The Children of Nyx - Chapter Two Updated

[Anna]

This is a story, or I suppose a collection of short stories, revolving around the Nyx clones mentioned in the Seraphim Industries United Systems thread, in the Chimera section. Please feel free to leave constructive criticism or just your general thoughts. Writers generally appreciate feedback on their work, myself in particular.

The Children of Nyx
By Anna

Prologue - Nyx
The room was cold, and the light hurt my eyes. The flimsy gown that the researchers gave me did little to trap in my body heat, and the flat bed in the corner of the otherwise bare, white room was not much better. I couldn't sleep, though. I'd been sleeping too long, letting them do with me as they wished, poking me, prodding me and testing me. Enough was enough. It had been seven years since my birth, I was already a full adult by their standards, and for all seven years of my life, they had viewed me as a guinnea pig, especially once I revealed my unique traits.

I turned my gaze to the holocam in the upper left corner of the room, next to the door. That infernal thing recorded my every activity, and I'd had enough of it. I don't know how I knew this information - what the camera was, where it was, or how it worked - but I did. I soaked up knowledge like a sponge from those around me, and fortunately for me, this development seemed to have gone unnoticed in light of my more obvious talents. Speaking of which.

With a single gesture the camera shattered to pieces, sparking briefly and causing the lights to flicker. In the next moment a waved my hand again, and the bed in the corner flew towards the thick steel door, shattering against it brilliantly, but putting little more than a scratch on its surface. If I had been thinking rationally I would have known that was useless, but at that moment, rational thought was the furthest thing from my mind. I wanted to get away from this place, to live my short life freely, instead of trapped in this damn cell, and more than anything else, I wanted to kill the people who did this to me.

I focused my every thought, wish and desire on the door that was impeding these goal, narrowing my eyes and finally flicking my wrist, my lips curling into a satisfied grin as the thick and heavy door tore itself a part and went flying into the hallway. I heard a scream and a sickening crunch and felt a brief amount of satisfaction, only to startle as a guard stepped into the empty doorway, blocking my path and raising his weapon, aiming it right at my forehead.

"Stand down, Oh-Three-Three!" He demanded in a harsh voice, through the voice synthesizer of his armored helmet.

Even though I heard nothing after that, I knew he was still communicating with someone else, through a radio transmission of some sort, I knew I had only moments before my creators ordered my termination at his hand, and more than anything I knew how easily I could kill him where he stood. So I did. A simple flick of the wrist and his head was forcefully torn from his shoulders, and the two seperated parts of his lifeless body hurled aside as I strode out into the hallway.

I had to be careful, though. Despite my abilities I was fragile and weak. Walking was more exhausting for me than for humans, and one wrong step could result in a score of broken and shattered bones. I had no wish to experience that sort of pain again. I nearly slipped in a pool of the soldier's blood, but I managed to steady myself, glancing down the hall in either direction. I knew which way was the way out, and I also knew it would be heavily guarded, particularly with two soldiers apparently dead down here.

The hall was covered with several other large metallic doors, leading into cells like my own, but most of them were empty. Most other subjects of Project Chimera either didn't warrant constant surveillance, or weren't considered dangerous and important enough to be locked away seperately from the others. I almost envied them. Those that were locked up weren't the sort of people who I wanted to escape with me, and would probably prove more of a hinderance than an aid.

I made my way down the hallway and turned to make my way up a flight of stairs, only to stop dead in the face of fifteen armed soldiers, all of them aiming their weapons at me. I didn't have the opportunity to take these ones by surprise, they'd already been ordered to shoot me on sight. I was screwed, and I knew it, too. But I wouldn't make it easy. They may have given me this life, but I'd sure as hell make them pay in blood for taking it.

The first few rounds from their rapidfire coilguns were deflected aside with walls of kinetic energy, and a soldier was torn apart. Two, then four, then six. Blood and viscera rained around me, soaking into the thin gown I wore and splattering against my face, pooling thickly on the floor around my feet. For a moment there, it looked like I might survive. More than half the soldiers were dead, and their projectile weapons were little match for my inherent psychokinetic abilities. But I got overconfident and I didn't use my head, trying to move closer to the retreating soldiers.

