Flawless (Into The System Part I)

'Endless stars, all drifting past in the infinite darkness of space. Silence, bitter silence all around. Escape...escaping 'home', which was now fading to nothingness. Defeat, the planet I was meant to protect had slipped away right from underneath me.

My purpose in life was torn away, everyone I was supposed to save...gone with no trace. My endless life span has proven only a curse in these times of despair...No way out of this misery.

Four thousand years...All this time has just wasted by, and I haven't even aged a day since I was sent away from Earth. Eternal life as the guardian, the guardian of the System; Earth's very last hope of returning from the abyss.'

Darius had remained in his office all this time, as he usually did when it came near a 'population-reduction cycle' as Layla called it. The dim lighting from outside the window cast an eerie shadow across the room, the crimson walls almost a dark brown or black in the dark.

The long wall of glass behind him displayed the vast nighttime sky, millions of stars in the cosmoses beyond, of which Darius traversed for the majority of his life.

As the sounds of gunfire and screams of pain echoed out across the landscape, Darius just tried to ignore it all. Though, his efforts were failing. The symbol tattooed on his forehead lightly glowed a deep blue shade, thin veins of a matching color became visible in his pure white eyes. Darius was slumped over his desk in a seemingly pained way, his hands were gripped tightly around the sides of his head.

"Dammit...I can still hear their cries...their pain, their anguish..."

Every second in time seemed an eternity to him, every heartbeat a violent drumming at his core, and all the pain everyone else felt in this moment now transferred to him. A mere puppet created to absorb the misery of others, the ultimate gift to humanity, but the ultimate curse to Darius. And this was how his entire life had been lived.

The noisy sounds of androids coming near were very prominent from out in the hallway beyond this office, their automatic footsteps very distinguished from regular humans'. And then, just as everything grew silent, the door suddenly burst open with the firing of a laser. Several of the robots rushed in, including the dumb one that decided to fire it's weapon as a method to open the door.

Darius looked up weakly from his desk, only to see the many silhouetted figures of robots and their glowing red sensors staring in his direction. "What is it now? ...And how many times has Layla had to reprogram your systems to recognize a door as usable?!" Just as he asked that, the color of his tattoo changed to a deep red, likely showing his change in mood.

The robots just stood dumbly for a good long while, as if looking up in their databases how to respond to such a thing. Finally, the idiotic one (holding it's still smoking gun) decided to speak up. "We have received distress signals from the Space Patrol fleet, an unknown life form was closing in on their vessels. The report sent to our databases told of an odd disturbance in the Web."

Darius raised an eyebrow suspiciously at the mention of this 'Web', as if something in his long memory had been awoken from the depths of time. "Disturbance, you say? Did they specify if this 'disturbance' was of the destroying variety, or of the re-creating?"

"Negative. There was no data containing requested information in the message. How shall you respond to this situation, sir?"

He sighed irritably, "Tell the admiral of that fleet to stop being such a wussy and to get out there and fight that disturbance with all they've got!"

The robot cocked it's head to the side slightly, as if trying to determine which emotion Darius was displaying. Humans were so complex, after all. "Understood. Relaying message to admiral Blake Isaarai..." A long pause followed, the robot just stared off into the distance as it internally searched for the proper transmission signal. "Successfully sent."

