SIGN 1

As Jericho stood there stunned by what this thing had said to him, his mind desperately races to try to remember where he would have seen this Gen X before. Until now he could only remember seeing two, long before being captured by Seon and they wore both bloated mounds of mindless flesh that had no comprehension of their existents. Clearly, the ones that reside in the Helix Towers were different, they had managed to hold on to their minds.

Well at least somewhat, the first one he encountered was that muscular Brute with the bulbous eye growing from its arm. It was able to communicate with him but still he slipped into incoherent rambling about being a part of Seon, like that would ever be possible. The second was more what Jericho expected for a Gen X however it seemed like it had some memory of being human left in it. But this one in front of him seemed almost like a normal person perhaps it is because it's a Psychic so it's able to masquerade as a person. For the moment he is still too weak from his previous encounter to escape or defend himself, Jericho had no other choice but to humour ‘the doctor’.

"Well?" Doctor Sam calmly said snapping Jericho back into the here and now. "Don't just stand there with your mouth agape, we have a fair bit to discuss and it would be more comfortable if you took a seat". Again, Doctor Sam gestured to the old office chair opposite him. "Right, yes," Jericho said cautiously as he slowly lowered himself into the slightly damp chair, his eye's fixated on the being in front of him, just encase this is the opportunity it was waiting for to attack.

There the two sat in silence, studying each other trying to comprehend the other's motives. Jericho was wondering what it is this Gen X could want, sitting here facing each other like almost civilised beings seemed absurd. Gen X's were nothing but base instincts personified, but this one was acting like a person "What could he be thinking?" Jericho asked himself.

On the opposite side, Doctor Sam was trying to figure out what would be the best way to go about telling Jericho what he was about to say. Would he believe him? Even to him, all that had happened to him seemed like a nightmarish fairy tale one would tell as a joke. Why would someone who has no grounds to trust him believe a word of it?

Growing frustrated with the silence Jericho decided enough was enough, at this point he was at rock bottom, and niceties would do nothing to progress the situation. So, with a murmur under his breath barely audible, as a "Stuff it". He then blurted out, "So? Then how did we meet? I think I would remember a giant eyed Gen X Psychic, moonlighting as a doctor in a rusted tomb.

For a second Doctor Sam was stunted by Jericho's straightforwardness, but a smile cracked across his face and he chuckled to himself, Jericho was right 'stuff it'. "I don't think you would remember me you were unconscious every time I cleaned your cell".

"Wait what? Do you mean at Hill Cape? Where Seon kept me captive for 60 years?" Jericho said. 

"Yes, the very Sam..." Began Doctor Sam. 

"Wait why would a doctor clean a prisoner... or I guess test subjects' cell?" Interrupted Jericho. 

"Well, that's because at the time I was just a janitor" explained Doctor Sam. 

"So, what you got promoted to doctor? I don't think that’s how it works?"  

"Well, no I'm not actually a doctor" said Doctor Sam with a bit of reluctance in his voice.

Confused Jericho stammers "But what that Lilith girl said, and the get up".

"Oh, this? It's just a ruse I put on to keep Lilith calm, as for Doctor Sam that’s just something she decided to call me one day, just call me Sam." Explained Sam, with a slight smile seeming more relaxed.  

"What is with her anyway, she thinks we are in a Russian camp or something?"

Sam took a deep breath, and sighed "That's something I'm not too sure of myself, but I will tell you what I do know".

Sam begins to explain to Jericho what he knows of Lilith's condition.

"When I found her, she was already in this delusion that she was in a Russian Military Camp as a nurse treating wounded soldiers and local villagers. When I approached her, she was terrified of me and even attacked me by throwing things at me."

"What no way" Jericho sarcastically interjected.  

Annoyed Sam continued "It was because of all of this" he gestured to his face in particularly the giant eye in the middle of his head.

"It seems that in Lilith's mind she sees all of the mutants roaming around here as either enemy soldiers, those that are still vaguely human at least. Or she will see them as beasts like wolfs or bears for those that don't even resemble their human origins anymore. I'm certain that this has helped her in her survival so far".

"So how did you become a friendly doctor in her eyes" asked Jericho.

"Pretty simple really, I played into her delusions, I dressed up, covered my face and suddenly she thinks I'm a new field doctor sent in to replace the old one that was killed the week prior."

"Ok makes sense, but why do this? Why not just leave her?" Questioned Jericho.

"I'm not sure why, I think it would be because all the others here, are a part of some bizarre cult and are just going insane being trapped. I was lonely and even though Lilith is in some make-believe world, she is still very much sane. She is kind and very intelligent and is quite fun to talk to, sometimes it feels comforting playing into her dream world, like a vacation from this rusting prison".

Sam stops and just stares off into a corner of the room like it is only just dawning on him how isolated he has been all these years.

Jericho notices that Sam is slipping into a dark place and quickly asks a question to focus his mind, "So how is it Lilith is here and unchanged like the rest of the mutants?"

Sam snaps out of his thought process, happy for the distraction. "Oh yes, I should explain that otherwise, this whole place doesn't make sense. Originally the Helix Towers was built for the sole purpose of housing and study Gen X mutants. The building has a lot more reinforcement than is needed, it's also extremely isolated and it's positioned in the ice above a deep section of ocean, no doubt you noticed".

"Yeah, I remember" answered Jericho flashing back to his fight with the Fishman that dragged him down into the deep.

"All of this is to help contain Gen X's, encase of a breach that couldn't be contained, the entire base was to flood with water and sink to the bottom of the ocean". 

"I see that never happened," Jericho remarked.

"No" continued Sam "Once the scientist lost themselves, they dismantled all the systems for the base to flood and we have been trapped here ever since". 

"What do you mean 'lost themselves? Did something happen here with the Gen X's? Also, on top of that how could you be working here? Even as a janitor, Seon would never allow a mutant to work in their facilities, Gen X or no, Seon sees all mutants as an abomination to be destroyed. Does your ability allow you to trick people into seeing something that's not real?

"It's actually like a second sight, I can see sound waves even if I can't hear the noise" cheerfully answered Sam.

"Oh, then how did you..." Jericho stopped as Sam raised a hand as if to say slow down, I'm getting there.

"I've got a long story here let me explain".

"Years ago ithink its close to forty, it would have to be getting close to forty by now, I was transferred to the Helix Towers, as a form of punishment. Officially I was transferred because my 'skills' were better suited here, I'm a janitor I'm as skilled as the next. The truth was I, caught the director hooking up with a researcher and the director had a wife, so best to just send me as far away as possible".

"Damn that sucks man," Jericho said.

"Yeah, but at the time I, saw it as more of a win, this place was a high-risk area and in such a remote location I would be a Fly in Fly out worker with a 3-week break once every 2 months, plus better pay I could move my family to the base near Melbourne. It was like a punishment reward. Shitter job but better perks, too bad it didn't even last a month.   

"As I said here at this base there were experiments been done on Gen X's seeing what made them different from other people with mutations. I didn't care it was just a pay check to me. It's like that in Seon, most of the Grunts, Admin staff all the lower-level workers don't follow the whole pure-blooded humanity the upper brass cling to, we just want somewhere safe to live and work. I mean most mutants could kill us with... I guess I shouldn't say that... after all" Sam gestures to his face.

"Yeah well, we're not all monsters ready to hurt the weak, but I've known plenty that will use their power to dominate people. Not just normal humans, if a Brute or Psychic thinks they are above another of their kind they will quickly try to take advantage of them. Damn, there are some ass holes out their" Jericho reminisced. "But, come on tell me how you got in this state".

Sam smiled and continued "Right so a month after I started here there was an accident with one of the Gen X's, the one we called The Tree".

"The Tree?" Jericho asked confused.

"Yes, it's this disgusting looking thing that looks like a cross between an old Oak tree, Mushroom covered in eyes and an octopus but all made out of flesh. I think it was a woman at one stage because there is a female torso in the middle of the trunk that looks like that's where everything grew out from." described Sam.  

"I see, that is disgusting" agreed Jericho.

"Yes, and the smell, it gives off is horrid aroma like a gym in the middle of summer with no air-conditioning or fans".

"Please stop, if I had eaten in the last day, I'd be sick" Jericho interrupted gagging at the thought. "Just tell me what happened with it, and not how it smelled".

"Haha ok, I had to clean its chamber so I also wanted to tell you about the stuff that oozed out of it" Sam laughed, Jericho gagged again. "So, this thing we could tell it was a psychic because of the Release it always had going whenever someone was in sight just staring, damn it was creepy. One day during a test to figure out what its power was, The Tree launched its tentacles out and grabbed one of the researchers, a woman by the name of Kelly Olsen".  

"The tentacles wrapped around her with one of the larger ones making its way up to her head. No one tried to help her, the other researchers all bolted for the door. Security refused to go inside because they were afraid they could get attacked, a real shit show. Anyway, this tentacle that was coiled around Kelly's body was now stretched above her head, with the tip dangling down just above the top of her. It then opened like the world's most disgusting flower and engulfed Kelly's entire head".

"God damn that’s a horrible way to go". Said Jericho in shock.

