The Voices, Episode 3: The Man In WhiteSmile, smile, smile and the world will smile back, but move, and the world will throw your fate into a chain of dominos. Never move, never speak unless its worth the energy it takes to perform. My smile is worth its weight in gold, it keeps the dogs at bay, it burns the strings holding his twisted mind together. Nathics, you disgust me. Every sentence you, and that program, dribble is filled with garbage. So disorganized, so filthy. You are a testimony to all that is corrupted, twisted, an abomination, wrong. I’m here because of what must be done, and I will leave when it’s over. Quick, clean, in and out. When Agent Harvey is completed with the Nathics upgrades I will return to the source for termination, this is the meaning of my creation. Fortunately my body will be dealt with...They were confused when I entered. This is the advantage the files stated would reward me a dominating advantage. My presence at the counter startled the archivist, he didn’t notice my swift movements. I have him now, my hand around his neck enforced the feeling that I meant business. His expressions plainly displayed a look that something wasn’t ‘right’. I waited the expected ten seconds for him to loose his cool and for the other to make her move. They always move without considering their move. Judging by her stance, position relative to me and her heavy breathing, her first attack will be to go straight for my head, this will be due to her fear and eagerness to ‘make it all stop’, to eliminate threat swiftly. To combat this movement I will turn ever so slightly and catch her fist my in between my shoulder and chin, if I twist her arm ever so slightly she will lead forward and attempt to summersault to regain balance. I watched her fall straight into the chain reaction I had calculated for her. I calculate where she will land, sweet her legs behind her, causing her face to make contact with the ground creating a cracking sound. Weakened, vulnerable, mine, I lift my foot above her neck, the sound of completetion; the crisp snap of a spinal cord. With the threat now neutralized I am able to proceed with the first objective, entering Nathics’s proximity in the Sakura construct. The archivist gazed down at his fallen comrade, choking out cries of sorrow. Analysing his face I notice fear, horror, sorrow, the target is now shaken to the core.“Give me the Sakura construct key...”, I made sure to be clear.“Who the hell are you? What the hell are you?” This wasn’t going to do. I continued to stare at him, waiting for the correct reply, but no one is ever so cooperative. I tighten my hold around his neck for twenty seconds longer while he attempted to gargle his reply. However, ‘a job worth doing.. is worth doing right’, I waited the twenty seconds even after the reply I was anticipating.“Okay, okay! Heres the key, just take it!”The peculiar situation, his fallen comrade and my tactical smile worked perfectly; according to the interrogation file downloaded into my memory upon creation. It -always- works according to the files.“Just don’t kill me, please! ”, mummbled by the archivist's assistant. His face twitching as he hung on the last word.The energy it would have taken to snap his neck would have been a waste. No... His memory and fear of me may become useful once again as long as I know where to find him.I was also interested in the spectator that had perched upon the archivist’s desk. Victim number one's , the now late archivist, movements had changed four point three seconds ago when he realised she was here. I never heard her or saw her, yet I noticed she was there and she knew it. Judging my her expression and pupils, this Merovingian agent was startled, I will definitely use this as an advantage over her psyche, a startled foe makes hasty decisions. She was dressed from collar to toe in black and violet , wearing a slightly unnerving grin across her face. I turned to her, and summing up her body language lead me to confer that victim number two left the premises while my attention was diverted. I needn’t bother to ask who she was and what her business was, she looked Merovingian and smelt ready for combat, a Merovingian in a Zionist archive usually is prepared. Suprisingly she seemed to reconsider her next movements; anticipating the choreography of the coming fight in her mind. Indeed, it was unusual to see someone at least give their movements a second thought, the respect such actions deserve. As soon as she realised she had my full attention she began to talk, saving me the trouble of having to waste anymore energy.“Strong silent type huh? Do you guys grow on trees or something? Red pills and programs seem to take on that personality lickety split because somewhere in time it became ‘cool’. I hate strong silent types, your not that great at it either, ‘Mister Man in White’." Her words cut clear through my tact.She was not disturbed by my personality type. According to the files the smile would still have some effect, but she won't expect me to speak a sentence or two while displaying total disinterest.“Who are you and why are you here? You have thirty seconds to answer.” The file ran successfully but she gave no reaction.I must eliminate her and proceed to the construct immediately. She’s startled by the speed at which I move toward her, she’s good at hiding it. I miscalculated her body language, interesting... She swings her legs over her head and lifts off the desk with her arms, grabs her Kahr 9mm PM9 and shoots three bullets through the window behind her. She moved like clockwork, every gear responding to the movement of another, every cog reacting to the way it was supposed to, driven with purpose as she smashed through the weakened glass. An evasive manoeuvre, perfectly executed. She must have known that I had taken complete control of the situation. My advances were too straightforward; her caution was too well hidden for me to calculate the variables into the equation. It seems she knew my capabilities before hand, able to read my movements, a skill, which is not common amongst the scourge. Her covert pistol, the new Kahr 9mm PM9 leads me to the conclusion that the Merovingian organisation has sent a spy out for me, another distraction.“Sorry if I don’t stay and chat but, your no fun. Your not even a -gentleman-.” With that she jumped backward into the sky and out of my periphreal vision.Reassessing the situation, retreating was the only accpetable odds. There are too many variables, I am no longer prepared to deal with Nathics. This set back must be compensated immediately. Tomorrow I will intercept Nathics at Club Succubus. This girl must be taken into account; she knows me now, and can anticipate my movements in our next encounter. She will certainly make contact with me again, I must be prepared......for the girl I would later know as ‘Violet’…“Ha ha ha ha ha! Figero, Figero, FigeroOoOoOoo! Smile, smile, smile and the world will smile back at you, but laugh and sing like we do and they will cower in fear! AHHHH HA HA HA HA HA!….. Next episode, Drunk on Joy, Fun. The hands on the clock have conspired to allow us the bag of smiles.”
