Destral's Story

CHAPTER ONE

“Awaken.”
His eyes opened, slowly but surely. He didnt know where he was, or who he was. Those were the first two things on his mind. He didnt care that his vision was fuzzy.
'Who am I? Where am I?'
Opening his eyes a little more, his vision cleared. He saw he was in a tank of bubbling sliver liquid. It was easy to move around in, but the only thing he moved were his eyes to look around, and through the tank.
What he saw through the tank were computers and scientists. All the computers were built into the walls, and half of the scientists weren't even human. One had four eyes, four legs, and lots of hair; another was tall, thin, and didn't seem to have a mouth; a third was an incredibly muscular dwarf; they were all shapes and sizes and colors.
But he wasn't afraid. He was simply confused as to why he was in this laboratory, and how he ended up there.
His eyes shifted to his left, where he saw a man with a cybernetic and somewhat menacing-looking eye enter the room. The man approached one of the human scientists working at one of the computers near the tank, and said, in a cold, metallic voice, “What do you have for me, Doctor Rayus?”
Rayus turned behind him, almost afraid. He seemed to know the voice. But once he saw the man with the cybernetic eye, he seemed to regain most of his composure.
“Sorry, Lord Xerxes,” Rayus said. “I'm still not quite used to that voice. I mean, I know after the accident and all that, you can't help it, but...”
“Relax, Rayus,” Xerxes replied. “Just tell me what you have.”
“Yes, milord,” Rayus said, and he typed some instructions on a keyboard. The man in the tank couldn't see what he was typing on the screen.
Finally, Rayus stopped typing, and pointed at the right of the screen. “Enhanced speed, enhanced agility, enhanced motor skills, enhanced cognitive functions, all amplified as far as genetic manipulation allows, as ordered,” he reported.
The man floating in the tank couldn't help but wonder, 'Are they talking about me?'
“Very good,” said Xerxes, sounding pleased but a little cold. “How soon can he be released from his tank?”
“I just need to sedate him for a few hours to implant the selected memories into his cerebral cortex; then he shall be ready,” the scientist responded, sounding proud.
“Excellent work,” Xerxes said, adding, “And only in two weeks? You work hard, Rayus...sometimes even harder than me. I will have your name added to the scientific hall of fame once he is out of the tube.”
Rayus smiled, somewhat evilly, as Xerxes walked out.
The man in the tube almost shuddered at the evil grin on Rayus's face. Rayus walked to a console, and the man in the tube followed him with his eyes. Rayus typed instructions on a console, and suddenly, the man in the tube started to feel dizzy, his eyes growing heavy, until he drifted off into a dreamless sleep. Before he lost his consciousness however, he heard Rayus say something.
“Sleep well...my prize.”

“Awaken. Live.”
He opened his eyes again. He was still in the tank.
“Live.”
A voice was in his head, reaching out to him subconsciously. It sounded of experience and great wisdom.
“Close your eyes. Open your mind.”
He closed his eyes and did so. Knowledge filled his mind, so much at once, he couldn't process it all. But of the few things he was able to process, he knew one thing.
He needed to get out of that tank.

CHAPTER TWO

The nearby Kuu scientist Ra'Laar saw movement in the experiment's tank out of the corners of two of his eyes. He turned quickly to see the subject close his eyes again, but it didn't look like he was going back to sleep.
He moved with his four legs quickly to a nearby communications terminal. Supervisor Rayus left to dine with Lord Xerxes, and he knew he was probably going to be punished for interrupting them, but he knew it was better than having this experiment going awry.
He quickly pressed a button and spoke into the nearby communications bubble. “Supervisor Rayus, you are needed in the laboratory immediately,” he said as calmly as he could. He then turned to the sedation console. The sedation levels were normal, and set for 12 hours, but it had only been three hours.
“This can't be good,” Ra'Laar said to himself.
“What did you see?”
The human scientist known as James startled Ra'Laar with a pat on the back. Ra'Laar turned to James and looked at him with all four of his eyes.
“I saw movement in the tank.”
“You sure?”
“Absolutely. I could easily tell you the same thing if I had your human eyes.”
The two looked at the tank to see the subject still with his eyes closed. James looked at the subject, and he too felt something was off.
“You're imagining things, Ra'Laar.”
“Are you sure, James?” Ra'Larr asked.
James could only very meekly say, “No.”
At that moment, Xerxes and Rayus entered the room.
“Get out of the tank. Quickly.”
The familiar voice kept talking the man in the tube through his confusion. All he could really do at this point was listen to it, so he did. However, he kept his eyes closed and continued to play unconscious, despite the fact that the scientists were already onto him. If he couldn't fool the alien and James, maybe he could fool the others until the time was right to bust out.
“What's going on? Why have you interrupted?” the metallic voice of Xerxes demanded.
“I saw movement in the tank, milord. I thought he was awake. I apologize if I interrupted anything,” the four-legged alien's voice replied.
The man in the tube heard footsteps approach the console at his tube.
“His heart rate is up,” Rayus commented. “He is definitely awake. Add another dose of anicyl.”
“They're onto you,” the voice told the man in the tube. “Break free while you still can. Place your hand on the glass in front of you, and focus your mind on it.”
Slowly, the man in the tube placed his hand flat on the glass of the tube, and started focusing his mind.
“What is he doing?” the alien asked. The man in the tube simply kept focusing his mind on the spot where his hand touched the glass.
“Get me a dose of anicyl NOW!” Rayus shouted.
The glass cracked. The liquid started spraying out of it. Then he pushed.
The glass shattered instantly as the man tore his way through. The liquid in the tank sprayed out into the lab, frying some of the computers.
The man in the tube detached himself from the wires that he hung from in the tube. He then burst through the glass quicker than a lightning bolt striking the ground, and landed on the floor of the lab on his feet. He stood up, and opened his eyes.
“You must go. Find a way out of this ship.”
He blinked, and saw everybody in the room now had a gun of some sort aimed at him. Without thinking, he charged at Xerxes and rammed him with his shoulder, knocking him down and sending his pistol flying in the air. He jumped up and grabbed it with incredible speed, and shot James square in the chest, killing him on impact. He then leapt in mid-air towards Ra'Laar, shoulder charging him and knocking him in the face and slamming him into a computer terminal. Then he turned towards Rayus, who started firing at him. But the man simply dodged every blast, and gave Rayus an uppercut that sent him into the air, making his head hit the ceiling, and back onto the floor. He then scanned the room for anyone else and saw nobody.
'All the other scientists must have gone on lunch break,' the man told himself.
“Indeed,” the old voice rung out.
He saw another pistol on the ground and grabbed it quickly.
“I guess I'd better get out of here.”
He then walked out of the room before anyone regained consciousness.