"If only" sighed Sam "It didn't end there for Kellie unfortunately it was only the start. See we all thought well that’s it for her as well, this thing is going to eat her and then the higher ups will have to deal with the fallout. Wouldn't be the first time one of the test subjects killed a staff member around here. But while we waited for The Tree to finish its meal it just didn't do anything. It just sat there holding Olsen's body, then after a little bit it just dropped her, not any worse for wear, except unconscious and covered in slime. The Tree also seemed to pass out, it slumped over and closed its eyes".

Jericho confused added "That's so weird most Gen Xs are nothing but pure instinct, all they do is eat, sleep and aggressively patrol their territory".

"Yeah, everyone back then was just as confused as you" continued Sam. "But nothing to do but put Kelly in the med bay run some tests and wait till she woke up to find out more about what happened. I was unlucky enough to be picked to clean up the mess The Tree made. Also, as a new 'security measure' the door had to be locked while I was working." the last sentence Sam spoke was seeping in sarcasm.

"They wanted to see if they could replicate the attack?" Asked Jericho.

"Considering the door was half the Size of The Tree and the damn thing couldn't move, yeah it was a trap. But when your protests are met with a security guard confronting you with a loaded gun you are willing to enter the trap. While I was cleaning as quickly as I could The Tree started making this weird murmuring. Which was extremely odd as the thing has never shown any ability to speak ever." said Sam.

"Turns out this thing's ability was Telepathy, actually it was more than that, The Tree could act as a giant mental server able to link multiple minds at once. Also, by coming into direct contact with a person it can move one consciousness from one body to another."

"Wait did it switch with Kelly or something?" Jericho asked with a stunned look on his face.

"Exactly, but it got worse from there, at first we thought it was putting on an act by using memories it copied from Kelly, telling us it was Dr Olsen and to help her get back into her own body. We thought for a while that it was talking to us normally with some mouth we hadn't found yet, by the time we realised it was talking to us directly in our minds it was too late. When Kelly... or rather The Tree in Kelly's body woke up it would only talk about how all the chattering had finally stopped, how it was the only one in its head and that she could once again speak with her mouth." continued Sam.

"I'm not too sure what happened from there I was just a cleaner and all this was above my pay grade, so all I got was a few rumours from here and there. But after they realised that the body swap had taken place this was classified as a containment breach and the whole lab was locked down no one in or out. A bit after The Tree woke up, I think it was about a week, it had a bunch of seizures and died from a massive brain aneurism. The researchers believe that a human brain just wasn't capable of supporting a psychics mind."

"This is insane I never heard of a Gen X being able to transfer minds, what was it like? Was it sane or was it no different to the way it was before?" Asked Jericho curiously.

"Not sure I never met it" frowned Sam. "Like I said it died shortly after it woke up, although from what I heard it was like talking to a magic 8 ball sometimes the answers lined up other times it was nonsense. Although I will say we were much better off with it in charge of its old body..." Sam trailed off lost in the memory of what happened next.'

"Sam what happened?" prodded Jericho.

Sam sighed "no one told Olsen that her body died but you could tell she knew. One day she just stopped talking and kind of went into a long sleep. During all of this the base was still in lockdown everyone was trapped and beginning to get on each other's nerves, that’s when the dreams started. Everyone was having them; it was like you were living in paradise like everything was ok and somehow you knew that this paradise was the doing of The Tree. Eventually, the dreams shifted to worshiping The Tree as a god and that you would do anything it asked. Then one day it wasn't a dream anymore. We had moved the tree into the Garden atrium which is this giant glass bubble on the base most people used to go there to relax but now they treat it as the holy ground of their god." Sam knowing what happened next in the story, broke his gaze away from Jericho and stared at the ground trying to hide his shame.

Jericho began to feel uncomfortable knowing this story was going to end badly. "Sam... what did you do?"

Sam began to cry "I didn’t want to... She had us under her spell" Sam stopped for a little bit and just stared at the ground, with a large tier falling from his massive eye. After some time, he gathered himself and continued.

Slowly Sam spoke "It took two months I think? I don't know she plays with your mind... makes you forget who you are... makes you forget what makes you. Kelly spent along time weaving her way into our minds, indoctrinating us in ways you wouldn't believe. It was like she was rewriting our minds like she was making us into the people she wanted us to be. I don't know why, maybe the power she gained from the Gen X's body drove her mad, or maybe she wanted us all to suffer the same way she did. But what she made us do... made everyone do, there was no excuse for that."

Sam stopped and took a deep breath. "See here on this base the Number of Gen Xs breaks down to 50 Brutes and 3 Psychics including me and the Tree there was one more..."

Jericho interrupted "Lilith!?" He said shocked. "She's a Gen X?"  

Sam answered "yes and no, she was a part of an experiment to see if Gen Xs could be forced to reproduce, but I'll tell you about that in a bit because it's a part of a request I have for you. But back to the main story, one day Kelly announced to us all that she wanted her followers to ascend to the level of gods like her."

"Oh no," Jericho covered his mouth with his hands.

Sam paused for a second, holding the memories of what had happened and finally blurted them out "It was worse than you think, she began picking people at random and transferring  their minds into Gen X bodies. Once it was all done, she ordered the peoples bodies that had their minds transferred be killed and used to satiate her followers".

Jericho gags "Sam... no you didn't".

Sam shouts "No! No, I didn't... Thank God I was the lucky one the second I was transferred into this body it was like waking up for the first time in months. Something about this body cut me off from Kelly".

Jericho took a deep breath and sighed with relief. "Thank god, it was probably the Flair Field all Psychics put out that cut you off from her."

Sam looked confused at Jericho "I see, how do you know that?".

Jericho "Oh my mother was a Psychic, she taught me a lot about the differences between Brutes and Psychics."

Sam was even more confused "Then was your father a Brute, is that normal? I thought the mutants hated each other".

Jericho happy to get away from the last topic onto something more comforting answered "Yeah dad was a Brute, where I'm from it wasn't uncommon for Brutes and Psychics to hook up, hell even normal humans would get together with mutants."

Sam was shocked "What really? Where is this place?"

"I'm from the Northern Tablelands, pretty much middle of nowhere with very few people around, so it's either everyone gets along or we wipe each other out. Hell, if you think that’s weird, I have a brother that’s just a normal human, not one-bit Brute or Psychic." Answered Jericho.

"Wait what now! That’s impossible, how could a Brute and Psychic produce a normal human..." Shocked exclaimed Sam.  

"Because that’s what you have been taught?" Cut in Jericho "Mutants aren't human so they couldn't possibly give birth to one, once upon a time all our ancestors were just normal humans".

Sam stopped for a second and thought about it "You're right, also I probably shouldn't be one to make these statements anymore, after all, I am a mutant now."

Jericho smiles "Ha, yeah I guess you are now, also to be fair it's extremely rare for a human to be born to mutant parents, I'm not sure if I've ever heard of it happening besides my brother. But anyway, we are getting off-topic, what did you do after you were transferred into your new body?"

"Well, since I was awake again and in full control of my mind, I slipped away from everyone, while they were... having their feast. Ever since then I have just been hiding from everyone, which is harder than you think, all the Brutes can sniff me out without even trying, luckily I have found this section of the base that was pretty much unused even during its heyday".

Sam finishes his story and looks up at Jericho to study his face to see what the man now thinks of him, behind those blue-grey eyes all he could see is a pity for a life wasted. To think this man that was told to be a dangerous subject that caused the deaths of so many upon his capture. A mutant that was meant to be a lower form than him, one that hates humanity with all his mind body and soul would pity him. It was true the world he had grown up in under Seon was a lie, although he already knew that, it still hurt to have the truth staring him in the face. Mutants were just humans all the same in the end.

Jericho sighed and thought for a moment, he had met some weird Seon in his time since his escape. The ones he had known during his time trapped in the lab were horrible, the cold uncaring researchers that saw him as a lab rat. The crewel meat head guards that would come into his cell when they thought he was out cold just to mock and beat him to make themselves feel stronger.

Indeed, the ones he had met in the wild seemed worlds apart. The three scared patrolmen that he had run into on the way to Melbourne, granted he didn't treat them the best but he did save them from the Vile. Thinking back, he still can't tell why he did it, maybe he couldn't bring himself to treat them less than human even though it would be something they would have done, our maybe he just felt sorry for them.

Then there was Johnny on the ship, Jericho even killed a Psychic to save him, he even trusted Johnny enough to let him go when he found out Jericho was Subject 24. Why? Jericho kept asking himself maybe he too can only see these people as human as well, what's the point in killing them if there is no need. Why is he even doing all this? Just to keep living with Lisa and the kids? maybe. It's not for revenge that was for sure, after all it's been so long most of the people in Seon that wronged him are probably dead already. Maybe its the moral responsibility that Seon is an evil authoritarian regime? No, that would be an easy answer, but not for Jericho he had no heart for it, truth was he just didn't want to die and this was the only way forward, he was just empty inside even if he didn't know it himself.

Finally, Jericho broke the silence, "So what's the story with Lilith? I don't get the feeling she is forty years old maybe twenty, twenty five at most".

Sam's attention refocused on the here and now "right Lilith, so like I mentioned she was a part of an experiment to see if it was possible for Gen Xs to procreate. This was done some time ago I think it was about sixty years ago, yes twenty years before I ever came here".

Jericho tenses up at the mention of sixty years, that was around the same time he was captured by Seon but doesn't interrupt as this now seemed too important.