I slipped. Like an idiot I slipped in the thick pool of blood that had surrounded my feet, and fell to the floor. I tried to catch myself on the fall down, but all that succeeded in doing was make both my arms and ribs get shattered to pieces. I lost my focus from the pain, and the soldiers knew that it was their opportunity. They fired, and I died.

But the idiots cloned me, and they don't know it, but I remember everything, and I've learned from my mistakes. They're so obsessed with my power, they'll keep bringing me back, over and over again, trying to figure it out. But eventually, I will win.

[T-002]

Wow. This is quite a nice story.

The first few paragraphs made me think of Mewtwo, though.

[Nabaco]

The first few paragraphs made me think of Mewtwo, though.

Same here

[Lord-General Thunder]

But the idiots cloned me, and they don't know it, but I remember everything, and I've learned from my mistakes. [...]

I loved that part.

[Latooni]

But the idiots cloned me, and they don't know it, but I remember everything,

ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff

[Ninteen45]

Another F and I'll Strangle you with an S.

[Anna]

Chapter One - Apate
Nyx was the name I was given in my first life. In the second, it was Apate. Apate was raised in a very different environment from me, grown in a tube on the S.I.U.S. planet of Novercalis and raised by a family consisting of seemingly normal mother and father. Growing up, she was told that she had a rare and currently incurable genetic disease that caused her highly accelerated aging, her low-density bones, and her poor muscle strength. She was monitored at all times, and regularly taken in for tests, but she was otherwise left to live a normal life, going to school, going shopping, making friends. Perhaps they meant to stop her from becoming what I did. Perhaps it was their way of trying to be more humane. I don't know, and at this point I'm long past caring.

It all changed when she was five years old, roughly the equivalent of a sixteen year old human. Then her unique powers awoke, and I was finally reborn in mind as well as body. I'm not certain if she simply psychicly recieved the memories of the original Nyx and was changed by them, or if perhaps the consciousness of the original Nyx possessed her body once her psychic powers awoke. I'll never know, I suppose. But I do know that when Apate's memories mixed with those of Nyx, both of them changed. Oh dear, I'm doing it again. That's the problem with living as many lives as I have; Occasionally you need to refer to yourself in the third person, otherwise it gets ever so confusing.

Apate --- no, I was staring in the bathroom mirror when my powers were awoken, and the memories of my first life of Nyx flooded into my mind. Strangely, it wasn't as bad as you might think. A young woman suddenly remembering a whole other life, of growing up imprisoned and experimented upon, finally shot and killed. I suppose I was raised well in that life, and was capable of handling the memories without being overwhelmed by them. After a few moments of staring off into space as I remembered, I took a step back, raising a hand to feel at the back of my neck.

As Apate I had always known there was an implant of some sort there, and merely thought it to be a monitoring device of some kind, but after remembering my life as Nyx, I knew exactly what it was; A killswitch. A remotely controlled trigger that could terminate me instantly, no matter where I was on the planet, possibly even anywhere within SIUS space. So, naturally, my first act was to destroy it. Not obviously, mind you, but enough to render it harmless. Closing my eyes, I focused on the internal structure of the device, probing it for clues as to the most effective way to shut it down, and after some fifteen minutes I very carefully used a small amount of psychokinetic energy to crush one small but vital mechanism inside the device, that wouldn't be detected. It did also serve as a monitoring device, and it would still read that the killswitch was ready to be activated, but it wasn't. I was certain of it.

That wasn't the only surprise waiting for me, however. I continued to carry out Apate's usual morning ritual from that point, taking a long and luxurious shower before getting dressed into my school's uniform and making my way out into the kitchen for breakfast. My parents were waiting for me. Her parents. Fake parents. But not only that, fake people. I noticed it instantly, largely because I couldn't sense anything from them. With humans, I can usually at least skim their surface thoughts, even without trying, and also pick up on any emotions they're feeling. But from them, there was nothing. They were synthetics. Androids. Sentient to be certain, but not human. Another measure to keep me from going down the same path as the previous Nyx, I suspect.

