Altered Ch. 07

"Into Ataru-hybrids!" I said.

"Exactly!"

"Now this is starting to make sense! He wants an army to take over the world. Mike not only is producing more hybrid babies but he is also producing hybrid adults. Logistically, he doesn't have to spend a dime, he sets off a pandemic that makes men infertile and most women unable to produce more men and they will practically BEG Mike to fuck their women," I said.

"Umm, I wouldn't quite put it that way but yeah you get the picture. You see these women will be 'cured' and be able to produce more hybrids even after Mike."

"And you are here trying to create more Mikes..." I said.

"Yes, you see your father's 'master plan' hit a snafu. Mike escaped the lab he was in during a freak hurricane with the help of a sympathizer. This happened right after you started your war with the OEC and ..."

"Right when they started the pandemic!" I said.

"Yes! It wouldn't have been such a problem except he made friends with an Illuminati..." she continued.

"And they are at war with the OEC..." I said.

"So now they are desperately trying to recreate what they did with Mike... The only problem is that Mike is a special Vampiric, somehow his abilities let him survive the process. You see the 'antibodies' was all a lie, the truth is, it's the genetic editing that kills them. You see we modified the original experiment when we realized that the genetic editing itself cured every known disease. Something about Mike kept him alive," she said, "All of our test subjects so far have all been Vampirics like Mike and so far, none of them have survived."

"OK, just so we are clear, if not antibodies what cures these people of their maladies exactly?"

"The genetic editing process takes a sample of the DNA and creates a perfected and modified template for the nanobots to use. The nanobots will then edit every living cell in that person's body. The process is similar to the process that resets cells back to stem cells. Once they are stem cells they figure out what they need to be based on the cells around them. The process also, naturally destroys foreign bacteria and viruses by changing them or destroying them, thus curing almost any disease or virus. The nanobots are smart enough to ignore certain cells like the bacteria that lines the stomach and certain brain cells that if reset would erase our memory. So, there are certain stomach-based diseases and brain cancers that it does not cure..."

It then dawned on me, "I don't change the women I'm with but my children... That's why my father wants my children, he knows they would survive the process."

"Yes, even now he plans to clone one of your children once it's born."

"Tanya!"

"Listen, we didn't have a choice in any of this, your father not only rules with his influence but he also rules with fear. We all have families..."

"I get it. But this HAS to stop!"

"I know and we are trying..."

"What do you mean? They are still in cages!"

"Yes, but it's for their own good. You see, the genetic editing process was started in them months ago. And while they are affected we cannot stop the process. They are chained for our protection as well as theirs, they are stronger and during the process, prone to fits of violence," she said, looking sad. "I wish there was another way but we don't have the resources to do anything else. The OEC is in shambles right now and fighting to survive. A lot of their lesser bases of operation have been either abandoned, destroyed, or in our case left to fend for ourselves. We only have a skeleton crew here, half the security forces that you subdued are lab assistants."

"I thought they were kind of easy to take out."

"The only real protection we had left was sergeant Barnes..."

"Let me guess, the guy in the mech suit, the one the gangsters called Mr. Scarmango?" I asked and she nodded. "Fine, I tell you what, I'll protect you..." I said, and she looked both surprised and relieved. "But, you work for me now!" I said, addressing everyone in the room.

Everyone quickly acquiesced and of course that was too easy.

"I am a mind reader... if any of you here are still loyal to the OEC then you better speak up now. I am not my father, however, if you plan to be a mole or saboteur for my father, I'll find you out and kill you! Who here is still loyal to the OEC?" I asked giving them the 'stink eye' as if I was reading their minds.

Three of the security forces raised their hands.

"Don't kill us please!" one of them spoke up.

"Don't worry, you'll live..." I said, although I would have to wipe their minds somehow, luckily my mother had just that ability.

It turned out that the security forces that were willing to turn on the OEC were all ex-lab technicians and all of them stayed behind because they cared. Go figure, there were actual decent people working with the OEC.