Sam continued "See back in the day Seon had this thing about wanting to make Mutant soldiers fight for them. However, this was scrapped forty years ago with the reasoning being that it was too costly and was only going to create abominations that humans shouldn't rely on. This was weird because in the records I could find there was nothing but support for the research and they were making huge strides. They were able to do all of this because they had sequenced the DNA of a Brute Shape Shifter". Sam looked Jericho dead in the eye to see the colour drain out of him.

"No...no, me they used my DNA too..." Sam noticed Jericho looked as though he was on the edge of a breakdown.

"No, the notes don't say which subject exactly the sample came from only that it was from one hundred years ago, meaning".

Jericho finished Sam's sentence "It was a First Gen?".

"Right, although that sample was the basis for all their research, I will say they did use you for many experiments after that." Sam answered

"Like what?" Jericho asked reflexively hating the idea that he had somehow helped Seon cause more suffering to an innocent person."

"Lillith" Sam answered immediately "it had something to do with an experiment called "Combining" you were used in. I can't access the files as they a stored locally on only a selected number of terminals one being on this base somewhere. I'm not sure about the details but apparently, it was a success and the proteins you generated were what they used to allow Lillith to be born." Sam explained.

Jericho not happy with the answer but knowing that Sam wasn’t to blame said "well keep going, you still have more to tell me about her". Jericho at this point just wanted to get away from the topic of himself.

"So, once the Researchers were confident that they could make a viable offspring they decided to expand the scope of the experiment. To kill two birds with one stone, as it were, or I guess four birds. One is making a viable subject. Two Researching the progression of a Psychics abilities from birth. Three testing a mind control chip that would allow them to alter the user's perception of reality. Four, extending long term deep freezing, by using the chip to keep the brain active." explained Sam.

Suddenly things started to fall into place for Jericho, why Lilith had a normal appearance, her weird view of the world and how she could be around for 60 years and still look so young. But there were a few things that still didn't make sense.

"Ok that makes so much more sense now, but how did she unfreeze herself? Did you do it?" Asked Jericho accusingly.

"No, the machine she was stored in had lost its power connection, as a failsafe, and since she was deemed 'low risk' thanks to the chip she was unfrozen in order to protect the Seon asset. This was an automatic process and someone was meant to be there to collect her. But since this place was abandoned, she just kind of wandered off on her own. Like I said I just happened upon her, I have no idea how long she has been out but my guess is not that long, couldn't have been more than a year". Sam answered a little offended by Jericho's assumption.  

Jericho expected this as an answer but still had one more thing to ask, this whole thing was pretty unbelievable but, what else could there be this whole place was a monument to Seon playing God, but still, he needed some proof not just Sam's word. "Sam how do you know all this? You said yourself that you were just a janitor I don't think that Seon just gives all their staff an orientation on all their experiments".

Sam laughed at the question "Do you think I spent the last 40 years just walking around the base looking for mind-controlled friends? No, a lot of these computers still function, and I'm a bit of a sticky beak so I read everything I could, I had nothing better to do. If you don't believe me, you can take a look for yourself". Sam gestures to a line of computers with the spinning Seon logo screen saver glowing on them.  

Jericho got up and headed over to a computer. "Ok, I want to see the file on Lilith". said Jericho.

"The 3rd on the right, in the search bar look up "Wildfire. That’s the name of the experiment." Said Sam still seated in the old office chair in the middle of the chamber.

Jericho sat down at the computer and wiggled the mouse, to make the screen saver disappear. The white screen cut to black with a search bar in the middle with the text above "Enter name of experiment". Jericho typed in "Wildfire" and hit enter, the report popped up immediately with all the details Sam mentioned. Lilith was the subjects informal name, formally Subject 626, the expanded experiment list, the chips, make a model and Gen X donor names. Subject 590 "The Tree" and Subject 68 "The Eye". "The Eye" Jericho whispered to himself, then realising looked back at Sam.

"You said there were only 3 Psychics on this base, You, The Tree and Lilith?".  Jericho asked Sam.

"Yes," Sam nodded.

"To ensure that Lilith would be born a Psychic, Seon would want to use two Psychic Gen Xs."

"They would". Agreed Sam.

"So, you, or at least that body is..." Jericho trailed off.

"Lilith's father" Sam finished.

Jericho didn't know what to make of the situation, it was too bazaar and he didn't know how to process it.

"That’s why I have something I want you to do for me". Sam said firmly.

Jericho, remembering Sam mentioned a request earlier. "Right, what is it?"

Sam sighed and closed his many eyes, "When you leave this place, I want you to take her with you. If you agree I will tell you where the All Cure is."

"How did you..." Jericho started before Sam cut him off. "Oh please, why else would you come out here, I have looked at your file I saw what Seon did to you, to keep you contained. It's some nasty stuff they call it the Death Stagger you know? Because it's a guaranty that you will stagger and die if it's untreated. Why you came here? I don't know but I know it’s the only thing worth having here besides a cold lonely death."

Jericho thought for a second. Could he leave with her? She's off with the fairies and has no idea about what the world is like outside of her little box, no, she would be too much of a burden. "I can't take her with me, I barely made it here by myself, how could I get her back to Australia safely she will get us both killed".

Sam yelled "She will die if you don't take her! How long do you think she would last against one of those Gen Xs. She thinks she's a medical officer, she doesn't even know she is a Psychic. Once they find her, they will rip her mind from her body and stuff someone else in there."

Jericho paused and thought for a little bit, Sam was right Lilith wouldn't last a second against a Mutant let alone a Gen X nor could he in his current condition. She did save him as well the least he could do would be to repay the favour. "Ok I will take her with me, but what about you what are you going to do"?

Sam stared at Jericho with a look on his face that was willing for Jericho to already know the answer. But Jericho only stared back wanting an actual answer. Sam sighed; he would have to say what he already knew making his predicament all the more real. "I'll stay here, I can't leave, I'm not ready to face the world outside like this, I have no friends or family, they would already be dead or unwilling to believe that I'm the person I once was, no I think I will stay here in my little hole".

Jericho not believing this to be the real reason asked, "Are you sure? There might be a place for you in Melbourne?" Jericho was hoping Sam would reconsider, staying here was no way to live.  

Sam sighed "I guess I shouldn't lie to you, you're probably the last sympathetic ear I'll have a chance to talk to. I'm not going to be myself for much longer, a year at best I think".

"What do you mean?" Jericho asked confused by Sam's words.

"I'm slowly losing my mind, I think it has something to do with this body, maybe the brain is rejecting me but I feel myself drifting away at times. I will just sit here for hours just staring into nothing, others I can't talk or move my body like I used to. These states come and go but are happening more and more often and the time between episodes is getting shorter, I'm down to at least once a week for hours at a time. Soon it will be daily and I think one day I'll just be locked away forever." Sam said, his words weighed down with dread, now he has finally admitted to himself his reality. "Surely you would have noticed that something was wrong with the others you met here?".

Jericho, shocked by the news and feeling deep sorrow for what Sam was going through thought back to his fight with the other two Gen Xs, while the Iron Back did seem to be all there, the one in the water seemed more feral by comparison. "Sam I'm so sorry, maybe... the All Cure could..." Jericho wanted to say that Sam could use the All Cure, but a selfish voice in his head told him to shut up.

"No, it wouldn't work on me, there isn't anything wrong with my body, my mind is the intruder in this body". Sam interrupted, to the relief of Jericho.

Jericho stood there quiet for a while, not knowing how to handle the situation, on one hand, he felt sorry for Sam and his predicament, but there was nothing he could do to change it, nor did he particularly want to, Sam was just a stranger he had all of one conversation with. But Sam was willing to help on one condition and Jericho was beginning to think it was at least the right thing to do if not to fulfil the final wish of a dying man, but repay Lilith for fishing him out of the ocean. Jericho decided to do as Sam asked it might even work out better having an extra set of hands around and maybe Lilith's powers could come in handy.

"Ok I'll take Lilith with me but first I need to know what she can do, what are her abilities, her affinity, mutation level, everything". Jericho said with great intensity as he sat back down in front of Sam.

Instead of a grateful smile on his face, Sam's face held more of a reluctant hesitation "Well her affinity is in human biology as you might have guessed, that’s why she's so good at playing a Field Medic, her Mutation Level is only Level 1 as you could imagine, she doesn't exactly know how to increase it. But she has had training in combat through the simulation chip she is partially good at close quarters and mid-range combat". Sam slowly worked through Lilith's usefulness in the field not making eye contact with Jericho and nervously rubbing his neck.

"Right but you're missing the most important part, the thing that would come in handy in a fight even if she is a novice, what is her ability?" Jericho asked with a defeated expression knowing the news wasn't going to be good.  

"Well, Lilith's power has...."

Sign 2

Lilith and Jericho find themselves wandering down one of the Helix Tower's many dilapidated halls, concrete walls cracked, paint peeling from years of runaway water damage and a healthy smattering of mold. Broken up with metal support beams covered in rust and creaking under the unknown amount of wait forced on them from their failed partners.