"Good. Now if you have nothing else to report, you are dismissed." Darius watched the metallic figures retreat to the melted door frame, a dull ache still pulsing from within his skull. 'So...it seems another entity possesses access to the Web, after all. Hopefully those two N-A's will fulfill their duty before time runs short...Else, all will be lost...'


~~~
Meanwhile...

"Dammit, Darius! He honestly expects us to fend off something this massive with mere machinery!? That man is insane!" Blake exclaimed in frustration, immediately after receiving the message from his own on-board android. It just stood there silently, but the rest of his crew stared at him rather concerned.

"Well that's just a well-known fact; Darius has always been rather...mentally unstable. Why else would he create such biologic nightmares, claiming to 'save us all' with them? Bah! He's only in the possession of such power in the Aristaisian government because of his wealth." Said Alex, the main pilot of this vessel.

~

The Space Patrol fleet consisted of nearly two hundred minor fighter ships, thirty defense vessels, and the main ship named The Armageddon. All ships were equipped with multiple weapon systems, including S.S.A.S capability (although, only on the bigger ships such as The Armageddon), standard combat androids were in plentiful supply amongst the hangars of most ships in the fleet. Of coarse, the Axion insignia was plastered to each and every ship in some way or another. One thing was for sure; Darius was thorough when it came to designing weaponry. But perhaps, not thorough enough for this task.


Nothing unusual was visible ahead, but The Armageddon's sensitive radars told otherwise: Something was certainly out there, just lurking within a shield of sorts that blocked it from view. A constant pattern of energy rippled across the surface of the disguised object, only distorting the images of stars when the strongest of ripples were sent outward. Whatever this object was, it was most definitely something beyond the power of the meager SP fleet's.


~

"Sir, the waves it's giving off appear to be that of a natural energy, perhaps Nova energy. But at such a high concentration level, I'm not sure if our weapons systems will be sufficient enough to penetrate it..." Explained one of the many crew members by the vast line of monitors and keyboards, her voice sounded rather concerned. "The way this shield operates is unknown; it's energy patterns are too random to identify. It's as if--"
Another of the crew members shouted out just then, "Incoming distortion wave! Prepare for impact, all shields are at maximum capacity!"

The invisible attack came in three massive waves, the last of which was the most forceful. Some of the minor vessels were instantaneously crushed under the pressure of these attacks, others were slightly damaged, and the larger ships were merely shoved backward a little further. Another set of waves triggered moments later, though caused less damage overall than the first set. The dim outline of whatever that object was now became visible, and after a final set of energy waves were sent out, the rest of it was revealed.


Blake stared out the giant window of the Bridge in disbelief. "What the hell have we gotten ourselves into this time...?"

What was once seemingly just stars and empty space, was now one massive spaceship. This unknown craft was easily several miles long, it's general shape was long and thin with circular sections towards the middle and on either end, little disc-shaped mechanisms hovered separately alongside the ship. The purplish material this vessel was made of was unidentifiable, neither metal nor energy. Some strange writing stretched across the side of it, from what language, the crew of the Armageddon could not discern.

Something red suddenly darted out of a hatch on the bottom of the ship, and straight toward the vast collection of SP fleet vessels.


"Notify all fighter units to attack, NOW!" Blake commanded, and his crew obeyed quickly and accurately.

The android by his side seemed to be focusing on the red object, trying to gather information that mere humans could not. "The ejected object appears to be another robot. However, I am unable to access the unit's signal, it seems to be operating independent of any central network."

Blake's gaze immediately rushed to the android, "What the hell does that mean!? Robots such as yourself cannot function any other way! It'd have to be a living being to not have a network of sorts, how else would it be able to receive instructions on what to do?"

"I am just a mere a O.M unit, sir. My databases do not contain the requested information. Please contact Darius Wakemen, or one of the A.I units for a more in-depth explanation." It droned on in that obviously pre-recorded, monotonous voice.

Blake slammed his fist down on the nearest console in frustration, muttering something under his breath about how he'd beat the crap out of Darius if he wasn't his boss.


A flurry of blue beams suddenly erupted from the many smaller ships, some arching out in a circular motion to cover more space, while others were much more direct and hit the red object straight-on. The enemy android momentarily vanished from sight…

…And reappeared directly in front of the windshield of the Armageddon.

It had a female shape to it's figure, and probably stood about 8 1/2 feet tall; the android's armor was made of a strange kind of metal (similar to that of what the ship it came from was made of), colored bright red on some sections, and black on others; it's face nothing more than a two-halved mask of red and black metal interlocking at the center of it's head, pointed metallic horns curved upward from the backside of the mask. Slanted crimson eyes were fixated on Blake in particular, whom was now pale as a corpse.

Though, the she-droid did not attack; it just stayed where it was, watching the crew within. Something on her face moved ever so slightly (likely the robot's equivalent of a mouth), she appeared to be trying to communicate, but remained unheard.

After a long moment of silence and lack of movement, the robot detached herself from the windshield, and once again free-floated in space. Despite all the laser beams striking her, she was completely intact --the energy seemed to just be getting absorbed.

A strong distortion wave emanated from the she-droid, more powerful than the ones from the gargantuan purple ship. The glass windshield began to crack under the pressure, threatening to give in at any moment. Alarms sounded off throughout the Armageddon, people rushed back and forth in a hurried frenzy. Yet Blake still stood there, motionless, in a trance-like state.

One final wave was sent out, and transformed itself into more of a vortex just before impacting with the ship. Everything around Blake was changing right before his eyes; images of the Bridge interior and crew members, the sight of all the other ships outside, even his own body, were all swirling in a confused mess into the infinite darkness of the vortex.

The glass shattered, and all grew silent.

The very last thing Blake saw before being sucked in, was an endless web of golden threads stretching across the nighttime sky.

(Taking a moment to announce something here.)

Hey there various readers and possible fans of the products from my odd creativity! :D How's Earth today? Oh, wait...dead...that's right, eheh...

But that's NOT the point of this post, the point IS however, that I have yet another blog started up that I will begin to write in shortly. This new blog can be found here: http://vexenesis-beyond.blogspot.com

Random person: VHAT IS ZIS CRAP YOU POST, Vexiiiiizz!? Vhere is the killer robots, and zee eeeevil Axeeeon, and zee freakish artificial ahngels zat save zee Nova streeeeam?!

Answer: *Ponders in befuddlement with the random person's weird accent* Erm...yeeeeaaaah, anyway...

This new blog will take place back on Earth, in the year 2,100A.D --About the time that humans first discovered the stream of Nova as a usable power source, and how it was later on that Aristaisia even came into existence to begin with. All new characters will be introduced and written as in place of Vexenesis and Xenon (Considering they don't even exist yet). It will be almost a history of what happened before the main plot came into place, a prequel.

EDIT: There IS a new post now.


