d think they’d bait us then kill us.  We are the outcome of an experiment gone wrong, no fixing it.

CaSh:  Stop with all the pessimistic bullshit.  If anything we are the perfect experiment, the ones to stop all of this.  And as far as baiting us goes, I hope Fatal shows up because from what I’ve seen their defense doesn’t stand a chance.

V1RUS:  They will if Spickster’s change is complete.  They had the knowledge to make one that powerful, they’ll do it again.

A knock is heard coming from the small window on the cell door.

Guard 1:  Time to get up boys, the administrator has asked us to bring you up to his office.  Walk into the middle of the room with your backs to the door and hands on your head.  Don’t move because it’ll hurt.

V1RUS:  Opportunity?

CaSh:  No...I’d like to meet this prick.

V1RUS shrugs and walks to the middle of the room, turns around and puts his hands on his head.  CaSh quickly follows and sets himself in the same position.  A few beeping noises are heard followed by a large clunk.  The door slides open and two guards run in with their firearms drawn.  Two more guards walk up to V1RUS and CaSh, grab their arms and cuff them behind their back.

Guard 1:  Like I said, don’t do anything stupid.  Just follow directions and nobody will have to get hurt.

The two guards grab their upper arm and direct them out of the cell and down the hallway towards an elevator.  As they walk up to the door, one of the guards reaches over and pushes the “up” button.  A few seconds later the elevator dings, the door opens, and the six walk into the elevator.  The guard pulls out a card from his pocket and slides it into an opening below the floor buttons.  A small light flashes green and the elevator begins ascending towards the top floor of the facility.  CaSh looks over at the guard holding onto his arm and lets out a small laugh.

CaSh:  You know, it amazes me every time you act like a big hardass.

Guard 1:  Excuse me?

CaSh:  You’re scared of us.  Right now you’re hopin’ like hell we don’t break out and bust your ass all over this place.  So you can drop the act alright?  Because it ain’t doin’ shit for ya.

The guard reaches over and hits the emergency stop button.  The elevator screeches to an immediate halt as the guard throws CaSh up against the wall and gets up in his face.

Guard 1:  You better hope you don’t have to go back down this fucking elevator with me because if you do I am going to beat your ass.

CaSh:  Why you shaking?  Pussy.

V1RUS:  CaSh…

CaSh:  Heh…fine, get this thing goin hardball.

The guard, barely able to hold himself back, turns around and slams his hand into the button.  The elevator starts moving and continues it’s ascend towards the top floor.  A low ding is heard as the elevator reaches the top floor and the elevator doors slide open to a large open office.  In the middle sits an older looking man behind a large desk.  Behind him stand two guards and in front sit Alucard and Faithless.

Administrator:  Ah Vincent, Kai, how nice of you to join us.

Guard 1:  Here are the men you requested sir.  Will that be all?

Administrator:  Yes, you may leave now.

Guard 1:  Sir, these men have the potential to be highly dangerous, I believe it would be best if we remained here.

Administrator:  I’ll be fine, leave us.

Guard: 1: …yes sir. 

The two guards turn around and head back into the elevator followed by the two that were previously behind the administrator.  The door shuts behind them and the elevator begins to descend.  V1RUS and CaSh start to walk towards the chairs in front of the desk when they are stopped by the administrator’s words.

Administrator:  Please, allow me to remove the cuffs before you sit.  I like my company to be comfortable up here.

V1RUS:  What’s with the hospitality?

Administrator:  These cuffs aren’t necessary around me.  I know you don’t remember much of me except what happened after the experiment, but its still there.  You see, you won’t attack me, yet you don’t know why.  We are old buddies, and friends just don’t hurt friends.

CaSh:   What the hell are you talking about?

The administrator removes both of their hand-cuffs and has them take a seat.

Administrator:  How long has it been, four, five years?

CaSh:  Two since we left this hell hole, nice try though.

Faithless:  No CaSh...he means how many years since we were changed.

CaSh:  How the hell are we suppose to know?  Assholes wiped out any memory we previously had.

Administrator:  That would have been your fault.

V1RUS:  What?

Administrator:  All four of you use to work in this very building; four of the most brilliant scientists to ever walk this chaotic planet.  It was because of all you Cycon was able to gain such a massive amount of power in this day and age.  It was shame to watch such minds blown to pieces through a faulty experiment, but you can’t always expect everything to go perfectly.