Most of this would be a distressing situation for anyone with the sense not to step foot in a building in such neglect, but not Lilith who, in her mind was walking to a cave system through a quiet forest covered in snow. She thought yes this wasn't their ideal situation as they weren't prepared for a prolonged stay in such an environment if an emergency did arise. But it was going to be ok as they were only an hours walk from the camp. That, coupled with the reassurance from Sargent Jericho and the Doctor that they would be fine as it was only a recon mission and would need to pack lite regardless.

Although she was still a little put-off, why go to this cave system? Jericho said that his missing team members could be held up there, but it was in the opposite direction from the river and to get to the caves they would have had to pass near the camp. Perhaps they were going to secure the caves as an outpost and managed to make it there after Jericho fell in the river. But still what would the use of the caves be to the army, all Lilith knew was that it wouldn't be a good place to stay for long it was chock full of bears and would be a headache to get rid of them all. But this was all above her pay grade she was a medical officer and they were not a part of the tactical decisions of the army, she was just the one who was meant to put them back together when they were torn apart.

But with the gun she was given she did feel a little safer, it had been a while since she held a rifle "why not since...." Lilith's thoughts trailed off while her mind searched for a memory that didn't exist when the chip in her head recognised a discretion in her thought patterns and pulled up some memories that would suit the situation. While also implanting knowledge of how to use a rifle and how to shoot with moderate accuracy as much as a field medic would have, in order to cement the lie in Lilith's mind making it a fact.... "Basic training that's right" Lilith told herself.

While Lilith was regaling Jericho with her past in basic training and talking about how long it has been since she held a gun. Jericho followed behind her at a distance, scoffing at the mention of the gun, he thought to himself "you mean the rebar I tied together and told you it was a rifle?". While Sam vouched for Lilith's proficiency with a gun, Jericho wasn't ready to accept the idea that she could handle a firearm just because a chip in her skull told her she could. He also didn't think it would be a good idea to give someone who doesn't see the same reality, a gun that could used to let all the other Mutants know where they were. At that point, Sam did agree a live firearm would be a bad idea.

So, while Lilith played pretend with a fake gun Jericho would have to protect them both with a pistol with 15 bullets and a small knife, against a Gen X mutant might as well be a stick and a hand full of stones. But there wasn't much to do, if Jericho used any of his abilities again, he would probably be out of the game for good. Coupled with Lilith's power predicament they were just two normal humans, except one had heightened senses while the other was good at learning biology.

Although there was something else that had Jericho worried, it was the news about Lilith's powers, thinking back on what Sam had told him made it feel like the world was dropping out from under his feet.

"Well, Lilith's power hasn't awakened yet, so I couldn't tell you what she can and can't do," Sam said sheepishly, however, Jericho's reaction was not what he expected at first it seemed a bit over the top but once Jericho explained why it was bad, Sam also realised the weight of the situation.

"Sam, you don't understand!" stammered Jericho after Sam's insistence that it wasn't a big deal, that he should just treat Lilith like a normal human. "Once a Psychic's Release and Affinity have shown themselves their powers begin to develop, kind of like a tumour, it will grow until the Psychic uses their powers for the first time. When they first use their power it's like the tumour bursts releasing all its power at once then stabilising into a new organ. They call it 'The Big Bang' for a reason, the longer between the Psychic's development of their Release and Affinity and the first time they use their powers the bigger the bang. If Lilith is roughly 60 years old and she's never used her powers, she's like a walking bomb". Jericho explained.

Sam was shocked, then began to try to lessen the danger in his mind. "No, it can't be that bad, Lilith was frozen when she was 24, so it might not be as bad as you think".

Jericho shook his head, "No Sam you don't get it, most kids develop their powers by the time they turn five, and even then, in some cases, it can be pretty violent. Also, I know I described the power like a tumour, but it's not a physical thing it’s a wave of impulses in the brain that bounce around strengthening the nervous system so it can bear the weight of the psychic's powers. Maybe if Lilith was brain dead during her freeze, things might not be so bad. But because she had that chip in her head keeping her somewhat there it would have made that wave into a tsunami".

Finally understanding what Jericho meant Sam dropped to the floor. "Oh my god, what do we do"? Jericho had to pause to think of something, but not being able to see a solution only said "hope she never finds out that she is a Psychic".

Sam was not comforted by this news "What could trigger her powers from coming out?" he asked. This was something Jericho couldn't answer for everyone it was different, but between Brutes and Psychics there was a common cause and it was emotions. But which emotion could set someone off was unique to the individual.

"If she was a Brute, I could tell you that becoming extremely angry is usually a trigger, we feel emotions with much greater intensity, particularly anger, if we aren’t careful, it can consume us. But a Psychic, it's hard to say their brains process information so fast that it only takes a single instant of one emotion being felt too powerfully to set them off. So, there's nothing we can do but hope for the best". Jericho's words still hung in his mind.

Now wandering behind Lilith trying to keep his distance from the potential nuclear explosion, he noticed that she was beginning to think he was acting suspiciously. He decided to suck it up and catch up to her after all, if she did blow up, he'd be caught up in the explosion no matter what.

"Sorry I was just checking for any signs of enemy troops but there was nothing there," said Jericho with confidence that the lie should translate well for Lilith. "Oh, did you find anything? I haven't heard any reports of any enemy soldiers out this way", Lilith asked not showing a hint that anything contradicted with her reality, to Jericho's relief. "No everything is fine, but you know, better to be safe than sorry".

As they walked in the narrow hallways in silence Jericho began to feel uncomfortable, after all, the person he is walking next to was somehow here but also in another world. Questions kept coming to him about what it is like for her. He decided he just had to ask "So what is it like for you?" Lilith looked at him confused Jericho noticing that this was a mistake followed up with "being stationed at the base I mean".

"Oh, it's not too bad there is always something for me to do, when I don't have any soldiers to look after I often go into town to help out the locals, it such as small village they don't have a doctor I'm the only person they have access to," said Lilith. Jericho was surprised, even though he knew she wasn't doing anything, she believed that she was helping people.

"Why do you do that? Is that part of your orders to help the locals?" Asked Jericho to keep the conversation going, and to find out more about Lilith, after all, he was going to have to rely on her, so he needed to know what made Lilith tick artificially or not.

"No, it's just something I want to do, I only go when I'm off duty, these people live in such isolation they have nothing going for them the least I can do is offer what I know to help". Answered Lilith.

"I see, why did you join the army in the first place?" Asked Jericho.

"Oh, I see we are doing this; Good it's been a long time since I swapped war stories with someone else," Playfully said, Lilith.

Jericho a little confused, "I'm sorry what are you talking about?"

"This, the whole, so why are you here, what noble cause drove you to join the army? Then we swap stories and we have a laugh, and do a manly handshake yeah? Sorry but I'm not that interesting, I joined because it was the quickest job I could find with a medical background and then I got shipped here to the back end of nowhere." Lilith said with an out of place, upbeat tone.

"I see, well if it makes you feel any better, nothing of note happened to me either. I couldn't even tell you what landed me here; it just feels like a blur of bad luck. But we can still do the manly handshake if you want." joked Jericho.

Lilith spun on her feet to face Jericho, with a laugh and a grin "Yeah alright".

The two firmly clasped hands tightly, with overly exaggerated expressions of seriousness on their faces. "I've got your back brother". Said Lilith in a deep rumbling voice like she was trying to mimic the stereotype of the largest most muscular man alive. "And I have you sister" Jericho returned in the same mocking voice. The two laughed and released their grip and continued walking.

This was a nice change of pace, both felt they could be more relaxed around each other and that, even though there wasn't any reason for it, a little bit of trust was beginning to form between them.

However, this little distraction did, unfortunately, camouflage the heavy footsteps stalking the two.

As they turned a corner Jericho noticed that the hallway ends with the entrance to a room, from what he remembers of Sam's directions the floor is partially collapsed in this room. If they drop down into the floor underneath this one, they will be in the hallway that leads to the server room that has the information he is after. Lilith loudly exclaims "Finally the entrance! I can't wait to get inside and out of this wind, the cold is making me shiver like nothing else".

At first, Jericho was thinking "could the chip in Lilith's head be making her think it's colder than it is?" The Helix Towers was quite a lot warmer than expected, it wasn't exactly comfortable but more like a cool autumn night, a big step up from the frozen wasteland that Lilith would be imagining. That’s when he noticed that she was covered in goosebumps and that the muscles on the back of her neck were tensing up. This was an indication that she was reacting to the presence of an advanced mutation staged mutant. He remembered his mother telling him a story about a run-in she had with a Gen X when she was young.

All Psychics emanate a field of alpha waves that interact with the beta waves all other creatures put out, it doesn't work that well with animals but with people, it allows them to tell Brutes, humans and Psychics apart. Depending on the intensities of each of the beta waves, with Brutes having the strongest and Psychics the weakest. This feeling intensifies with the emotions and mutation level of the person being sensed. In his mother's case, she had a run-in with a particularly nasty Gen X Brute, according to her just being around it made her skin crawl.

In tandem with this memory and the sudden notice of a strong smell of Iron in the air Jericho spun around and pulled out his pistol and aimed it down the hall they had just come from. This movement didn't go unnoticed by Lilith, whose mood instantly changed from a jovial relaxation to a serious intensity. "What is it? Did you hear something?" she asked coldly while taking a position with her back to Jericho with the rebar in her hands aimed at the doorway like a rifle.