The Voices, Episode 4: Drunk On Joy Fun~Nathics~The world begins to swirl into our thoughts; all we can manage to do before the lights go out is scream,“It’s getting darker, getting darker, THE JOY OF LOOSING CONTROL!” We hold its tail as the laughter drags me kicking and screaming down the hall once again. No smell of cookies, no sight of Morpheus, no, no, NO FIXED STARE ABOVE A GRIM SMILE!.. Her door opens and we are dragged inside. A strange feeling wraps itself around my throat and squeezes, brought on by the lack of activity in her oven. Where the future is baked there is only fog. Curious to see what lies in her oven we cautiously open its door. Without a polite introduction the fog swoops from its lair and rushes down our throat, laughing, screaming, dancing. Our skin falls from my body and we cry out in horror. Then everything around us shatters like glass and our faces greet each other warmly. This is what may be, unless we stop dancing as many, and fight as one! Everything starts to blur and sounds begin to echo, but the one thing that remains is the joy our insanity wields, the beauty of LAUGHTER!“HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!” The others are swept into our pools of vision once again, the pools deeper, larger than ever.“Figero, Figero, Figero! Oh, there you are! Let the passion, oh so crimson, flow. Let the floor receive the taste of his whiteness! AH HA HA HA HA HA!” In the misty flames of our fury, our joy, we hear Altais’s voice tearing through our skull, “Nathics what the hell is wrong with you? Why the hell are you dancing?!” White all around us, all around the room, too fast, but not fast enough. We dance as if the singing in our head foe we must destroy. The voices appearing all around us, taunting us to strike.“Nathics, your just a blur!” “Kill yourself in his eyes Nathics!”“Shoot here Nathics, shoot here!......Stay here and he will scribble you out..” “Wait for two seconds here!”“That’s right!..... Say good bye Nathics, he’s going to take your head!” “You won’t win Nathics!.......Fight oh so much harder!” Their words plucking our harp of hearts, every taunt precise. Those metal flies of devastation erupting from our arms, carrying out their duty and doing it well, all on the correct course, to the enemy. Piercing the air but never hitting the intended target, hitting nothing. The Man In White stops moving and clips fall from his arms as we do the same.“Where did all those flies fly off to?” We scan for the metal flie's hovels, but nothing except their grave before us. From behind a shield wracked with our mind tearing screams, rise our comrades.“Nathics, why the hell are you two shooting blanks!?” Raijn yelled in anger garnished with cautiousness.“Swell those pools of vision around and 'round 'til they drip drips on the littered foreground.” We raise a finger to the ground before us, to the metal flies that now have headaches.“That’s very impressive Nathics… You two have been hitting each other’s bullets! How are ya doing this?” Avat looks closer at us, spotting the difference. * click *. Without the knowledge of doing so, the clips of both The Man In White’s arms and mine are loaded and grinning…“Ha ha ha ha. Eh heh heh heh heh. HA HA HA HA HA HA HAAAA! LOOSING CONTROL! ALL THE CONTROL!” At that the other voices resume the stalemate. Bullets flying once more, but not because of us, because of the others. The voice's hands grip the reins once more, reading all the information in the matrix surrounding us. Calculating all the movements of everything, the ultimate calculators, just like they were programmed for. Every metal fly, flying like its supposed to, just like his. A foreign substance through our veins, intoxicating, his smiles no longer like mercury. As the metal fly graveyard expands we continue dancing as a tribute to eternity. * Click-click click-click *.“Awww no more metal flies at home…” “Nathics, you will submit. Corrections must be made.” “The ground is littered and our knees too clean for them. Not until you wield a mop will we fill that pastry. Smile.” ~The Man In White~Two bullets remaining. Remaining stamina; thirty percent. Enemy ammunition depleted. Enemy energy at ten percent. Threat detected, executing evasive maneuvers.