There are no posts in it currently, but I'll be working on that shortly (hopefully will have the first post out by Friday or Saturday). However, I think posts in both this blog and that one will come at a more regular pace once I get my laptop in May... *Wink* ;D


Anyway, thanks for reading my random crap, and hope to see you around!

Blood-Drenched Melody (Evils Of Axion, Part I)

Everything was growing dark, more ominous and infinite the further down she fell. Vexis was unable to save herself, her wings were gone, the Nova energy was non-existent in this realm, the walls were too far apart to grab onto. The infinite sea of black was ever-expanding beneath her, splatters of crimson colored the sky far above. All was silent, except for a quiet humming sound playing in the distance. The sound was annoying, but strangely hypnotic. Each time the humming grew louder in tone, the sky would start dripping it's crimson coloring into the dark shaft, raining blood. Vexis tried desperately to move at all, but found herself completely paralyzed.

The sound suddenly stopped, and everything remained still. Everything, even time itself was stuck in place. Vexis couldn't even really tell which way was up or down anymore, all was frozen.


The loud explosions of gunfire woke Vexis up in a hurry, she looked around frantically for the cause of the sound. However, all was fine. She found herself inside a hotel room of sorts, although it was hard to see much detail in the darkness of 3:45AM. Xenon could be seen across the way on the sofa, it looked like he just got woken up as well. Vexis didn't even have to speak up about what she was wondering; they both could tell what the other was thinking.

She gradually pulled herself out of bed, heading towards the window inside the nearby wall. The cloudy glass revealed that they were quite high up from the ground, the streets below seemed fairly empty. Vexis rubbed her eyes sleepily, trying to make her vision more clear. Still nothing.

The dark angel turned around to face Xenon again, a questioning look on her face, "Hey, did you just hear tha-" Just as she spoke, another flurry of gunshots sounded off in the city below. Vexis immediately unfolded her wings and broke through the window, glass shards and feathers all fell out into the sidewalk 17 stories below. Several groups of people -all armed with weapons- were looking rather lost, as if they didn't know what was going on either, while many others lay dead on the pavement.

Vexis let herself drop down closer to the ground, to get a better view. She began to hear the same buzzing that was in her dream off in the distance, and it was growing louder by the moment. Vexis' mind felt as if it were getting foggy inside, all thoughts that filled her brain were instantly dismissed into oblivion. She could barely recognize the sound of guns being shot once more, but everything was so distant to her. Was she even flying anymore? Sounds...loud sounds. Darkness...light, street lights. Cold breeze...warmth on her shoulder. Vexis glanced down at her shoulder where it felt warm, Xenon had grabbed onto her and seemed a bit freaked out for whatever reason, as if something was wrong. Xenon was trying to say something, but his words just kind of echoed in the background with every other noise.

"What? I can't hear you...speak up a little!" She could see him trying to be louder, but only mere echos came.

A searing pain suddenly jabbed into Vexis' side, one of the bullets managed to get her. Why was everything so sluggish? Or better yet; why was she in particular so out of it while the rest of the world seemed to be on haste?

Things started to pick up in pace again once Xenon forced her to start moving again. Vexis fell flat on her back against the roof of a building, Xenon landed a little more gracefully at the edge of the roof seconds later.

Vexis noticed that everything was becoming a bit more clear again, and also realized that the sound had grown much quieter. Was that noise causing her mind to act this way? The loud clashing of metal sounded off behind her, Vexis immediately whipped around to see the small group of androids that just landed to join them. Each of the robots were identical to the ones that Layla sent to go with Vexis and Xenon, even down to the Axion 'A' logo printed on their foreheads. The robot in the front of the formation stepped closer to Vexis, a thin beam of red light scaled up her arm as it scanned the bar-code tattoo that she had.

The other two androids left once the leader identified Vexis and Xenon as allies, the third remained where it was. The robot turned around after a moment, revealing a small monitor in it's back (which just looked plain creepy).

Vexis stood up and stepped a bit closer to the android, her eyes fixated on the blinking screen.

Layla's usually angry face appeared in the screen, looking as if she were about to bite someone's head off and spit it back out at them half-chewed. "What are you two still doing in Neo Ethiamn? It's idiotic to stay in the city while a population-reduction cycle is going on! And here I thought we gave you some tiny speck intelligence..."

Xenon suddenly shoved Vexis out of the way, his expression angered. "You mean to say that you people are causing this!? This slaughter-fest is your doing?"


Layla just stared blankly through her monitor, expressing just how careless she was of this matter. "Of coarse, we do this once every three months to reduce the population number. It's all to save money and resources, it's getting more difficult to provide certain needs like nourishment as it is. And if the population continues to grow, then the more important individuals such as myself shall have to live in a much less desirable environment."


Vexis was surprised to see Xenon's reaction to this, a certain feistiness and temper seemed to awaken within him. She knew that anger very well, for she felt that way about almost anything or anyone that dared to get in her way.

"How are you doing this? I mean, what's causing these people to heartlessly murder each other?" Vexis asked, just in time to block out Xenon's endless ranting from earshot.

"Simple, really, don't you hear that buzzing sound off in the distance? It triggers certain reactions in people subconsciously by affecting the brain's thinking patterns. And we can program what reactions we want it to start, and the sound will adjust itself to fit the task. The whole concept is about manipulating people through sound waves, took a while to develop this mechanism, but I think it's worth it." Layla explained, clearly enjoying the destruction she could cause. "Anyway, you two need to leave right away, these PatrolBots will escort you out of the city."

The screen grew dark then, and the robot turned around to face them again, it's freaky red scanner-bar pulsing with light. "Please follow to the entrance of city." It instructed in it's obviously computerized voice, although where the sound was coming from was the next question, considering it didn't even have a mouth (nor a face).


"You expect us to obey after doing this!?" Xenon exclaimed, pointing down to the blood-coated sidewalk. "Well, I for one am not going!"

However, the robot did not tolerate disobedience so patiently. Within mere seconds, the PatrolBot was able to adapt it's right forearm into a wicked looking blade, electricity danced across the surface to add extra pain and torture, and held it against Xenon's throat. "Please follow to the entrance of city." It repeated, although, if robots could sound annoyed, this one did.


Vexis didn't dare interfere with the robot, for it had more than just one arm and one weapon. Instead, she did as it asked, and flew on her own to the entrance where a group of androids awaited.


The PatrolBot's blade pressed even closer to the N-A's flesh as he refused to answer to it, although, after a moment the robot withdrew. Which, in this case, was not a good thing. Instead of keeping the blade, the robot now had a series of guns aimed towards it's victim. "Do as instructed, or face the consequences."


Yet another robot clumsily landed on the rooftop next to Xenon, and this one didn't even bother warning the N-A, it just grabbed onto him and took off.


During the uncomfortable flight, Xenon could have sworn that he saw something lurking in the shadows below, perhaps not even human.