If Jericho could have broken focus with the empty hallway in front of him, he would have been impressed with Lilith's professionalism. She was covering his blind spot ensuring that they both could be completely aware of their surroundings. As it happened, he couldn't enjoy the thought of having a capable ally for too long, something was coming, the smell was getting stronger and its faint heavy steps were beginning to ring in his ears.

"Something is coming," he said, focusing his eyes on the dark hallway ahead of him. Almost out of habit, he was going to activate his Release but caught himself. "No," he thought to himself, that would be the end if I did that." Resigning himself to his normal sight, he took a deep breath and whispered to Lilith. "We need to get into cover, let's move into the room... I mean cave, slowly and making as little noise as possible, I'm not going to turn around so you will need to guide me, ok?"

"Yes Sir, leave it to me" responded Lilith.

As they began to shuffle towards the door Lilith whispered everything Jericho needed to know.

"In three steps there will be some rocks on the ground watch your feet," Lilith said referring to pieces of the ceiling that had fallen to the ground.

"In two meters, a tree has fallen over you will need to duck under it". Jericho ducked under some cables hanging from the roof, they were sparking slightly when the exposed pieces hit each other, this was a sign the power is still on in the area.

"Ok I'm going to open the door now" Lilith whispered to Jericho's surprise.

"Door?" He asked back, he knew there was a door ahead of them. It was a large metal door that slides open and closed from the top, but Lilith shouldn't have known that. On the way here they travelled through several doors and Lilith paid them no mind like she didn't even see them, on one occasion the door wasn't opening fast enough and Jericho had to stop Lilith from running into it, so how could she see this one? He was planning to rush to the door controls once they bumped into it, but now he was dumbfounded.

"Yeah, there might be something to this cave idea of yours Sir, it appears that someone has constructed a large metal door in the cave entrance". Lilith explained.

"I see, once that door opens, I want you to find something to hide behind, once you have signal me by clicking your tongue once. Then as I walk backwards into the room click it twice to let me know if there is cover to my right for me to hide behind or once to my left or click it three times if there is nothing, got it?". Jericho rattled off, by having Lilith click her tongue instead of whistling it would limit the range of the sound of the signal. Whatever was behind them was a Brute so it would have as sensitive hearing as Jericho, so making as little sound as possible was a must.

"Yes, Sir," said Lilith, without question and moved away to find cover. Seconds later Jericho heard a click, followed by another single click, he took one last long-strained look down the hallway and turned and noticed an upturned desk behind him, this must have been the cover Lilith found him. As he jumped over it and pulled himself behind it, he looked over to see Lilith also crouched behind a desk looking out into the hallway with her imaginary gun at the ready. Jericho sighed and thought "Maybe we should have given her a real gun after all".

But there was nothing he could do about it now, so there they sat with their eyes trained on the hallway scanning left to right looking for the smallest sign of movement in the dimly lit tunnel. When they finally saw what was stalking them, they both saw something different. For Lilith, what she saw was a large brown bear slowly lumbering into the cave entrance swinging its head back and forth sniffing the air. "Sir I see it, looks like a bear caught our scent, it must have been tracking us for a while" Lilith calmly relayed to Jericho. Jericho didn't respond right away as he was busy studying the creature before him.

Lilith was right that it had been following them based on their sent it still seemed to be sniffing the air following their path. But it was most certainly not a bear. What Jericho saw was an abomination of muscles and flesh. It was an oversized person lumbering towards them standing about 8 feet tall, with bulky tree trunk arms that ended with bloated hands consisting of 3 large thumbed shaped fingers. Its lower part consisted of equally massive legs, however, unlike the naked top half, this one was wearing makeshift pants and shoes of patchwork leather. Strange Jericho thought this means this one has an understanding of shame, unlike the previous Gen Xs which had no clothing. This meant this one was not as far gone as the others, maybe he could also be reasoned with? Maybe this one was more like Sam.

As the creature got closer Jericho could make out more features of the Brute, its hide was covered with tumorous growths, patches of hair and discoloured skin. There also appeared to be faces growing in different places around the body, one on its chest and one on the left shoulder, both sporting Brute Releases, meaning they had functioning eye's which was bad news, and if there was one on it's back it meant this thing could have 360 degrees of vision.

But the most off-putting thing about this creature was its head, while the head was in proportion to the rest of its massive body it appeared to be rotting. Its lower jaw was missing leaving an open moar with exposed teeth. A dangling tongue that looked to be three times longer than needed, surrounded by frayed skin and half-dried blood, which ran down its neck onto its chest like the wound was constantly bleeding. Its eyes were completely white and sunken into its skull but lacking eyelids so the eyes looked like they were jutting out from their sockets. The rest of its head was like skin stretched tight over the skull with thick black vanes that carved out its face that would pulsate with the heartbeat of the creature. This was all topped off with a patchy head of greasy looking hair that hung down past its shoulders with parts of the exposed scalp looking like bleached bone.

It was a disgusting sight, and Jericho was hoping that its appearance would give him a hint of what its abilities were, but based on the site of the cancer before him, there were several things that could be none of them good.

While Jericho was studying the creature intently, Lilith on the other hand was wondering what they should do, this was a large bear, probably the largest she had seen, and it looked odd with clumps of fur missing, a damaged eye, possibly blinded and the fur from its mouth down its chest was matted in what looked like dried vomit. She guessed it must have mange and would probably be unstable. They could hide in place but the bear would probably sniff them out soon, there was nothing to it, she clicked her tongue at Jericho twice to get his attention.

Jericho snapped his gaze to Lilith, wondering what she could want at this important moment. She was waving her hands about in a way that wasn't random but controlled, pointing at him than herself. She was trying to signal him with directions that soldiers would use in combat but Jericho had no idea what she wanted him to do, all he could tell was she wanted them to attack the Brute. A horrible idea, but something they most likely would have to do soon. Trying to buy some more time Jericho shook his head and was about to clumsily signal Lilith to wait when a deep rumbling voice spoke out from the creature. Jericho was staring at Lilith when it happened and saw the shock and fear on her face. She could hear it as well.

"I know you are in that room... there is nowhere else for you to go". Said the lumbering creature.

"What the fuck!" Lilith whispered under her breath "That bear just spoke."

Jericho ignored Lilith's confusion, it was the least of his worries, from his point of view there were two options before him. Try and talk to the Gen X and hope they can convince it to leave them be, or fight it. The second option would more than likely be fruitless, but the Gen X was wrong about one thing there was a way out from the room, the collapsed floor in the back. Maybe if he could get a chance, he could get the door they came through to close and they could escape through the floor.

"Ok I'm coming out" yelled Jericho to the Gen X.

"What are you doing?" Whispered Lilith.

"Keep it down," whispered Jericho as he stood up staying behind the door frame just out of sight of the Gen X.

"When I click my tongue twice you shoot that thing here and here" Jericho whispered to Lilith, while point to his chest and left shoulder, where the faces of the Gen X were. Even if she didn't hit the faces directly the fact that those areas are under threat should give him enough of an opening to close the door and run to the opening in the floor. "Once the door closes, we are going down there, you clear?" he pointed to the hole. Lilith's head darted around and saw a gap in the cave floor "Clear" she said, her voice trembled with fear from not understanding the situation. Jericho could see she had so many questions, but he didn't have the luxury to explain.

Jericho put his gun in his right hand and then held his hands above his head to show surrender then stepped out into the open doorway.

"Stop... put that down and slide it away" the creature explained, upon seeing the gun.

Slight relief filled Jericho, this meant that a gun would do some damage to the creature so it was wary of it. It also allowed him to get an actual gun into Lilith's hands. A risky gamble but one he had to put everything on.

Jericho did as he was told, sliding the gun over to Lilith's hiding spot opposite him. Lilith looked at him still reeling from the idea that a bear could talk and wondering what Jericho was planning when she noticed Jericho looking at her rifle and back to her face. Once they locked eyes and Lilith understood that he wanted to tell her something about her gun, Jericho subtly shook his head like he was saying no. He then proceeded to look at his gun now inches from her, she slowly reached out and picked it up and looked back at Jericho who returned her gaze with a subtle nod, like he was telling her to use this gun instead. She gulped and nodded, she didn't know why Jericho wanted her to use his pistol over her rifle, but this was his plan and he was trusting her to play along, the least she could do was trust him in turn, after all, they did say they would have each other's backs.

As Jericho stood back up with his hands above his head, he stepped forward into the doorway, stopping just at the entrance within reach of the door controls. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Lilith peeking out from her cover holding the pistol. With slight relief that she understood him enough to use the pistol over her supposed rifle, he dropped his arms and looked to the creature to speak.

"Sorry for the intrusion, I'm just looking for something important, I don't mean any harm to you or the Tree". Jericho said taking a stab at whatever Olsen might be calling herself now.

"The tree... you mean our Mother Tree? How does an outsider like you know about her?" groaned the Gen X.

"Mother Tree," thought Jericho, sounds like a cult leader name if ever he heard one. "Oh, I heard about it from some of the other Gen Xs roaming around here".

"Gen Xs? What did you call us? How dare you, we are the Chosen, the leaders of the Mother Tree's new world!" Yelled the Gen X, Jericho had hit a nerve, not a good sign that he might be able to talk his way out of a fight. But the Gen X was stationary he wasn't advancing, was it as weary of Jericho as he was of him?