Xerxes immediately got up and slapped his right cybernetic eye back into place. He realized his gun was missing.
“Well, his combat skills have all A's,” he remarked. He walked up to the communications bubble.
“Send in the mechs to patrol the halls. We will need all of them.”
An alarm sounded as the man darted through the halls with incredible speed. He was following the voice in his head, which was telling him where the hangar bay was.
“At the next corridor, take a left, then another left, then a right.”
'I got it,' the man thought to himself as he turned left and ran down another hallway.
Suddenly a noise interrupted him. It was the sound of tumblers in the wall to his left. The wall transformed as its 15 metal panels flipped around, revealing an army of 15 metallic humanoid machines with multi-barreled guns for hands.
He had to go through all of them to get to the hangar.
The machines raised their guns, but before any one of them could fire, the man did, shredding up 5 of them quickly.
He then sped towards the remaining ten, and with agility unrivaled he knocked one over on his right, then two on his left. One fired at him, but the man grabbed its arm and hurled it into a nearby window, shattering it and sending that robot and two more into space before a panel closed over the shattered window.
He then grabbed another robot's arm, and hurled it into three on his side. They exploded on impact.
He looked about, seeing the robots destroyed. Satisfied, he moved on.
Then out of nowhere, a thought appeared in his mind as he rounded the next corner.
'What is my name?'
Before he could finish the thought, he saw more machines in his path, armed and ready to take him down.

Xerxes entered the command center of the Blood Haze with anger.
“Status update!” he demanded.
The security officer turned to Xerxes. “The mechs have had no effect so far, lord Xerxes,” he said. “We've lost 17 units and a window on the starboard side so far.
Xerxes facepalmed.
“We have to stop him before he gets to the hangar! Assemble more mechs and bring humans to guard them, now!” He shouted.
“Yes, milord,” the security officer said, monotone, as he activated controls on his console. On his security screen, he saw the human tear apart more mechs as if they were nothing. He was glad he didn't have to face that guy, but he kept that thought to himself.
“Tanus, I want you to lead the assault,” Xerxes said to the security officer, who looked at Xerxes almost fearfully and sadly, hearing his relief turn to despair.
Tanus swallowed hard. “Yes, milord,” he mumbled, as he grabbed his assault rifle from his backpack.

The man tore through one more mech with his pistols, and then stood up and walked into the next corridor as if nothing happened.
All he could think about at that moment was what his name was.
'Who the hell am I?' he thought to himself, somehow hoping that voice that kept speaking to him would hear. It didn't.
The man sighed.
'Great,' he thought to himself. 'I can barely think as it is and I have to figure out who I am all on my own. This day just gets better and better.'
The man's thought was interrupted by more mechs around the next corner—led by humans.
'More trouble,' the man thought.
“Surrender at once and come with us!” the lead security officer said, in a calm but somewhat afraid voice.
But the man took three steps forward and simply stated, “I don't want to hurt you, but if you don't get out of my way, I will.”
He was surprised at his own voice. It was the same voice that had been guiding him the entire time.
The security officer turned to one of his troops, who nodded. Then the security officer shouted, “ready weapons!”
The man knew he had no choice. He charged forward.