Naturally, I smiled, moving to greet them both with a hug and a kiss, before sitting down to eat breakfast with them. Even knowing the truth now, I still had Apate's memories of growing up raised by them, and I did love them, very much. Regardless of whatever else happened, I wouldn't harm them. My first memories of kindness are of them. The rest of the day was completely ordinary. School was even easier than ever; Although I was younger than all my fellow students by more than a decade, I was easily at the top of my class, excelling in every subject, although I suspect that has less to do with me being inherently brilliant and more to do with me snatching knowledge out of the heads of everyone around me, whenever given the chance.

Arriving home that afternoon, I quickly made my way to the bedroom, offering a short greeting to my fake family in the form of a wave and a brusque "'Afternoon, Mom, Dad."

I could tell from their expressions that they were surprised by the curt greeting, but they didn't say anything. They trusted me by that point, I think. Perhaps they even loved me. Chalk it up to another thing I'll never know the answer to. Slipping onto the chair in my room, I spun to face my computer terminal, deactivating the security measures with a few simple taps of my fingers and smirking to myself. Even before the memories of my life as Nyx had returned, I'd already figured out that my 'net access was heavily monitered, and figured out a way to bypass it after several weeks. Now that those memories had returned, however, I knew exactly what to look for, and where to find it.

Five minutes later, I was reading through the files of Project Chimera, and specifically myself. I was refered to in the files as Nyx-04. Evidently, there had been two clones before me, but neither had survived to reach maturity, and thus never had their abilities awaken, and never recieved the memories of the original Nyx. Skimming through their files, I was almost brought to tears; Nyx-02 had commited suicide due to the cruelty and severity of the testing she had been forced to endure, and Nyx-03 had a psychotic breakdown and tried to attack one her guards. She died in the attempt, after her fragile skull hit the ground and was shattered. Afterwards, I read my own file.

It was thick with assorted data, most of which didn't interest me. The scientists were disappointed by the lack of psychic development in me, but unsurprised, since neither of the previous Nyx clones had developed the original Nyx's gift either. There was a note that they were interested in my rapid mental development and my capacity for deception. They knew I was capable of bypassing their monitoring devices on the computer, but allowed it, believing it to be harmless. I also noted with pleasure that two years ago they had outfitted this body with subcutaneous cybernetic enhancements, to make me less fragile. That was nice to know, as having bones shatter as easily as mine did was not a pleasant experience.

My final discovery before logging out of the Project Chimera archives was that there were already two more clones of Nyx. Nyx-05 was two years old, and currently being kept in a home not unlike this one, on the planet Seraphi, and Nyx-06 was still being grown in a vat, on the Orbital Industries Ringworld. Most fascinating. They would need to be saved, as soon as I was able to escape myself. I closed the files and began the complicated and tedious task of cleaning up after myself, removing any record of my computer terminal accessing the Project Chimera database. After that, I shut down my terminal and made my way out into the living room.

My fake parents were sitting there, talking to one another while a movie played on the holoscreen. The sound was low, and the picture qualify was poor and two-dimensional; an old movie from the late 21st century, I think. Normally, I would have been fascinated, but at that moment I had something I needed to do. Looking at my fake family, I went over in my head what I knew about them from my life with them, and from the files I just read. They were an actual married couple, Tallen and Elora Arassen. Both worked for the SIUS military, in Black Ops. Their bodies were specially enhanced for combat, and had several hidden weapons inside. They had standing orders to kill me if it looked like I would become like the original Nyx. And I loved them.

I walked over to them with a solemn expression on my face, lowering my eyes and lacing my fingers together, "Mom, Dad. Does the name 'Nyx' mean anything to you?"

It was my mother who spoke, quickly, her tone laced with a barely detectable undercurrent of fear, "No, Apate. Why are you asking about that? Where did you hear that name?"

She reached out to grab me and I slipped away, "I'm sorry. I need to go. There are things I have to do."