CaSh:  Cut the crap.  No way in hell any of us could have worked for you.

Alucard:  CaSh…he’s telling the truth.

CaSh looks over at Alucard in total disbelief.

Administrator:  See, even your friend realizes the truth.  Don’t worry Kai, it’ll all come back in due time.  You see…

CaSh:  Shut up!  What the hell have you done with them now?  Gone and fuckin brain washed them again to try and trick us into working for your worthless ass?  Not in this life time.

Alucard looks over at CaSh and grabs his arm.

Alucard:  CaSh, calm down man.  This isn’t a drug talking, it’s me.

CaSh, breathing fast and heavy, looks over at Alucard with a beat red, angered expression.  He jerks his arm from Alucard’s grasp, gets up and begins walking towards the elevator.  About half way there he stops and sits on the hard wood floor, mumbling a few words before lowering his head into his hands.  Faithless walks over to CaSh and kneels next to him.  She leans in a bit and whispers a few words to try and comfort him.  Meanwhile V1RUS is still sitting in his chair, somewhat dumbfounded by what he has heard. 

V1RUS:  Alucard, why do you have any reason to believe what this man has told us?

Alucard:  He showed us.

V1RUS:  Showed you what?

Alucard:  Photos, video documentaries, old logs...all of it real.  I still don’t remember any of it, but I can almost feel it, ya know?

At this time the administrator had already pulled out several folders containing the old photos, a video tape, and several hundred log files.  He shoves the folder containing the photos to the front of his desk where V1RUS reaches over and grabs it.  V1RUS unwinds the string tie and dumps the contents into his lap.  His fingers quickly begin to pick and choose one picture after another while his eyes quickly change from a concerned look into astonished.

CaSh:  Oh my god…that’s us.

V1RUS jumps in surprise and quickly turns around to see CaSh looming over him peering deep into the pictures being held by V1RUS’s hands.

V1RUS: …yea…it is.

V1RUS turns back around and alters his gaze back and forth from the pictures to the administrator, and back again.

V1RUS:  Do you think we could see the video?

Administrator:  Later, if that’s alright.  I must be leaving soon and need to cover one important issue before I take my leave.

 Faithless:  And that’d be?

Administrator:  Well, we’ve been working hard on finding a cure for your amnesia.  The treatment has been tested several times now and we believe we have finally perfected it.  Inside each of your heads holds the key for a perfect future for Cycon.  It is you four together who know how to create the perfect “super being.”  We’ve tried far too many times to recreate your experiments through your logs, but with failures much more drastic than the occurrence between all of you.  We want you to remember your past and who you were.  We want you back to work with us to bring order back into today’s societies.

CaSh:  I won’t help rule a world by fear.  Doing so wouldn’t better the world in any way.  Everybody would be just as miserable, if not more so, with a dictatorship.  Living under your rules, your cultures, all while being in total fear of taking even the slightest step outside of their homes.

Administrator:  That’s a good argument to bring up, but I have a better response.  You see, the governing law will be upheld by the being you four are hopefully going to…”create.”  He will be under your control, under certain restrictions and live by the law you tell him to live by.  I do have a few things I will add myself, but I don’t think they will be big enough to cause any conflict in whether or not they will be considered acceptable to you.

Alucard:  So you’re sayin’ the four of us will be in control of the planet?

Administrator:  I’m saying the four of you will pretty much create the law that the citizens of this planet will be protected by.  However, it will be enforced by your being, so it’s not exactly a dictatorship.  No single person will have absolute power over everybody else, nor have the ability to gain it.  You don’t know it at the moment, but each of you contains a different “piece of the puzzle”.  Not one person amongst the four of you knows the total equation in completing this being.  Why it’s like that I have no idea; probably a decision made between you during your time working here.

Faithless:  The people as a whole will still be living in fear though, a fear of this “thing.”

Administrator:  And they aren’t now?  There are no governing bodies protecting the people.  It’s complete anarchy, everybody for themselves.  Or even when there were several governing bodies, people still weren’t at ease.  They’ll only live in fear if your laws cause them to worry about screwing up on a day to day basis. There will be no enforcers walking the streets constantly, nobody watching them or telling them what to do every minute.  The law will only be noticeable when it is broken. However, once it is broken, there will be no hiding for those who commit the crime.

V1RUS:  Sounds like you’ve thought this through pretty well.