~~~~


The shadow-man crept low to the ground, stalking his prey from a distance. His pitch-black skin and hair serving as a good disguise, only his yellow eyes would reveal his presence. "I've found them, should I attack now or continue to trail after them?" He asked into the earpiece on the side of his head, waiting patiently for a reply.

"Just keep following for now, with all those Bots around it'd be nearly impossible." Responded the woman from the other end.


"Alright, but the sooner they're gone, the better." He slowly got up from his hiding place, and phased through the nearest wall, like a ghost. Off to track down Axion's latest nightmares.

Governmental Corruption: Humanity's Tool To "Success"

Layla impatiently waited outside the grand metallic doors of the main office, appearing grumpy as per usual. The little device on her wrist kept beeping as it retrieved more data from the battle androids with Vexis and Xenon. Layla glanced down at the little screen briefly, and only became even more impatient after reading what it displayed. "Why do these people keep resisting!? They need us, they need our creations to save their godforsaken planet!!" The ice-queen muttered to herself, bitterly. "Oh well, perhaps I can convince 'daddy dearest' to allow me to use the System this time..."


A few minutes later, just as Layla was about to explode with impatience, the double doors slid open, finally. Inside was a huge office, larger than four apartments squished into one room. Every kind of useless gadget you could ever think up existed somewhere in this room; monitors, keypads, weapons, and even things such as automated-soda-can-openers were all displayed in thick glass containers. The walls were painted a deep crimson color, the metallic floor was solid gold with red lights occasionally pulsing through it, and at the very back of this gargantuan office was one lone wooden desk with someone sitting behind it.

Layla entered the room, cautiously approaching the desk. Almost nothing made Layla even mildly nervous or uncomfortable, with the exception of her own father. Although, almost everyone felt a bit nervous around him at some point in their life, and the reason of such occurrence will be mentioned shortly.


The man looked up from the little laptop in front of him, just staring at Layla with his judgmental gaze. Darius Wakemen was his name. Darius was definitely not your average politician, no, he was your not-so-average insane politician. He had the same shape to his face that Layla did (along with the long, skinny nose. Slightly slanted eyes, and the big mouth.), he had short black hair that spiked a bit in the bangs, his eyes were pure white with no pupils to them. Darius wore the average black suit that most politicians did, only a much fancier version that would cost a fortune. An odd symbol was tattooed onto his forehead, it was one long arrow stretched into a circle shape that was continued by another arrow to finish the circle. Also, Darius appeared no older than about twenty-eight, the result of some freakish experiments that the man mutated himself with back when he still young and 'handsome' (or so he thought, anyway). Yes, of coarse, the deranged lunatics always had to be the ones with the extreme Nanobots in their bloodstreams that keep them young forever. "Hello, Layla. How may you assist me, today?" Darius asked, now with his trademark psycho-grin on his face.

