Generation Legacy Issue #14 "Genocide" - Part 2

[Hammerhead]

"I love you too Cass," Ryan says with a smile. "You're like a sister to me." He turns to speak to Kelly, then closes his mouth, changing his mind. "And just for the record and the sake of my employer, you were never fired, and I was never your boss in any sense." Because if I admit that, then I'm saying that Mark and Anika are my bosses. Which is, quite frankly, ridiculous. "As near as I can understand it, you were asked to volunteer to help a friend when the UNJE had a time-critical mission and was faced with a manpower shortage. You weren't ever a member of Legacy, Cassie, even briefly," he explains, doing his very best to sound calm, rational, and not antagonistic.

He turns his smile towards Kelly. "Of course I'm the real Ryan...who else could anger Cassie so much? I'm a little disappointed that you were even informed, but I suppose circumstances arose. I'm afraid to say that it seems just about everyone but me and Tina got hurt, but none of our guys got killed. Some are going to be hospitalized, and James is getting very sick...he was somehow exposed to No Return. And, of course, Genocide went extinct via the Red Witch's double dealing, now she probably plans some kind of ascension thing, and Proxy the Eternal is so mad he wants to wipe us out. The good news is that you might get your soul back. The bad news is that you and everyone you know and care about could very well cease to exist unless we stop someone with the ability to blast people from miles away. When it rains, it pours," Ryan says with another ironic smile.

"By the way, your mom's still alive and reasonably well, right? Can you remember anything about where you were captured, or how you managed to escape?"

 

[Shalimar]

"Umm...wow, thats a lot to take in." the blonde popstar says looking surprise, then her mouth shifts down into a frown, "Why shouldn't I have found out that an eternal had been playing musical bodis with my friends?"

"I guess the only thing I can do is wait and see if Demon Queen is gonna give my soul back...I'm holding my breath. Thanks for trying, though I doubt you did it for me."

"Mom and Tommy should both be fine, this group wanted mom to make a group of super elites for them since she was the one that made the Elite nanites in the first place. They actually thought that I might have been one, but I wouldn't have any idea of how to check that. I was released, they used some sort of gas on me and then I woke up in a field in upstate New York. I'm pretty sure that thats where they are since the whole thing wasn't very long from when we were kidnapped to when we were released."

 

[Agamon]

Anika smirks for a moment at the response, then frowns. "Karen...Karen, are you there? Um, stay where you are, I'm coming to see you." She leaves her own room and heads to the room where Mark had went with Karen's body. "I'll take you to the infirmary. Kal's body...he got hurt really bad..." she says into the comm along the way. She stops at the door and knocks expectantly, anxious herself to see how Kal was doing..

 

[Hammerhead]

"Umm...wow, thats a lot to take in." the blonde popstar says looking surprise, then her mouth shifts down into a frown, "Why shouldn't I have found out that an eternal had been playing musical bodies with my friends?"

"No offense Kelly, but you're revealed other secrets to the media before. No doubt you had your reasons, but I certainly don't want the National Enquirer, or God forbid, my hometown newspaper running some story about me running around in a chick's body for a day. None of us want that."

"I guess the only thing I can do is wait and see if Demon Queen is gonna give my soul back...I'm holding my breath. Thanks for trying, though I doubt you did it for me."

Can't you just feel the love? Man, looks like it's time to cross off another name to speak at my funeral. When someone saves my life like a million times, I probably wouldn't make sniping remarks like that.

"Kelly, you misunderstand. The primary objective was to capture Genocide, not kill him. Red Witch got what she wanted, we did not. A dead Genocide, while probably a good thing, only serves to make the Wicked Witch more powerful. Your soul, if it's returned, is just a consolation prize. Sorry, but that's the way it is."

"Mom and Tommy should both be fine, this group wanted mom to make a group of super elites for them since she was the one that made the Elite nanites in the first place. They actually thought that I might have been one, but I wouldn't have any idea of how to check that. I was released, they used some sort of gas on me and then I woke up in a field in upstate New York. I'm pretty sure that thats where they are since the whole thing wasn't very long from when we were kidnapped to when we were released."

"Why do you believe them? I mean, a bunch of kidnappers are unlikely to have much scruple about honesty...they have no reason to tell the truth, therefore everything they said is suspect. And why on earth would they let you go? Were I some kind of crazy group of guys like that, I'd transfer you to another facility and keep you under heavy sedation if I wanted to make some kind of threat. Or, alternatively, I'd put a kill switch in you," Ryan finished, raising an eyebrow.

 

[Aenion]

Anika smirks for a moment at the response, then frowns. "Karen...Karen, are you there? Um, stay where you are, I'm coming to see you." She leaves her own room and heads to the room where Mark had went with Karen's body. "I'll take you to the infirmary. Kal's body...he got hurt really bad..." she says into the comm along the way. She stops at the door and knocks expectantly, anxious herself to see how Kal was doing..

Karen fumbles for her comm, "Anika?... Yes I'm here... I think. Where's here? Ok I'm waiting in the hallway," a bit at loss as to her surroundings she waits where she was, "What?! Kal's hurt? How? Is he going to be alright?" she practically shouts into the comm device. When Anika nears Karen's room she can see the crystalline girl already pacing worriedly in the hallway, "Where's the infirmary?" she asks with urgency.

 

[Samnell]

"Karen...Karen, are you there? Um, stay where you are, I'm coming to see you." She leaves her own room and heads to the room where Mark had went with Karen's body. "I'll take you to the infirmary. Kal's body...he got hurt really bad..." she says into the comm along the way. She stops at the door and knocks expectantly, anxious herself to see how Kal was doing..