Administrator:  I only want for this chaos to end.  I’ve put a lot of work into protecting the people of Cycon from outside marauders, and now I’m going to extend my arm to protect everybody else who deserves it.  I just need your help to do so.  I’ll give you till tomorrow to decide, until then I must be gone, farewell.

V1RUS:  One quick question.

Administrator: Yes?

V1RUS:  What about Spickster and Fatal?

Administrator:  Fatal is an example of one of our failed recreations; however he had the best outcome out of them all.  His escape was unexpected, but he had restrictions placed in his system in advance just incase of such an event.  All of our experiments were to have them after the incident.  Unfortunately I cannot answer your question on the other fellow, for I have not heard the name before.

CaSh:  Then how the hell did you know we were coming?  We figured you’d use him as bait to get Fatal back.

Administrator:  Sorry but I have the slightest idea of what you are talking about.  As far as I know it was mere luck that you happened to return at this time.  As for Fatal, he was never meant to draw the four of you here, and since he was a failed experiment we have no concern on his return.

V1RUS:  You said something about an incident.  What incident are you talking about?

Administrator:  It doesn’t need to be discussed right now.  I must be on my way.  Ah yes, you don’t have to worry about being stuffed in those cells either, I’ve got a nice room for you to stay in.  I’ll have my guards escort you there.  Farewell for now, I’ll return tomorrow for your answer.

The administrator leaves his seat and walks over to the elevator.  He presses the button and stands there for a moment waiting for the door to open.

V1RUS:  Hey what’s your name?

The administrator stands there for a second and looks over his shoulder.  A ding is heard from the elevator as the door begins to slide open.

Administrator:  It’s Suresh.

The administrator turns his head back towards the elevator and takes a step inside.  The door shuts behind him and a low humming sound is heard as the elevator begins to descend.  A guard walks through the door on the west wall and motions the group to follow.  They proceed into a large lobby-like area with two doors located on the north and south walls.  The west wall is a large window overlooking the Nokor forest.

Guard:  This is where you will be staying.  Each of those doors lead to a bedroom, enjoy your stay.

CaSh:  Yea…thanks.

Guard’s Radio:  We have an intruder located on the first level holding the greeter hostage.  All security personnel please report in for back up.

The guard turns around and quickly leaves the room, shutting the door behind him.

Faithless:  Wonder what that’s all about.

Alucard:  Anybody up for checking it out?

V1RUS:  We probably shouldn’t.  I think Suresh is about the only person here who wants us alive.

CaSh:  You actually considering helping that piece of shit?

V1RUS:  You saw the photos and logs.  We use to work for him, why would our minds be any different now then they were then?

CaSh:  Maybe he’s full of shit?  Ever thought of that possibility?

V1RUS:  Well it would be only us four who knows how to create this…thing.  Say we get our memories back and find out through our past that he is full of shit concerning his “perfect world.”  Then we don’t build it.

CaSh:  I don’t like this one bit.  Just seems like the bastard something up his sleeve.  Hell, how could he not know about Spickster?  No care to regain the control of Fatal?  My ass.

Faithless:  It would be nice to have a past, memories of who we were, our families, friends, everything.

Alucard:  I ain’t doin’ shit for him until we get Spickster back.  I know that guys pullin’ our legs about not knowing him.

V1RUS:  We’ll talk to him about it later today if we see him, if not, tomorrow.  We’ll let ‘em know where we stand on our decision, maybe it’ll get him to spill a few details.  As for now let’s just relax a bit.

A loud explosion is heard immediately followed by a low rumble throughout the floor and walls.  The lights flicker a few times before completely going out.  Seconds later the lights turn back on.

Faithless:  What on earth?

CaSh:  The intruder?

Alucard runs over to the window, looking down towards the ground below.

Alucard:  Smoke, lots of it.  Looks like the first level to me.

Faithless runs into the other room and over to the elevator, quickly pressing the down button.  The door opens and she steps inside.

Faithless:  Come on guys lets get the hell out of here!

The other three exit the room into the office.  As they make it through the doorway the power once again shuts down, leaving the room pitch black.  A loud snap is heard followed by a high-pitched scream.

Alucard:  What the…!?

V1RUS:  FAITHLESS!!!!

The power begins to flicker on and off, eventually fully restoring itself.  The three run over to the elevator doorway and peer down the shaft, seeing nothing but darkness.