Layla froze in her spot the moment he spoke, unable to move. Oh, yes, another freakish ability that 'daddy dearest' had; he could control the movements of almost any biological creature within thirty feet of his location. Darius could manipulate the cells in living flesh, and used them to physically manipulate other people. Layla trembled a bit as she fought for control again, and eventually Darius let go.

Layla bowed her head in respect and submission, then backed away a few feet. "I apologize for my lack of manners, sir..." She began, "...but I come here with a request, one that might aid us in the near future."

Darius raised an eyebrow with curiosity, still looking psychotic, however. "Oh? Will this have anything to do with those two N-A's, Vexenesis and Xenohn?"

Layla shook her head, "No, not directly, anyway." She glanced out the giant window-wall behind Darius, staring at the endless gray landscape outside. "I think I finally found a use for the System, one that would ultimately work in our favor." Layla started to smirk a bit, matching the one Darius' face (although, much less creepy than his). "We could use it to brainwash the masses, convince them that Axion is truly on their side. And with the unbreakable coding and numerous fail-safes used to run the thing, all of those people will be just as loyal as any of the androids we create. They are our puppets."


Darius suddenly broke out into maniacal laughter, which was his sign of liking a plan. "Why hadn't anyone thought of that before? WHY!?"

Layla was literally thrown back into the wall behind her just then, Darius' cell-manipulation could certainly be quite pain inducing at times...

"Well, what are you waiting for!? GO!!" Layla was thrown again, only this time out into the hallway. The doors slammed shut behind her.