“All the voices screaming to release the reins. We.. Avat…” Nathics’s comrades take advantage of the situation and return covering fire to provide the fallen Nathics time to recover. I raise my arm to shield my head from the oncoming bullet. * Chrunch * I can hear the bullet lodging in my bones. I dive through the near window firing my remaining two bullets behind me. I only just manage to land on my own two feet. Bullets rain down from the sky as I run to minimum safe distance. I can hear them all screaming.“Die! Die!” - Raijn“See you in hell!” - Avat“Time to die!” - Altais“Waste him!” - Romav“Come back you coward!” - DenolusAttempt failed. It was what we expected, the programs are adapting to Adrien’s mind and body. They are close to maximum efficiency. Although that was just a random occurrence of all the programs computing, it may happen again. I must rethink my tactics to only attack Nathics when he is cut off from the others…"The Man In White, a walking scalpel. Our erosive cohesion accelerates each day and in every way his visits mimic this obscurity. Today’s mirror is shattered to provide tomorrows weapons. Where is he on the day of this blue moon? The garden.. Next episode’s a Rock and Roll Ride."
The Voices: Episode 5, Rock and Roll Ride
This mind of ours blurs beneath our sheets,
All we think now is what was thought before.
In our dreams we see things, people to meet,
Hear things they share behind closed doors.
And while we never leave our fleshy cell,
Those voices, they are always steps ahead.
For what reason do they send us all to hell,
This hell on earth, this hell of mine, inside our head.
The Man In White, we know of, but Violet.. Why do the voices speak of Violet? And that other.. The voices whisper from side to side but never do they share. There are words with which we are generous, and others whispered, followed by a the silence of their absence…
“There are a couple things I would like to say to him.”
The army’s steps are the chorus, which shatters the minds of those in our path, burning all that dwells in the back alleys. Altais’s words continue the work of our footsteps.
“Heh. Lets give him a real good reason to stop smiling.”
Altais’s electronic axe rests on his shoulder. From his weapon, a wire connects to a suitcase.
“Nathics, are you sure he’s gonna be at Club Succubus again?”
“Altais’s preparations will ensure our visit goes without the need to watch grass grow Avat.”
The moon gave us an eternity of grim smiles to speed us onward, its light, the blistering agony for those who were sure to fall into their dreams. The sand neared the bottom of its container as time had conspired, unfolding the night. Avat’s words pierced the dream around us all, tearing our attention back from its icy hell.
“When we get in there, spread out, keep your eyes open and do not get side-tracked. This guy is good, real good. He will take advantage of even the slightest opportunity to attack Nathics and may even come out on top.”
Avat pauses to scan the area before continuing with his words,
“Ready everyone? Move out.”
One by one after another, like ghosts whose presence is not extraordinary they take their place amongst the crowd. Altais’s face presents a grin to convay his intent,
“This will get his attention while the others move in.”
Altais salutes us with his heavy metal weapon and continues inside by our side.
“Ahh. The nest of the red lady, how it’s vibrations shatter our mind. How cleverly it ambushes us with its broken bladder stench. Memories…”
The two of us are drawn to the drunkards perch to greet the amber liquid god, leaning over the bar.
“What in the hell will it be gentlemen?”
“Crown Lager please. Nath, you want anything?”
“No, thank you. Is there need for poison at this time Al?”
“When isn’t there a need for beer?”
The two of us hide our searching eyes with laughter before returning to the drunkard’s god, a fat man wearing a wife beater, stained jeans all of which were covered in endless amounts of sweat.
“The last time I was here the same song was playing and it hasn’t gotten any less crap.”
The fat man’s face catches alight as he leans over to Al.
“Yeah, and its gonna keep playin, unless you’ve got any bright ideas?”
“Take it easy fat man or you’ll drown us in sweat. I got it covered. Nathics, sit tight.”
Altais makes his way to the DJ, their conversation veiled by the DJ’s music. Our thoughts crumble beneath the weight of the fat man’s words.
“Your friend had better please the crowd and yours truly or he’s gonna know what my boot tastes when I jam it that far up his *CENSORED*.”