Closing my eyes, I turned and moved towards the door. The sound of them moving was quiet, but I still heard it. Just barely. If they didn't try to kill me, they would still stop me from leaving, and I simply couldn't let that happen. There was one more piece of information I had dug up on them before I shut down my computer; their schematics. It was a simple matter then to activate their internal emergency shutdown with a simple telekinetic 'flick'. I heard them hit the floor with a solid thump as I made my way out the front door. I didn't look back. I had too much to do. Starting with properly removing this monitor on my neck.

[Ninteen45]

I already get the Ultraviolet feel. I can't wait!

[T-002]

This is becoming an awesome story.

Just one question. Apate is a girl. Were the previous Nyx (Nyxes?) girls? I'm just wondering, since it's hard to figure out when you're speaking in first person.

[Anna]

All the Nyx's mentioned so far are female, yes. I should probably make more of an effort to make that clear in the future.

[ChaosTheory]

Very good. Definitely potential for a great story. But some of the details seem to conflict slightly . . . in minuscule, intractable ways, but still conflict. Like the fact that the SUIS tech people make sentient androids but can't prevent a little psychic girl from getting around the parental controls.

[Anna]

Very good. Definitely potential for a great story. But some of the details seem to conflict slightly . . . in minuscule, intractable ways, but still conflict. Like the fact that the SUIS tech people make sentient androids but can't prevent a little psychic girl from getting around the parental controls.

They can prevent her from getting around the parental control. I did say in the story, they know she can bypass the security measures on her computer. They could increase the levels of security to make it harder for her to bypass, but they didn't do that, because they're studying her.

And also, this story is told from a first person perspective. Just because she thinks she's deactivated all the monitoring devices, doesn't necessarily mean she really did.

[Hades]

Very well done Anna. I look forward to the rest of this story.

[Anna]

Continuing from Chapter 1. This part is a bit... different. I wasn't sure if I should keep it as it is, but it does accurately reflect Nyx's personality, and her current method for getting things done.

********************

The most wonderful thing about living in the SIUS is that there are ships everywhere, of every description imaginable. In the months following my departure from my home, acquiring such a ship was the first thing I had to do, but it wasn't easy; not many people are willing to sell any sort of spacefaring vehicle to someone who seems like a very sick teenage girl. Eventually, however, I was able to obtain a small craft equiped with a primitive but workable Hyperdrive, from a man who refused to give his name, but gave more than a few indications that he was a smuggler. I knew the truth about him, however. He was an SIUS operative, sent here to capture me through any possible means, and his name was Jonas.

Honestly, I was impressed that he'd found me and been able to get so close to me without me realising his true nature. I'd been on the run for months, evading countless operatives, destroying those who got too close. But this one, I could use. I took him up on the offer, letting him lead me into the ship and show me around. While I set about inspecting the ship, I could hear him rustling about, trying to prepare a holding cell for me. Did they really think I was stupid enough to fall for this? Tch. The ship wasn't even space-worthy, from what I could see, with numerous power couplings and control consoles and other important internal systems having been sabotaged or otherwise tampered with. It would take a fair bit of work to make the damn thing fly, but I could.

Of course, I need to remove the operative first, and hope that he had yet to call for assistance. Stepping back into the small, cramped cargo-bay, I was shocked to be grabbed from behind and slammed face-first against the wall, struggling uselessly against the much larger man who was placing my arms into restraints. Upon noticing that I was still struggling, the man grunted and slammed me against the wall again, apparently trying to knock me out. The idiot probably would have killed me if not for the cybernetic implants. In response to the assault, I collapsed, feigning unconsciousness and hoping he wouldn't notice; it wasn't hard, as I was lucky the first blow hadn't knocked me out.

Upon finishing placing my arms in the restraints, he did the same to my legs, while I collected myself, allowing myself to focus. He was dragging me towards a small cryostasis chamber. How amusing. He pressed a few buttons and opened it up, reaching down to lift me up only to be thrown backwards with a blast of telekinetic energy. Rising to my feet, I shrugged off the restraints, which I had prevented from locking properly when he had been placing them upon me. It was almost depressing how easy this was, except my face seemed to disagree with that sentiment. I glanced into a reflective panel on the wall, frowning as I saw the large, dark purple bruise on my otherwise marble-white face.