Dr. Shultz, I quickly came to calling Dr. Laura. Her main assistants were Kate, Brian, Emily, and Danny. Dr. Laura quickly filled me in on the base, its defenses and most importantly she gave me access to her computer. I had Lieba and one of the assistants find Tyson and show him the secret entrance through the storm drains throughout the city. During wet seasons they would use the warehouse entrance. But with the police and fire investigating the explosion in the warehouse that wasn't a viable way in and out.

With Sergeant Barnes' body pulled down underground, and no dead bodies anywhere to be found and half charred drug money everywhere, they chalked it up to a drug deal gone sour and moved on a day later with nothing but police tape around the entrance to show for it. Tyson found Barnes' upper torso before the police and quickly disposed of it. So there was really nothing much to investigate except property damage and with no witnesses and no one hurt the police had better things to do.

"So what's the plan, chief?" Tyson asked, sarcastically. "Lieba tells me you plan to take over this base..."

"Yeah, I've already hacked into their security, bypassed their 'self-destruct' codes, sent out a false signal over their network saying the base is being destroyed and I have three patsy witnesses that will verify that the base was indeed destroyed."

"Okaaay, what are you going to do about the technicians, the "experiments", and the security officers here?"

"Most of them will be secured here," I said, pointing to some empty prison cells. "Until they can be interviewed one by one and their loyalty tested. After they have been verified we are going to do everything we can to keep these 'experiments' alive. Now either you guys can help me or you can fuck off, which is it going to be?"

Tyson had a worried look on his face like he knew there was some conflict coming up.

"Listen, I get it, you are used to securing resources for your bosses, and there's no reason we can't share. But I've ultimately got my own agenda here. You people can help me, try and stop me or stay out of my way!"

"I'm going to need to talk with my boss," he said, really worried that they were going to order him to stop me.

"Why don't you let me handle that phone call? Get them on the phone and I'll give them the 411."

I talked to the short bureaucracy that was the rebellion and I came to realize just how underfunded and undermanned they were. They agreed to post men at my new base and I agreed to help fund them and supply them with weapons from the armory. They made me a lieutenant of one of their platoons so the people they sent to guard my base would be under my command. They were a highly unorganized, rag-tag bunch, their platoon consisted of four psychics, three telekinetics, two what I call puppeteers and eleven 'unpowered' other Ataru.

Lieba became my Sergeant major to Tyson's chagrin and would be in charge of the day to day operations. The first thing I tasked her with was training. Only the eleven 'unpowered' Ataru had any kind of military training (which was probably the only reason they got in the resistance) but I wanted everyone to know how to defend themselves and I wanted procedures in place to guard against freeze ups in combat. That meant the entire staff, including the technicians and Dr. Laura, would be in the gun range daily. Techs posing as security forces didn't make up for a well-trained security force. During my invasion half of them were too scared to even pull a trigger when they had an opportunity to shoot me.

I needed to get my girls over to this base pronto. The thing about the base was it was already fortified. It had hidden defenses everywhere, it even had a mech suit and a virtual reality mech suit simulator for training. It had a ton of weapons from assault rifles, grenade launchers and stinger missiles to high-tech prototypes and psychic defense gear. My father spared no expense fortifying this ex secret military installation. His loss was my gain, fair is fair, he destroyed my bunker so I got one of his.

I couldn't leave until I 'interviewed' all of the remaining staff by both using questioning, pain and distraction, and mind reading in order to tell if they were up front and truthful. Luckily, the loyalest staff members abandoned the base months ago and the remaining staff was eager to stay despite a regime change.

I talked to Dave and got him to 'invest' my money in some fake startup companies to divert some of my funds to help further shore up my new bases defenses and get Dr. Laura the equipment she would need to keep the gene-edited vamps alive. Finally, I left Lieba in charge of my base while I took off to get the girls.