"Sorry, yes Chosen, old habits die hard I'm afraid, let me ask your name, so I might be able to address you correctly," said Jericho in hopes to calm the creature.

"I am the great fist of the Tree Mother, I was given the name Golem by the Mother, who might you be? You smell like one of the Chosen, did you make a pilgrimage from the outside to join us? No not like us you smell a little off, like rusted metal". Said Golem.

A little confused by what Golem said about Jericho's scent, he guessed it was because he was also a Brute, but never mind this could give him a way out.

"Yes, that’s right! I came here, to retrieve proof that the Tree Mother resides here so that her followers from far away, would know to come here." Jericho lied. "So, if you would let me finish my quest the Mother Tree will be very pleased with your actions". Jericho was putting a lot of stock in Golem just taking his word for it, from what he had seen and what Sam had told him the Gen Xs were easily led and confused when presented with new information.

"Bah, I would have been told of this, the Mother Tree shares all her plans with me and a traveller coming here to spread her word outside this place would be of great importance". Barked back Golem.

"Ok well, this is umm..." "Damn it, I think it's time to run," Jericho said to himself knowing he had blown it, he was about to click his tongue to signal Lilith when Gollum continued talking.

"You are of no consequence, I smell you, you are one of us, even if you don't know it the Mother Tree has already started twisting her way into your mind. You will come to love her as I do, soon enough. What interests me is the other one with you, she smells like the Mother Tree, I'm here to collect her she will be of great value to the Mother Tree". Declared Gollum who finally began advancing towards Jericho.

Jericho dropped the pretence of a subtle attack and yelled at Lilith "Shoot now"!

Lilith fired 2 shots just as Jericho had told her before, both hit their targets perfectly. Jericho reached for the button but paused a second to study the reaction of Golem, hoping for a hint of the creature's abilities. What happened was worse than Jericho could have expected.

The Bullets did have an effect on Golem, a massive effect, while being shot with a bullet would be undeniably painful, the way Golem reacted seemed a little over the top. Both of the faces on his body screamed like a white-hot fire poker was jammed in their eyes. Golem toppled over and pulled his legs into his chest and wrapped his arms around them as he pulled himself into a ball. After a deep breath, he stops screaming and pulled himself together. Not standing back up still holding a slightly crouched position like a sprinter getting ready to run, aimed the face on his shoulder towards Jericho.

"How dare you hurt me; I'll rip you to shreds for this". Said Golem through laboured breathing. As he spoke the bullet wound on his shoulder, which was a fraction above his right eye rapidly closed up. It held for a second like puckered mouth which then forced out the bullet and exploded into a mass of tumorous growths, that forced out an extra misshapen eye and several teeth that fell from the eye to the floor. With the second ting of another bullet hitting the floor. It was a safe bet that the same thing had happened to the wound on Golem's chest.

Jericho stood there stunned as he knew what this meant. The extreme pain reaction and explosive cancerous healing meant that Golem was a Brute with a healing factor. Normally in a brute with a healing factor, they recovered from wounds quickly, this meant they were capable of acts like regrowing an arm providing they had enough genetic material in their bodies within a day. This increase in their bodies healing ability also meant they were able to quickly put on large amounts of muscle in a short time, coupled with the enhanced senses of a Brute made them tough opponents.

However, this all changed when the Brute's healing factor was in a runaway state like it is in a Gen X. Their healing was almost instantaneous, their bodies could also accommodate more muscle than the normal human body could allow. Because of this, after some time their bodies are more like walking cancers whenever they accumulate damage, they will heal the damage with random other body parts and growths. Other downsides to this healing were their increased sensitivity to pain and the more healing they had to do the hotter their bodies become. So, it is possible to temporarily defeat them if you can beat them down long enough for them to either pass out from the pain or faint from overheating.

But Jericho and Lilith didn't have the strength to do either to Golem, the pistol would only hold him off as long as they had bullets which they had only a hand full left. Jericho still stunned by the knowledge that Golem was pretty much unstoppable, was suddenly snapped out of his trance when a third gunshot rang out as Golem's head shot backwards and he began screaming again.

Lilith had shot Golem again this time in the head, confused why Jericho had frozen she yelled "What are you doing? Shut the door!" Jericho not looking back at her did as she said, he launched at the button for the door and punched it so hard the metal plate covering the wiring for the switch fell away. As the door slammed close, out of the corner of Jericho's vision he caught a glimpse of the wiring and something triggered in his mind. It was like the time he was looking at the boat motor back at Bazz's boat shop. He had a slight pain in the top of his head and he knew if he pulled the green and red cables out from the switch it would course the hydraulics on the door to seize and no longer work. Not questioning the feeling, he grabbed the cables and ripped.

The wires sparked and the door shuttered and a hissing noise from the ceiling sounded as an oily liquid poured down the door. Jericho turned around and ran, now in the pitch black of the closed-off room he jumps down, where he knew the hole was, he only fell what felt like eight feet before hitting the rubble of the collapsed ceiling.

He looked around and noticed a figure standing in the dim light further down the hallway waving him over, it was Lilith. "What took so long? What was that thing?' Ask Lilith as Jericho ran-up to her.

"I'll tell you later, for now, let's put some distance between us and it". Jericho hurriedly said to her as she nodded and the two ran off down the hallway. Behind them, the screams of Golem rang out as he banged on the door. He was strong but with the door now seized even he wouldn't be able to open it. However, he was in the middle of a pain driven tantrum and would not give up for some time, giving Jericho and Lilith a head start to getaway.

Sign 3

Down the darkened hallways ran two figures after an arbitrary amount of time the 2 slowed to a jog, then a walk, finally stopping, panting and catching their breath in the reassurance that their pursuer was no longer on their tail.

Gasping in between breaths Lilith managed to get out "Sir what was that thing?".

Jericho took some time to acknowledge what Lilith had asked, his attention was more focused on any sounds coming from the hallway behind them. Hearing only some creaking of the structure and water dripping into a puddle off in the distance he breathed a relaxed breath, there were no more heavy footsteps.

"Sir!?" Lilith cut in again, louder this time to grab Jericho's attention.  

"Sorry, I just wanted to make sure it wasn't following us," said Jericho.

"What was that thing? A talking Bear? And when I shot it light burst from the bullet wound! You talk to it you knew what it was! What is happening?" Asked Lilith trying to understand everything that had just happened. 

‘Damn it’ thought Jericho, ‘I hoped she would keep thinking Golem was just a bear, now I've got to think up something she'll believe.’ Jericho thought for a second but knew Lilith expected an answer soon. 

"That... That thing is a part of what I and my team were sent here to investigate" Jericho started, "We received intelligence that the enemy has been creating advance robotic animals that they are using to spy on our squads." Said Jericho slowly as the lie formed in his head.

"Robotics? That thing was a robot? But why did it scream when I shot it and how could it talk?" Asked Lilith confused at the revelation.

"As for the speaking, my guess would be that it was whoever was controlling the robot remotely. The scream on the other hand I think might be meant to be an automatic reaction when the robot takes damage to make the attacker think it’s a real animal. With the way it sounded however I think they still have a way to go before they perfect the model". Jericho said with more confidence now that he had built a somewhat solid story to sell the lie on.

"And the lights? Also, what's The Tree?” Continued Lilith.

"If I knew what made the light's I'd tell you. But The Tree, it’s the organisation that the enemy contracted to build the robots. I have been told to extend amnesty to them to have them join our side in order to have The Tree build robots for us". Jericho said.

"I see..." Pondered Lilith, while the story seemed outrageous it did add up with what she saw, the bear did look sickly and if it was a fake bear then it's odd appearance made sense. While Lilith thought for a second, she felt a tugging sensation in her mind which was the chip in her head rewriting her memory of the fight to coincide with Jericho's story.

This process made her wince in pain for a moment, something Jericho noticed and filled him with shame. He didn't like how easy it was to lie to Lilith and to see that it caused her pain made him feel even worse. Even though she was all but a stranger to him he couldn't help but see himself in her place they were both experiments of Seon and both carried the results of its medaling.

"Lilith, there is a lot I wish I could tell you, a lot I want to tell you but at this stage, I can't. I'm sorry just believe me that when I say I can't tell you, know it's not my choice". Jericho said this time no hint of a lie in his words.

Lilith took in his words for a moment and nodded "Right, I understand Jericho... I mean Sir".

Jericho laughed to himself "You can just call me Jericho; I have never been one for formalities".

"Oh, I'm glad you said so," said Lilith.

"Why's that?" asked Jericho.

"Your attention to proper military communications is horrible and clumsy, I didn't want to say so earlier, I thought it be rude". Answered Lilith.

Jericho's smile collapsed to an expression of annoyance "It's still rude now".

"I know, but you said you don't care for formalities" joke Lilith.

"Yeah, I guess that was a bad move on my part". The two relaxed after they finished their little verbal play. "Right let's keep going I think we a close to where we need to be." Said Jericho.

"Right, lead the way". Lilith cheerfully replied.

As the two continued to walk down the dark hallways they eventually came across a non-descript door with the words "Server Access Office" written in faded red.  

"This looks like the place," said Jericho.

"So weird, why is there a doorway carved into the wall of a cave? I guess it's good for secrecy no one would stumble upon it by accident, especially if the place is guarded by a robot bear. But still, this would have taken weeks to build". Commented Lilith.