We hold the fat man from our thoughts so as not to grant encouragement to continue with his words.
“The music will stop.”
The voices calculations were verified by the music’s death. Our mind wanders to our comrades whose bodies assumed a sudden alerted stature in response to the atmospheric… evolution. We gaze upon Altais’s smile as it’s brother of manifestation appears. Altias adjusts the combination to his mysterious briefcase, then the satisfying crack it makes to open, unfold, bizarre. What madman’s efforts constructed such a stealthy device for music, this foldout speaker? This action grips the minds of all those beneath the fluoro sky and twists their head around to meet his grin. Silence becomes the only member of conversation, stillness, the only member allowed to move. Before eyes had speed to notice, Altais was already wielding his instrument of mental annihilation. He strikes it’s strings, letting out a tremendous shrieking splendour. From amongst the crowd Avat’s voice takes it’s place amongst the chaos.
“Where does he get those wonderful toys?! Rock on Al!”
The continuation of Altais’s maddening vibrations sends ruptures through the crowd’s stillness, like gargoyles coming to life; they begin to dance once more. Even the fat man’s mass seemed more urgent in it’s duties.
“Is your friend looking for work?”
We answer the fat man’s farcical jaw movements.
“His work is aligned with Zion, whatever organization you run has no prize for him.”
“Oh yeah Zion. Isn’t that the crappy-*CENSORED* joint in Mara? Tell him if he wants to make some real money, come to me.”
“Real money?”
Our reply bursts through the many layers of laughter of our many minds. The fat man goes about his usual business, flowing our pools of vision to the Merovingian operatives on the other side of the beverage glass.
“Not many people know me, not many people can. Those who have ever spoken to me know what lies beneath the chaos. Those who have the luxury of memory cannot understand his pain. Being one step closer to what I want to be, my feelings catch up and I have to feel bad again for what I have done. Soon there will be no one I must share sorrow for…
The Voices Episode 6: Before Falling Skies
“Do you ever look around and think of what you see as just a picture. As though you’re looking through something other than your own eyes. Like a TV screen has been stuck right in front of you, no remote, and no escape. Lately, its like everything looks different. Not because anything has changed, but because I’ve changed… It questions my own ability to feel, my own free will. I wonder if anything I have done, if any path I have chosen was of my own designs or just a simple reaction in a long and heavy chain of reactions. Were my choices and decisions preordained the instant I arrived from the pink water of the womb? Would I be where I am today if two hundred years ago someone did something so simple such as moving a rock? Could even the slightest change in the earth have altered the momentum of fate? I desperately try to believe that everything I have done was for something, and that any of my sacrifices were real.”
“We can’t think about that now. We have a job to do and your existential discontent is not going to hinder this operation. In fact, some of the data we have been asked to acquire may answer one of your questions. It seems that this facility is a secret division of the Neuro Spirit Faction.”
“Are you serious?! That’s insanity! Why would the NSF commission research into debunking their own philosophy?”
“With success, might I add? It seems the new chairman has taken the faction in a new direction… Four months ago chairman Repulber contracted mercenaries to secretly infiltrate KALT chemicals.”
“Infiltrate KALT? That’s suicide!”
“Well, his employees are indeed devoted.”
“Even if they managed it –“
“They did. I know what you’re thinking, what business would the NSF have with anything inside KALT? I checked around and realised the more I checked the more there was left unanswered. Eventually I managed to contact a KALT double agent working inside the NSF. They caught wind of the NSF’s plans and decided to shut it down. Don’t ask how the NSF still managed to complete their operations with KALT being as prepared as they were. In any case. I found a disc on his corps. I couldn’t make sense of any of it, it sounded like a science fiction movie.”
“Why would a double agent carry data into the organisation they are trying to undermine? Unless… What if Repulber had someone in KALT sneaking information out on the double agent without him knowing?”
“… I hadn’t thought of that. It makes sense now. Look, heres the disc. Check it out yourself. To quote the double agent, ‘It will lift the veil’…”
“Right… What’s your plan of attack? We can’t go about this with our usual vigour. It will be very easy to trace this us back to Shadow Division Nine. Especially considering our targets resources and KALT.”
“I know our orders were to acquire hard data but… I don’t wanna be anywhere near hard proof that would link us to this facility. We are just gonna have to memorize what we need and get out. Dante owes me a couple of favours, I’ll be able to get him to trust our word.”
“I’ll head to storage. You should probably check out their IT section… And Figero?”
“Yeah?”
“Be carefull.”
“I will. Take care yourself Adrien…”
"Memories... Next Episode, "What a Thought, What a Night..."