Layla finally stood up again, still feeling the pain of being thrown twice by the cells of her own body. She sighed, then headed towards the less used lab room in this facility; where they stored all of the super-dangerous gadgets.


~~~~~~

MEANWHILE...


Vexis gripped tightly into the neck of the fifth person in the rebellion group, for she had already slaughtered the other four with great ease. The angel's arms were stained with blood, bits of leftover gore remained stuck in her fingernails. Her dark eyes were soulless and cold, Vexis was a beast, a tool, an empty shell of a person that never existed. Vexis lived to kill, to destroy everything that stood in her path. Whereas Xenon was meant to help revive what she destroys, to undo the pain that Vexis inflicts.

Fresh blood gushed out as Vexis brutally ripped into the man's neck with her claws. Another foolish person attempted to shoot the angel, but the bullet missed her head and instead tore into her white (left) wing. However, Vexis remained unaffected, no damage was caused; because her wings were made from robotic parts. Unlike Xenon, whom was purely a flesh being.

Vexis suddenly disappeared from sight, then came down upon the gun-wielder from above, splitting them messily in half.

Only one woman was left, and she started to run immediately after watching her allies get gored by a freakish cyborg-angel-government-experiment.

But no, that wasn't satisfying enough for Vexis. The angel charged toward the woman, every one of her muscles working in overdrive.

Vexis' robotic wings started to shift on her back, then popped right out of her back. The wings had lost their feathers, revealing the sharp metallic frames that they were constructed from. Vexis reached back and grabbed the frames, and pressed them together at the their connecting points. A giant, spiky blade formed itself out of the frames, one that would be guaranteed to rip the guts out of whomever it was stabbed into.

Vexis jumped high into the air, holding her blade ready, and chopped down hard into the sidewalk and her prey. Even the concrete was sliced cleanly through.


The angel just stood and stared at the destruction she had caused, enjoying every bit of it. Her blade re-formed into the frames of her wings, and placed themselves into their correct slots in her back. The feathers instantaneously regenerated.

~

Xenon had watched the entire battle from a distance, seeing his other half become even more of a beast than she was before. He felt numb, anger and sorrow both fought for their place as his current emotion. But instead he felt nothing at all. Far from the joy that Vexenesis got out of killing.


Vexenesis was still standing amongst the ruins of her battle, and Xenon just stared. Rage started to build up inside him, beating sorrow into the dust.

Xenon suddenly charged straight towards Vexis, the intent to kill was obvious in his light green eyes.

He slammed his fist right into Vexis' shoulder, and sent the dark angel sliding forward onto the hard ground. Xenon launched himself into the air, and came crashing down upon Vexis' back before she could even get up from the first attack.

Vexenesis threw Xenon off her back momentarily, but found herself crashing through the wall of a building right after. Xenon caught Vexenesis just before she could hit the floor, but forced her down into the metallic surface far harder than a fall could have done. Vexenesis tried to kick him while she was still on the ground, but failed and got hit in the abdomen with one of the many chairs around them.

Meanwhile, all of the office workers in the room at the time were all watching with befuddlement as the two super-strong mutant freaks brawled it out.

Xenon threw Vexenesis against another wall, once again breaking through the metal. By now, most people would easily have been dead at this point; but not these two, they could take a beating and a half before showing any signs of weakness.

Vexenesis grabbed a nearby desktop computer, and chucked it at Xenon. It just split in half on his forehead, he never once flinched.

Xenon gripped onto Vexenesis' neck, threatening to strangle the beast, but instead unfolded his wings and flew straight up into the ceiling through the next ten levels of the building. Vexenesis fought and struggled, but each time she was almost free of his grip, her head hit another layer of ceiling.

Eventually, they reached the rooftop of this building, and by this time Vexis was practically seeing stars from all the head-bashing. Xenon pushed her backward, dangerously close to the edge of the roof.

Vexenesis was about to attack again, but instead just stumbled back as the beating she took finally caught up to her. The dark angel lost consciousness, and fell over the edge.


Xenon just waited to hear the splat of her body hitting the ground, waiting for the satisfaction of slaughtering his other side.

Who was the true beast, now?

Something seemed to click back into place in his mind just at the right moment, Xenon swooped down and caught Vexis just a split second before she would have hit the ground. Her skin was deathly pale, her long black hair hung messily in her face. Clear liquid was starting to spill out of a cut on Vexis' face, it was her artificial equivalent of blood, Xenon had it too.


A crowd of people all started to gather around the two mutants, varied reactions sounded from each of them.

Xenon flew back up to the rooftop, his solemn gaze fixated on Vexis. "Who is the true monster out of the two of us?"

The -Not So- Unexpected

Another week had passed, all the while Xenon had still been left wondering, trying to find all the answers for himself. However, yet another issue had been added to the seemingly endless line of questions. About two days ago, during another test, Vexis almost seemed like herself again, she almost refused to cooperate, instead of the obedient, mindless drone they turned her into. Although, Vexis obviously hadn't remained like that, because earlier today -when Xenon saw her last, she was back to the robot personality. What made Vexis revert back so quickly? Little did Xenon realize just how...corrupt this place was.


Layla had explained to them what the plan was for reviving the Nova stream; it would be a gradual process. There were certain areas on Aristaisia where the stream seemed to cluster most, "Gates" as Layla called them. Each of these Gates were buildup points for Nova energy, they acted like portals into the stream.

Vexenesis and Xenon were supposed to visit these Gates, and help pull more of the stream into Aristaisia by using the portals.

Simple, right? Maybe not...


Anyway, today was the day that they would set out towards the first Gate, up near where ancient Ethiamn used to stand.


~

Xenon begrudgingly followed Layla and Vexis down the long walkway, needless to say; he wasn't looking forward to this day. The large metallic door slid open, but not nearly as much sunshine as he would've expected poured in. The sky was gray and cloudy. Again. Big surprise. Layla led them around the side of the gigantic lab building, only the annoying clacking of her ridiculously high-heeled boots could be heard amongst the silence. Xenon was just glad to be outside for once, and a non-simulated 'outside' at that.