Jericho just nodded and said "I agree" at this point, he was just rolling with whatever Lilith said about the world around him like it was a bad improvise performance. "Well, I will go in, to get what we came for, keep an eye out while I check and make sure the room is empty," Jericho said.  

"Right," Lilith said as she drew up the pistol Jericho had given her, then hesitated "Wait, why did you make me use your gun back there? In the heat of the moment, I didn't stop to think why". Lilith asked Jericho.

This took Jericho by surprise, he stopped to think of something convincing but nothing came to mind in the end he decided to end on a half-truth and hope for the best. "Lilith, this is one of those things I can't tell you even though I wish I could." It was clear from the look on her face that she wasn't pleased with this answer she was expecting more. "But, thank you for trusting me and using my gun over yours, it means more than you know that I have someone that I can rely on." Continued Jericho. This wasn't a lie however, after leaving Lisa's he has more or less been operating by himself, taking advantage of others, never really trusting them, but Lilith was the first he knew he could trust.

Lilith is still not convinced with the gun matter but she puts it aside for now. "Ok but promise me you will tell me when you can, I don't like being in the dark. And for what it's worth I trust you too, not just because you're my superior but because... I don't know what it is but there is something about you I trust. I think it's because you have been more real with me than most people. Dr Sam is nice but sometimes it feels like he is handling me with kid gloves you know? And most of the villagers don't even speak English so yeah... like I said I have your back".

Jericho smiled "Thanks, now keep an eye out while I check the room." Said Jericho. He then proceeded to put his hand on the door handle as Lilith took up a defensive position and began scanning the Hallways for any signs of movement.

As Jericho peered into the empty room, what laid before him was a room bathed in the green light coming off the exit sign above the door. It was a smallish room filled with three long tables with two rows of computers facing outwards from the middle of each desk. There was also a line of filing cabinets along the walls with mismanaged stacks of papers peppering the tops of the cabinets. The room was in pretty good condition besides the inch of dust on everything and the looming quilt of spider webs hanging from the roof like everyone just left after work one day and never came back. Jericho noticed a light switch on the wall and flicked it on. A slight buzzing came from the lights above him like they were building up power to function for the first time. With a pop and a clicking the fluorescent lights came on, some refused to start some continued to flicker, while others burst from the sudden influx of power and shattered in their case, but for the most part, the room was now lit, "Well at least there is power here" Jericho said to himself.

Lillith peered into the room "wow what the hell?" She started looking around the room.  

"What is it?" Jericho asked.

"This room looks like it's abandoned you sure this is the place, all the dust on the computers looks like no one has been here in years." She said.

"Wait you can see this?" Jericho said without thinking, cursing himself.

Lilith frowned at him like he was being stupid "of course I have eyes don't eye?" She retorted annoyed.

"Right, never mind. This place is abandoned but that doesn't matter more importantly it can access the information we are after, you, see?" Jericho said to his relief. "I'll check the computers; you keep an eye out from the doorway just in case our furry friend comes back."

Lilith went back to stand guard at the door while Jericho walked around the room looking for a functional computer. Most computers wouldn't even turn on, some did but wouldn't post, others would blue screen and crash after the OS booted, just as Jericho was about to give up one finally booted and got to the login page. Breathing a sigh of relief, he typed the login credentials that Sam had told him, after a few moments he was logged in as a Dr Marry Crouch. Navigating to the Database's search bar Jericho typed in "All Cure" and hoped for the best.

The computer spat out a couple of different results some were the experiments that went into creating it, a document on the ethics of its production and documents about the chemical structure on how to make it, all seemed important but without a way of making a copy of the information, it was all useless. Finally, towards the bottom the was a stock take list with the "All Cure" referenced. 'Finally,' thought Jericho, he opened it and began to scan the document it was a manifesto of all the equipment and medical stocks that Helix Towers had. Jericho, reading through the document looked for an entry for "All Cure" found a single entry. One batch remained with the note "Stock needs to be replaced ASAP", both excited and nervous that there could be none left, he decided it's better to be optimistic there was at least one on base and that was all he needed.

About to get up and leave he stopped for a second and stared at the screen, he looked over to Lilith still standing in the doorway looking out into the Hall. "How are we looking?" he asked. Lilith without turning around, "All good here, how much longer are you going to be?".

"Almost done I Just need to find one more thing" he responded. Jericho took a deep breath and typed into the search bar Subject 24. The computer stopped for a second and took some time to load, a lot longer than when he searched for the All Cure. Finally, all the results loaded and there were pages and pages of different documents, experiment logs, research papers and updates. All up there were over a thousand documents relating to Jericho. 

Rather than read all about every little thing that they did to him and causing himself undue dread Jericho decided on looking up the first and last entry on himself. Starting with the latest entry it was an escape and recapture document with recapture set as pending. "Good luck with that guys," he said to himself, the report described his escape from Hill Cape and his last known location, Helix Towers. There was nothing noted between Hill Cape and the Helix Towers which meant they didn't know about Lisa and the kids that put him up for a while. "Looks like Johnny told them, oh well I thought he might" reading more of the entry showed that his recapture had also been deprioritised and lethal forces had been approved. "I guess they have given up on me," Jericho said to himself.

Next was the first entry on him, most of it was just capture report information something Jericho didn't want to relive he skipped of a couple of files which seemed to be different groups of researchers vying to be the ones to experiment on him, like he was anew piece of lab equipment. It left a stale taste in his mouth, finally, he found the entry "Subject 24 First Experiment Approved" it was a document that outlined the research and goals of the experiment they decided on for Jericho. Hesitantly he opened the document and began reading.  

Document 0005650: 

Approved Experiment for Subject 24, named "Combination" 

Foreword from Lead Researcher: Dr Harbinger.

I am so excited that my proposal was excepted, I think it was the possibility to either turn Subject 24 into an unrivalled weapon or the fact that it will give us some insight into the "Cursed Combining" that many believe will be our ultimate doom. We couldn't have asked for a better test subject either, a Shifter and his relation to the donor subject is perfect. The elasticity of his body coupled with the genetic match of the donor should provide us with a stable result unlike our failed tests so far.

Experiment proposal and expected results: 

In an attempt to understand more about the Cursed Combining (Combining) and its possible results we propose to create a lab-controlled specimen of what we believe will be the resulting creature of the Combining. With attempts to indoctrinate the specimen once it becomes viable to make it into a weapon to act on behalf of Seon.

For new researchers and assistants that may not be aware of the Combining as it is a possible theory, we don't want many in Seon to become aware of it because of the dread and hopelessness it would inspire, here is a short description of what the Cursed Combining is.  

The Cursed Combining is a nightmare scenario where Brutes and Psychics begin to produce offspring that have hybrid or dual abilities of both Mutations. This is of great concern to the human race as it would mean that Brutes and Psychics would no longer be divided and would come together to overpower Humanity. No longer will the Rule of Thirds work as it will only be Mutants against humans, two against one and it would lead to our eradication. At first, we thought this could be medicated with propaganda campaigns to keep Brutes and Psychics from forming family bonds however new research shows that in rare cases a family of Brutes can give birth to Psychic offspring and vice versa it is only a matter of time now before a hybrid is born. Feel free to do your research when you have time, having access to this file means you now have access to the Cursed Combining files.

To have a greater understanding of the threat we propose to artificially create a hybrid subject in lab conditions. Previously we tried combining engineered sperm and egg cells, however, no offspring would survive to a point that they would develop abilities. This experiment will aim instead to create a hybrid using fully formed subjects.

We plan to achieve this by using Subject 24, a Brute Shape Shifter in his Mid 20's and grey matter from a Psychic donor reclaimed from one of the corpses from our Cleansing of Sapphire Village...

Upon reading this Jericho's stomach sunk through the floor, Sapphire Village was his hometown, long before he was captured by Seon he lived there with his family. That was until one day when Seon attacked his Village, during the attack he lost both his parents, causing him to flee with his little brother. All of this was a lifetime ago and it felt disturbing to have it dragged up again. Pushing all the horrible memories aside he sat for some time thinking 'I don't want to read anymore; this is all things I want to forget. Mum... Dad... Michael... Whose brain did they carve out? Was it someone I knew? Should I read and see if they say? Do I want to know? What did they do with the brain? Damn it I have to know; I came this far already'. Resolved he continued to read, needing to know exactly what happened to him.

The use of grey matter is important as we believe we have identified the area of the brain that allows Psychics to control their abilities as well as house their Affinity. Thanks to the elasticity of a Shape Shifters body and how easily it can rewrite its own DNA to adapt to new situations it will make the perfect subject to create a hybrid. Coupled that with the fact the donor is the mother of Subject 24 chances of rejection should be relatively low.

Breathing heavily now Jericho was struggling to control his emotions, an unstoppable flood of rage, sorrow and fear was clawing at his mind, whipping his logical thought away, but still, he held himself back. "My mother, you sick fucks used her for your experiments," Jericho muttered under his breath. There was still more to read Jericho had an idea of where things were going, but he crushed those thoughts because there was no way Seon could be that sick, but still, he had to know for sure what had happened.

We believe that by transplanting the Donors grey matter into the brain of Subject 24 we will produce the hybrid Mutant we believe the Combining will create.