It was only a matter of time before the OEC sent out some of their elite agents after me. I knew they had access to exoskeletons and "super soldier" serums that could make them stronger. So, beside my normal gear, I carried with me some special gear from the armory to handle them. The armory had an EMP, military grade explosives, night scopes, tracking gear and some high-tech guns that were really miniature rail guns. The rail gun, though awesome and powerful was like shooting an ant with a bazooka, it was really meant for taking out armored vehicles not people. The problem with the rail gun was its rate of fire and its bulkiness. I figured it would be perfect for taking out a mech suit if I ever ran into one.

Tracy and Robin were both due soon, since their babies' growth rates were so much faster than a human's we didn't know for sure when the due date would be- we just had hypotheses. I kept in touch with them every day through my mental link which became handy since I didn't want anyone tracking me through my use of a phone - I even went old school using Thomson maps rather than Google maps while out in the field.

I wanted to go take care of Anya since she was due soon but I needed to get Robin and Tracy to my new bunker until they gave birth, then they would be strong enough to defend themselves again. Also, Anya had a house full of bodyguards so although I wanted to get to her, it was too dangerous to travel that far in the middle of my war.

I had trained Robin and Tracy, and with their strength and healing abilities I knew they would be real assets for Lieba to use. Besides the girls, I would have to hire a staff to help them with their motherly duties (feeding, cleaning diapers etc.) because I trusted them and I personally trained them in tactics so they would need to work right away as leaders in my new organization.

The FBI were still investigating what happened at my "compound" (as they like to call it) and scapegoats were popping up everywhere and thrown on the sacrificial altar. Daily, I saw news of military officers being court martialed and politicians resigning in the wake of what happen. My videos went viral and was an internet sensation for over a month.

"Nate!" Tracy called. "I think it's time baby! Robin is having contractions and she says her body is morphing! If you want to be here for the birth you better make tracks."

"I'll be there as soon as I can, baby!"

I was on my way back to get the girls from Denver to the Rocky Mountains in Wyoming, however I had stopped to survey a suspicious grouping of men hidden in the trees. A lot of highway patrol were being partnered up now since I started attacking trackers. They were getting more and more paranoid and it even led to a few overzealous beatings and shootings.

I was hidden in a tree and I was using an invisibility suit. I was great at camouflage and stealth and really didn't need to be invisible per se, however, the suit also masked my heat signature so that someone looking for me with a heat sensor would have a hard time finding me unless I was right in their sights. I knew it wouldn't take much time before they started setting traps for me and sure enough there were snipers setup protecting a highway patrol tracker and his partner that were hidden between a billboard and some large pine trees. There was hidden group were lying in wait and after reading their minds I found they were waiting on a signal to block the roads. The task force even had bloodhounds to hunt me down if I got away.

The tracker in question had been actually doing his job all day, handing out chicken shit tickets to passersby whom might have violated the vehicle code in some way. I wasn't mad at him for doing his job. He was the enemy and his bosses needed to be sent a message.

There were three snipers total, I silently stalked my first target hidden behind some brush on top of a ridge above the road. They cycled their radio checks every 10 to 15 minutes so once I took him out I would have to quickly take out the other three and get to the cop before the next cycle. I was practically on top of the bored sniper as he waited for his prey he obviously believed would not come.

"Red Bird, check!" he muttered with a yawn.

Faster than the eye could see I snatched his mic off his head, kneed him on the back and seized him by the throat in a headlock, pulling him back so that his back was arched painfully and he was unable to move. Holding him down was like holding down a child for me.

"Rob, you don't want to die do you?" I asked and he shook his head. "I'm going to inject you with this..." I said, holding up a syringe with a green tinted liquid. "It'll make you kind of sleepy and you'll be tripping balls for a couple of hours - it will suck but it's better than death, right?"

I quickly stuck him in his neck and injected the substance then choked him out. I destroyed his radio and took his rifle with me. Once I was far enough away I threw his rifle into some brush. I ran full out for my next target hidden behind some boulders farther down the road. He was harder to get to because of the odd angle his body was laying and the way he hung over a boulder. I had to try something different, so I flashed his mind with an overwhelming calmness and peace as I leapt on his back, yanking his head back to get at his mic. After his mic was destroyed I followed the same procedure with the first sniper and injected him with the drug cocktail which was nothing but a mixture of Ambien and Ecstasy.