Finally they stopped on the other side of the concrete parking lot...thing. Just ahead were a bunch of strange looking androids, all clustered near a single vehicle (which looked like a miniature star ship that you'd find in space, only on a much smaller scale). The robots were all shaped like human beings, but were missing several details such as a face, skin, hair, and gender. They were all made from a bright silver metal, a single glassy looking band of red light replaced where their eyes should be.

"These androids will be accompanying you on your journey, they will fend off any disobedient people in town. After all, being projects of Axion, you're both prime targets for their hatred..." Layla headed over to the group of robots, directing one to step forward from the group. "These are specially designed androids built specifically for combat, they're called the 'O.M.A' series -Offensive Model Android. They are equipped with twice as many weapons as the regular town-patrol series, and are S.S.A.S capable. Any questions?"


Xenon hesitated to say anything at first, but curiosity got the better of him eventually. "Uh...what exactly is this 'S.S.A.S' you speak of? You know, just so I don't accidentally piss one off and have it kill me..."

Layla gave him a look of extreme disapproval, as if she expected him to know all this. Maybe she did? "Strategic Self-Adaptive System. It's a program that allows the android to adapt the use of a weapon to fit the task at hand. Say, for example, the android saw that you use mainly Nova-based attacks, it could adapt one of it's weapons using S.S.A.S to have a much more effective use on you. Like, say, it could make you unable to use Nova energy if it adapted well enough."

Xenon shuddered at the very thought, anything that could adapt itself so easily was just plain frightening. What if -as crazy as it sounds- Xenon had to actually fight against these things someday?

Layla made all of the robots clear out of the way now, she opened up the door to the black mini-ship. Funny, it was made out of the exact same material as the laboratory walls. The inside was exactly like the interior of a car, a very luxurious, roomy car, that is. Vexis immediately took her seat in the very back, Xenon hesitantly followed (only, he chose to be closer to the front -it was too dark and depressing in the back). And then, a few androids shoved their way in. For some reason, Xenon was very uncomfortable with sitting next to a homicidal robot, but why could that possibly be?

Once the door slammed shut, and the ship started to move (with no driver, this thing had an Auto-Pilot function, apparently), everything just seemed to whoosh by unbelievably fast. Just staring out the window made you dizzy. Gray landscapes, gray magnetic tracks beside the gray roads, black industrial buildings (with gray smoke puffing out of the smokestacks), they all sped past and disappeared into oblivion. Wow, this planet was certainly colorful. Not.

A very depressing span of 30 minutes went by, Xenon had already seen enough of Aristaisia. He was sick and tired of this monotone world. Xenon couldn't imagine having to live in grayness for his whole life, but hopefully, he would be able to help fix this. Otherwise, if their attempts completely failed, and all hope was lost, Xenon most likely wouldn't be able to continue existing. Vexenesis, however, could live this way for centuries. But, well, that was because shes basically just a freaking drone in personality.


The ship came to sudden stop, outside of the black-tinted windows could be seen the tall buildings of a city. The magnetic track shifted slightly, and the ship began to move again, only much slower. A sign that they had passed by told them that this was Neo-Ethiamn, the city that only dreamed of being like Ethiamn. Seriously, this Ethiamn was merely a pathetic replica of the original. But to a person like Xenon whom had never seen a real city before, it was just as amazing. Xenon let his mind wander off for the time being.


However, the serenity did not last very long. A sudden blast occurred directly in front of the ship, Xenon, Vexis, and the four androids all jumped to attention at once. Someone was trying to attack them? "What the hell was that!? A bomb?!" Xenon exclaimed in surprise, well that was certainly a way to be greeted.


"Did Layla not warn you of uncooperative civilians? Or are you just that stupid?" Vexis said rather coldly.

One of the androids immediately took action and blasted the roof away and leapt out, god knows where it got that gun from. The other three androids followed. Why didn't they just use the door? Oh well, at least neither Vexis nor Xenon had to pay for it!

Turns out that the ship had completely stopped on that part of the track, great, now they were stuck in the middle of the road. Oh, right, wings, they're there for a reason...just like doors! Imagine the concept! Vexis jumped up through the hole-y roof, and in one powerful surge, was airborne. 'How can she just react like that without wondering about things?' Xenon, well, wondered, then went and did the same.

They both landed gracefully on the sidewalk, just ahead stood a group of people...armed with weapons.

One man in the group had his gun pointed directly at Vexis, ready to shoot at any moment. Vexis just stared at him coldly, unafraid. The man's face showed bitter determination, "You people are to blame for what happened to this planet! And now you try to tell us that these mutant freaks are just going to magically fix the Nova stream!? How do we know these things won't just end up making things worse, like the government's other 'solutions'?!" He shouted out, enraged.

Xenon just waited and listened to the man's ranting, trying to figure out what he was talking about. "Huh?"

Vexis suddenly pounced forward into the crowd, accurate and deadly. Blood lust was visible in her eyes.

The lovely life at Axion, NOT.

((Whee! This is the first post EEVEEEERRR (ever, ha!) in 2009! I never thought I would actually continue this story for more than just a few posts...proves my own brain wrong, I guess! XD ))

~

These past few days had been fairly slow moving for Xenon, all the attention, testing and excitement was for Vexenesis now. Why was he treated any differently? Xenon was as much a part of this project as she was! But to Layla and the other researchers, Vexenesis was the only worthy project. Sure, they did do a few tests with Xenon, and they did explain some things to him, but only about the equivalent of one third of what they were doing for Vexenesis. At least Xenon wasn't completely trash to them. Wow, what an honor.