Yeah well so did I and no one's- Mark made himself look at the sore spots he'd been avoiding. Ok, so I'll have some bruises. I guess that's not the same. Whatever Genocide did must have been temporary. Should I go and see? Neither one of them is on Legacy so it's not really a professional thing and I barely know Kal. I guess I was in Karen's body for a while, but that doesn't really count. No, it would be weird and I don't want to make thing worse.

Mark set his comm to receive only and left it on the sink. He stripped off his uniform and silently bemoaned the lack of a swimsuit as he turned on the shower. At least he could get wet. Stepping into the hot spray, he closed his eyes and the huge spray of blood from the stump of Genocide's neck rose up in his mind.

Genocide's body stiffened and fell over, hitting a different floor covered with dirty little square tiles that used to be blue and white. Many had gone somewhere, to show dark gray concrete below. Mark put his hands in the blood, crawling across the floor to where it came out of the wrists of someone that wasn't Genocide. He had a name Mark couldn't remember and they were both thirteen. Michael was going to be angry.

Mark rifled through the boy that wasn't Genocide's pants pockets. It wasn't there. Trembling, he jerked on the belt and looked for hiding places in the shirt. Nothing. He started to cry but he kept looking. Hot blood sunk into his jeans. He knew how to do this. It happened to him all the time. Where did everyone look? Mark pulled off the once-white tennis shoes. Nothing. Under the tongue? No. Hands. It had to be the hands. The hands were clenched tight and full of blood. The fingers didn't want to open. Mark hit the hand against the toilet as hard as he could. Then he found a piece of stone wall somewhere and beat the hands until they cracked and red and white things stuck out.

There. Caked in blood, Mark found a plastic baggie with the stuff in it. He needed it right now. Michael would never notice just one. Hands shaking, Mark pried the bag open. He shouldn't. He'd get hurt later, and he knew he'd deserve it too. He could say that the boy that wasn't Genocide took it. He stole, not Mark. Mark was a good boy. They called him Church Boy sometimes. He'd just have one and then he could go to the shelter for the night. It would all be over tomorrow.

Michael would understand. It wasn't Mark's fault. He know how Louis -that was his name- got. He couldn't handle it like Mark could. Mark tried to show him how, but he was a rich kid and didn't understand. Still, he had a lot of fun for a while. They were friends. Louis would probably take more than one. He'd take two. Even three. Mark pulled the bag wide open and it tore, spilling the pills on the ground, in the blood. He grabbed them up with his fingers and shoved four into his mouth before he could stop.

Mark laid on the floor of the shower, hot water pouring down on him and curled into a ball. His stomach lurched and he threw up.

 

[Shalimar]

"I knew it wasn't because you were my friend." Kelly says with a shrug at her soul being a consulation prize rant.

"The bad guy was totally monolouging, I believe what he was saying since he didn't really have a reason to lie, and he knew my mother, he had that whole I have the conviction of my beliefs thing going. He wants my mom to refine the whole Elite nanites to make the transformation less random, he wants to abe to control what Elite Powers people get so he can make an army. This Chimera group also has collars that turn-off the nanites that let elites use their powers and help our bodies cope with the changes that make us elites."

"He let me go becase he had what he wanted from me, my blood. He can use it to threaten my mom, he doesn't actually need me for that. He isn't exactly afraid of me either, he thinks no one would believe me or want to help, and anyway, Project Chimera is in America so the UNJE can't do anything."

 

[Mimic]

Awakening, Gilden felt the shifting of reality and all all at once he knew that he was back in the right body, of course right in this case means being pumped full of drugs and feeling like he had been run over by a locomotive a few dozen times, still even so it was good to be home.

He must have fallen unconcious again. The last thing he remembers was talking to Tina, no, talking to Gadget on the plane ride the medicial center, where ever that was, he couldn't really remember much of it. Truth be told.

"Gadget?" he stated queitly while lifting his head and looking around carefully.

 

[Agamon]

Anika motions to Karen. "This way, I'm pretty sure," she says, leading the way and walking quickly, knowing Karen was pretty anxious to see him. "Gilden was very brave, but Genocide beat him pretty badly...I think, I admit I wasn't in much of a condition to see what was happening at the time, myself. He was in...I'm sure he's going to be okay though." With that she shuts up. Her speculation wasn't helping things.

When they reach the medical facility, she tries to find out where Kal is.

 

[Hammerhead]

Well, no one else wanted Genocide dead either, you spoiled brat. Man, and sometimes I think I'm egotistical. Hate to break the bad news, but even your "friends" would have preferred Genocide incarcerated and yourself soulless.

"Kelly, you probably shouldn't underestimate the quality of villainy we face around here...most villains, with the exception of the crazy ones like Legion, don't monologue. If they don't need you alive, they put a hollow point in your head or rip your throat out, then they check to see what's on TV. And if they do need you alive, why not just sedate you?" Except for the idealists who try and convince you their cause is just. Bishop would be one of those guys.

"If he wants an army, then he'll need some way to ensure the loyalty of his thugs. And if he just wanted blood, why kidnap you at all? When they gassed your mom, they could have just stuck you with a syringe. And he must have some other kind of backup, because even if the UNJE is officially powerless, you still know quite a few American elites as well as your evil terrorist father."

"Anyway, so what happened after you ended up in the woods somewhere? You called us, of course. Then what?"