I only had five minutes left so I hurried to the final sniper, whom was on the other side of the billboard facing the cop car along the billboards catwalk. The sniper was 20 feet up and rather than climb the ladder, I leapt up grabbing the handrail on the way up and flipped onto the catwalk. I disabled him the more dangerous way by choking him out and didn't inject him. After he fell unconscious, I felt his pulse and he was still breathing, so I dropped down to the car below.

I spun and kicked the window, and it burst inwards shattering into the surprised tracker's face. His partner was at the wheel and I filled him with fear so he cringed into a ball leaning hard into the steering wheel setting off the car horn.

"Fuck!" I exclaimed, not expecting that.

I had to skip my "Batman" voice and get right to the punishment.

"Todd, as a member of Oriri Ex Cinere you are culpable for all the crimes that your terrorist organization has committed - do you have anything to say for yourself?"

"Who are you jud-" he tried to speak as I threw a jab to his teeth knocking a few out.

"I guess you don't have anything to say... let's get started, then shall we? By the way people at home, if you want to know who these terrorists are then all you need to look for is this tattoo," I informed, showing the camera the "eagle swallowing a snake" tattoo on his wrist. Todd looked horrified, no one had ever tried to expose them like I did, "Not so secret anymore. Eh, Todd?"

"Crackoom!" The car was hit with some sort of projectile and exploded; most likely an RPG or a small missile. I went flying through the air and smacked against one of the billboard supports.

"Ha, ha, ha, ha! Got 'im!" A mechanical voice cried out.

I was conscious but just barely, and I lay there playing possum while I gathered my wits and took stock. My brain went into overdrive and slowed everything down, my right leg was twisted at an odd angle and a piece of shrapnel was sticking out of it. My body armor took the brunt of the hit but my left side was screaming in pain. My invisibility suit was shredded and probably useless and I couldn't see out of my left eye.

I heard some mechanical buzzing and whirring sounds and something landing on the ground about 20 yards away. I had to tilt my head to the side to see it with my right eye. There in front me was a man in a mech suit. My left leg seemed ok, so I grabbed the other side of the billboard and pulled myself to the other side. I quickly pulled out the shrapnel and bent my arm straight by pinning it to the side of the billboard and adjusting it with my right arm. I screamed in agony but I had to fight through the pain and keep my head if I was going to survive this.

Even though my invisibility suit was shredded it was still masking most of my heat signature and with all of the smoke and fire from the cop car the mech suit wasn't able to spot me right away. He started firing off a minigun into and around the car; taking the approach that if he couldn't find me he would blast his way through prospective hiding places.

I could feel my arm quickly mending but it wouldn't heal fast enough to be useful in this fight. I leapt up into air using my telekinesis to give me an extra boost since my right leg was still wonky. I grabbed the lip of the billboard one-handed and pulled myself to the top. I laid on my right side so that my left side was facing the sky in the hopes that it would help mask my heat signature even more.

The mech increased its arc, cutting a swath through the middle of the billboard until he made a 360 degree turn back to the cop car. If I hadn't gotten up high I might have been cut in half. I really had no idea if my skin and armor would have been able to stop a minigun or not. Either way, the number of rounds that would have hit me would have left me helpless.

The problem was that the swath that cut through the billboard weakened its structural integrity and the top half that I was laying on swayed forward, dumping me on the ground at the mech's feet. My only saving grace was that he wasted his ammo, but that didn't stop him from backhanding me, throwing me up and over the burning car, slamming me against a tree on the far side.

The night I instinctively used my psychic tornado my mind tapped into a feeling of desperation and I was able to retrieve embedded knowledge to defend myself. That same feeling of desperation came over me and I gained more knowledge on how to use my telekinesis. The trick with the vector always centering on the centroid of the body of mass could be overcome by picturing and focusing on different shapes that were attached to a body rather than focusing on what you see. The head could be imagined to be its own entity and thus the centroid of the vector would center on the head.