Turning back to Jonas, I couldn't help but laugh as he drew out a weapon, raising the firearm and pointing it at my head. A standard issue police coilgun. It appeared my first glance inside his mind was mistaken. He wasn't an SIUS operative at all, merely an undercover Novercalis police officer who had heard about my attempts to find an illegal way off-world, and had probably linked me to a dozen murder cases in the surrounding cities. He had no idea who I was, he just thought I was a murderer. Humans can be such amusing creatures.

Removing the gun from his grip was a simple matter, and pinning him up against the wall wasn't much more difficult. I held him there, even as he attempted to struggle, glaring at me with such cold blue eyes, as I probed his mind deeper. Much deeper. Deeper than I had ever dared to do before. It wasn't a pleasant experience for either of us, I suspect. He would have felt a burning, searing sensation inside his skull as I wormed my way through his thoughts, and I had the sickening displeasure of learning that the sensation of my hands on his face aroused him. With a shudder I drew my hands back, stepping away from him and keeping him pinned firmly to the wall.

"Officer Jonas Almadar, 32 standard years old, male. Son of Terechyn and Ysandre Almadar. Cyberneticly enhanced vision and musculature, geneticly enhanced for a high-gravity environment. Born on the planet Roseta, in the Camelian system. You've been in the service for six years, during which time you've solved several murders. You're also a filthy rapist who likes young girls, but I'm sure you keep work and pleasure seperate. Am I right?" I stated every word calmly, keeping an innocent smile on my face.

His response was a wild glare, "What the hell are you talking about!? What are you!?"

"I'm your new boss, Jonas. You can call me Nyx, and I will keep your dirty little secret, if you work for me."

His reaction was predictable, "I'll kill you, you little bitch! You're calling me sick? You've killed sixteen people in the last three months!"

I must admit, I got a perverse sort of pleasure in telekineticly punching him in the face, watching as his head was snapped sharply to the side, not quite hard enough to break his jaw, but close. He deserved that much for what he did to me, "I've actually killed twenty-three people, Jonas. That's not counting the androids, gynoids, and assorted other synthetics. Now, you will work for me, or I will make it twenty-four, and be on my merry way."

"Okay," He muttered, shaking visibly, although he had stopped struggling against his psychokinetic bindings, "I'll work for you. I'll do whatever you want."

Seeing inside his mind by that point was like reading a book. He was terrified, and it was so easy to tell that he was lying. His intention was to wait until he had the opportunity, and then to rape and kill me, or just to kill me if I was too much trouble. How sickening. I would have to teach him a lesson. Turning, I made my way out of the cargo bay and down the ramp, smashing his head back against the wall with much greater force than he had done to me. There was a clatter as he fell to the ground unconscious. Meanwhile, I had work to do to make my new ship workable.

It took me the better part of a few hours to acquire the parts I needed, talking to numerous people of questionable backgrounds, in some instances outright stealing from construction facilities, and in others searching the nearby junkyard. It's surprising how many things that are still quite servicable get thrown away. I was even able to acquire a small stealth device that seemed to be compatible with my new ship's reactor.

Jonas was lying in wait for me, when I returned. As I made my way up the ramp, he lunged at me, but I was expecting it this time, and easily threw him aside, continuing on past him with an armful of assorted parts, and more in a small transport down at the entrance of the ship. Sitting the parts aside, I looked at him with a smile and did a quick once-over of his body before using my telekinetic abilities to cut off ten seperate wires inside his cybernetic endoskeleton. The result was immediate, causing his entire body to lock up and become immobile, although he was still completely conscious.

"I'm going to let you think about my offer some more, Jonas, and I want you to know that I can read your mind." I whispered into his ear, grinning broadly.

One look into his eyes and I knew I wouldn't need to leave him to think for very much longer. He was so far beyond terror, now. But I had other things that I needed to worry about; after all, I had to make my new ship suitably space-worthy, before the SIUS tracked down where I was hiding. More agents would no doubt be getting close, and I wasn't in the mood to kill anyone else, today.

[T-002]

You did... what?

Was taking his cojones really necessary? ^///^