Things were so vastly different here in the real world compared to the simulation, it almost seemed like they were on a completely separate planet. This Aristaisia was so dark and depressing, from what little Xenon could see outside the window. The skies were always gray and rainy, the ground was pale and relatively grass-less. Thick clouds of black smoke occasionally puffed out of the tall smokestacks of the nearby industrial plants, god knows what they made in there to produce that much pollution. 'What a waste...' Xenon often thought, he hadn't been allowed to see the rest of the planet yet, but he could already tell just how poor of a condition this planet was in. Xenon sat alone in his tiny excuse of a bedroom, it was just barely big enough to contain one chair and one small bed. The walls were all made of the same black metal as the rest of this dreaded place, the only thing that was mildly exciting was the puny circular window up towards the ceiling. Ooh, at least he was given the privilege to see a tiny fraction of the world hes supposed to help save! Vexenesis had it better, Xenon was certain about that.

The automated door slid open, Layla stood in the doorway with Vexis at her side. "Project Xenon, come with us for a moment." Layla instructed, her tone as harsh as ever. Xenon obeyed, moving along with them almost automatically. "It's time you both learn about the situation a bit more." Layla started to speak as they reached the end of the first hallway, and into the next. The walls here in this section almost seemed...alive, in a sense. Little streams of blue light occasionally pulsed through the cracks in between panels of metal, Nova energy. No wonder this place felt like a living being!

"As you've both probably noticed, Aristaisia is in very poor condition as of late. What is the cause of this? Well, to put it in very simple terms, the Nova stream is running almost completely dry on this planet. And it's all because of over-use of the stream." Layla led them into one particular lab room, then stopped by a large monitor on the wall. "Now, the Nova stream normally replenishes itself, at least, on other planets it does. But here in Aristaisia, there have been no signs at all of a regeneration cycle. And without the Nova stream to provide growth and life, Aristaisia will dry up energy and die out. Just like Earth did almost 5,000 years ago." The black screen blinked to life now, it displayed what Earth looked like before it died. Aristaisia was identical to how this photo showed Earth, gray stormy sky, lifeless dirt fields, and many depressed people, all waiting for their deaths. Xenon just stared at the screen solemnly, trying his hardest to understand what those people were feeling at the time. Sorrow? Anguish? No, resignation. These people had given up their hope long ago. Xenon closed his eyes in thought, he couldn't even try to imagine the pain they must have felt.

"And that's where you two come in. Normal humans are naturally born with the ability to manipulate Nova energy, but only to a certain degree. What little we can control is no where near enough to regenerate the Nova stream, not even with all of Aristaisia's population. It's just not possible." Layla turned to face the two angels now, the dim lighting cast an eerie shadow across her angular face, only her icy blue eyes could be seen in the darkness of Layla. "However, through years of research and experimentation, we were able to create you two out of artificial methods. Each of you, individually, have the capability to manipulate one half of the necessary amount of energy to revive Aristaisia. And together, your powers are amplified two fold."

Xenon glanced over at Vexis briefly, full of curiosity as what she was thinking right now. But Vexis displayed no hint of emotion, she just stood and listened, much like a stupid robot.

"Do you know why this amplification occurs? One of you must at least have an idea of why..." Layla mused, then waited for the long time it would take for them to answer.

"That is because our existences are intertwined in a rather intricate way. Our minds share the same wavelength, our bodies each have the same strengths and weaknesses, although in opposite ways." Vexis replied immediately, her voice was very flat and monotonous, robbed of any emotion at all.

"Correct." Layla said with a little grin on her face. "Believe it or not, you're both actually just one creature. The two halves of one entity, separated." She turned back towards the computer screen again, this time the monitor displayed the translations to several different words that were written in some strange language. "As your names 'Vexenesis' and 'Xenon' suggest, each of you possess one side of your whole personality. In ancient Ethian, 'Vex' means darkness, or to be of a more sinister quality. Whereas, 'Xe' is the exact opposite, it translates to 'light' or 'pure'. And 'Non' or 'Nohn' is the name of Nova, it means 'life energy'. Vexenesis' name would have originally been Vexenohn, which would mean 'Darkness of life', but we decided that was too much alike to 'Light of life', which is Xenon."

Xenon felt numb and unable to think, too much was running through his mind right now. How couldn't he have at least realized the similarities between Vexis and himself? What are they planning to make him do to help save the world? Why was he seen as so inferior compared to Vexis? Or better yet, why was he inferior? It was all too much, all these thoughts pulsed through his mind at once. And even though Vexenesis and Xenon were both mutated super humans with the purpose of saving the world (and possibly part of the universe), their minds were still human, and human minds are flawed and easily get overloaded. Xenon headed towards the door, trying to escape his own confusion.

"Fine, leave if you wish. At least I have one loyal experiment! Reject." Layla said with a sneer, but eventually returned to her explanation to Vexis. "The only problem with you two being so closely connected, is that if one of you die, the other will die as well."


~

Xenon tried to ignore Layla as the door shut behind him, and found it quite easy. '...If we're the same being, then why can't I figure out why Vexis changed?'

Xenon stopped in the main lab, the giant room with all the pods. Where he and Vexis first 'met' so to speak. He was just barely aware of one of the scientists staring at him, she sat in the corner of the lab behind a desk. Xenon watched her for a moment, she seemed oddly familiar. The girl looked slightly younger than Layla, her red hair was cut short and at an angle, her eyes were an odd...violet color. Her facial features were similar to Vexis', but a bit softer and more rounded. The first thought that sprung to Xenon's mind was Lea, the strange girl that was trying to fight Vexis constantly. But no, that couldn't be her, could it? Lea was just a simulation, after all, and besides, her hair and eye colors incorrect! So why did Xenon feel like he knew her?

Great, another question to add to his overloaded brain! Xenon stormed off back towards his room, right now, even the tiny prison cell seemed like heaven if it meant easing his mind.