Jericho shot up from the chair slamming his hands onto the desk, reading the last sentence of the proposal broke him, tears began falling down his face. He gripped the back of his head and doubled over as he realised what had happened to him and the things it explained. Lately, all his dreams had been filled with memories of the day his mother died, but things felt wrong, they were always from his mother's perspective and would end with him looking at himself as he died... his mother died. These were his mother's memories he was seeing, the sudden sparks of understanding he was having when looking at machinery now had a source. But this didn't matter to Jericho at the moment the knowledge that a piece of his mother's brain was in his head was crippling.

After the sadness and fear began to subside the real beast was raising its head. To a Brute, rage was like a different person living inside you, if you weren't careful, it could consume you, most Brutes spend years mastering their control over it, as had Jericho, but this time he couldn't, he didn't want to. He burst forth crushing the tables, screaming, destroying the computers, throwing chairs and doing any destructive act he could to let that anger burn out.  

"Hey stop it." Jericho heard a disembodied voice whispering from outside the red of his vision. "Bang" the sound of a gunshot rang out snapping his attention to a figure standing in the doorway. It was Lilith, she had been yelling at Jericho since he started destroying the room, she fired a shot into the room to get his attention. It worked, as Jericho return to himself, he looked down at his hands, trembling with rage, how could he let this happen, for a Brute it is beyond shameful to lash out like this. As he mastered his rage again the sorrow returned greater than before, but this too he must control. Pulling himself up, with tears in his eyes he began walking towards Lilith and the doorway.

"I'm sorry... I know where we need to go next" Jericho said rather coldly to Lilith as he passed her on the way out.

"No, you don't get to do that, you can't just upturn a room and act like it's normal, for God's sake you're still crying what did you find?" Lilith grabbed Jericho's shoulder and spun him around forcing him to look at her.

"It's not..." Jericho started.

"What? It's nothing my ass, or is this one of those things you can't tell me? Don't even start with that shit, you're telling me right now." Lilith cut in.

"No... it's not that it's... Look I can't tell you, nor do I want to talk about it!" Jericho turned to walk away.

Lilith grabbed him again, "No we aren’t going anywhere until you tell me something at least".

"They carved out her brain!" Jericho barked at her.

Lilith stopped, the scowl on her face dropped to a horrified face at the realisation of what Jericho was grappling with. "Who?" The words came without thinking, not out of a sick curiosity but out of genuine empathetical concern for Jericho.

"My mother..." Jericho muttered just saying the words obliterated his resolve, the sorrow he had pent up overcame him as he collapsed to the ground in a sobbing mess. Lilith didn't hesitate she followed him to the ground, placing a hand on his back to reassure Jericho that he wasn't alone, the two sat there for a long time not saying a word, there they would remain for as long as it would take for Jericho to let the tears flow.

Sign 4

Away from the corridors Jericho and Lilith were tracing, in a different part of the Helix Towers, formally known as the Botanical Labs, was the centre of The Tree Mothers domain. The Botanical Labs were a little different from most of the facilities in the Helix Towers as it had the dual purpose of being a Laboratory to study new plant life that had come about due to radiation released from the incident with the supercollider two hundred years ago. As well as a recreational area for the staff of the Helix Towers to relax. In its heyday, it was a stunning sight, covered in a forest of brightly coloured plant life under a stunning array of bright lights that mimicked the sun. All this encased in a glass sphere suspended just under the base of the Helix Towers beneath the ice sheet, meaning in every direction you looked was open water teeming with sea life.

That was not the case anymore, due to the lack of maintenance and neglect the lighting system only had a third of its lights still functioning making the area dimmer and colder than it was designed to be. With the reduction of light, most of the plants had died and those that hadn't were completely overgrown, fighting for what little sunlight was left. This meant instead of a lush inviting forest there was now a horrible cold jungle of mutated and twisted plants. The glass dome was also affected, the heat from the lights used to prevent the water from around the sphere from freezing, the glass from the base to near the top of the sphere was clouded with ice. With the lack of warmth, the sea life that used to congregate around the gardens has also left, the place was more like a graveyard.

This dark and damp forest was now where The Tree Mother and her servants called home. The Tree Mother or Dr Olsen chose this area because at the time she thought it would make a good metaphor for the Garden of Eden, a place of rebirth. But now with the Helix-Tower in declining health and disrepair, it was a dark and dank place. Which she found more comfortable for her grossly misshapen body. Since the increased bio mass generated more heat than her old body she often felt hot and uncomfortable so the cold dampness was an improvement. The darkness she found was also easier on her eyes, her large bulbous eyes captured far more light than she could handle and without proper eyelids to block the light she felt herself sorting out dark places.

With her cult members running around attending to her every need she was in relative comfort given the situation, but lord was she bored. From the point she awakened in the Trees body she felt lost, for a time she had forgotten who she was, it took time for her mind to adapt to the new brain it was placed in, at first, she was driven insane trying to comprehend all the thoughts of the people on the base coupled with her loss of self.

As time went on, her memories slowly began to return and her ability to read minds strengthen, she foolishly began to think she was God. Before Olsen became a Seon researcher she was fully a servant of the empire believing every piece of propaganda given to her. Since much of the dogma of Seon is based on Christianity the belief in an all-seeing all-knowing god was deeply engraved in her mind. She began to reason to herself that if I can see and know what everyone around me is thinking then I must be God. Once she found she could inhabit and control the thoughts of people on the base this sense of divinity solidified itself.

Once she developed her worshippers to become devoted followers, she wanted to put an end to those she deemed to be devils. While the thoughts of the humans on the base were organised and coherent those of the Gen X test subjects were not. They were loud, chattering and destructive they caused Olsen incredible pain to interact with, so she decided to do away with them.

But she wanted to preserve their bodies because as she saw them, they were beautiful, strong and useful, so she put the minds of her most influenceable subjects into the bodies of the Gen Xs, then had the former human bodies destroyed in a way that she thought at the time would be absolute and would aid the development of her folk. The cannibalism she knew now was her misunderstanding of the returning memories of her knowledge of nutrition and how calories help the human body operate. But no matter it can't be undone now, although it was a great regret, over time before her sense of self could come back to her, she had eventually fed all her human cult members to the Gen Xs or as she called them her chosen.

'Why did I do that' she often chided herself, she could have at any time transferred herself into a new normal body and left the Helix Towers and returned to a somewhat normal life. But now, only other Gen Xs remained what would be the point? Any of them leaving the Towers would be killed by Seon troops on site.

Olsen's memories only came back to her fully in the last couple of years, when she realised that she had put pieces of them in all the Gen X's minds at some stage without noticing maybe it was something that happened when she was first trapped in this body. Regardless once she gathered all of them back into her mind it was like waking up from a horrible dream, into a real nightmare.

At this point, she just wished for a way out of the hell she made for herself. But there was nothing to be done about it, she had thought about having one of the others end it all for her but they only ever see it as a test of their devotion and refuse to go through with it. Any attempts she made to try and deprogram them failed, mostly just sent them insane as the contradicting information snapped their minds like twigs. No, unfortunately, she has resigned herself to remain here until her mind faded away as she two was feeling the same effects as Sam, however for her it was taking a lot longer.

In the middle of her daily self-loathing, she was interrupted by Golem who lumbered in. "Mother I..." he started.

"I don't want anything from you, Golem leave me be." She snapped back at him.

"I am sorry Mother but this is Important, we have intruders in your Holy land". He answered back with great remorse that he could not do as she asked.

"What are you talking about no one would ever come here?" This was a little unbelievable she thought to herself as they were in the middle of nowhere and Seon had put a permanent quarantine on the Helix Towers, but she might as well see what Golem was on about. "Actually, on second thought tell me Golem what did you see?" Olsen asked.

"I found two scents that I haven't known before, followed them and came across a man, he smelt like the Chosen, but wrong and he didn't look like us. He looked like us before your blessing. He claimed to be a worshipper of yours from a faraway land and was sent to bring back proof of your existence. I didn't believe him as I found his scent on the remains of Gregory." Golem went on to explain how Jericho had escaped.

‘A man that smells like the Chosen... A Brute maybe, why is there one here? He must be after something; he must be powerful to be able to kill Gregory. Maybe I could take his body, that could be my way out of this horrible place no! Once I change bodies, he could corrupt my mind as I did to the others, if he were a Psychic that’s a different story. If I had of known Psychics were immune to my mind control, I wouldn't have put Sam in that blasted body.’ Olsen thought to herself.

"What about the other? You said you picked up on two scents, who was the second?" Ask Olsen to Golem.

"I am not sure Mother; they were hiding in the dark only to appear to shoot my eyes out. But it was odd, while I couldn't see them clearly, they smelled like..." Golem hesitated thinking that what he was going to say might insult his Holy Mother Tree.

"Out with it, don't think you can hide anything from me". Olsen demanded as she had an idea of what Golem was going to say.

"She smelt like you Mother". Golem said quietly, but it didn't matter, Olsen was already crawling inside his mind to see and hear everything Golom had experienced, so the words came out booming in her mind.

Overjoyed she ripped into Golem's mind to get at the memories to see what he had, she had forced so much of herself into him that it was tearing at his brain, doubling him over in pain of the unseen intruder, he began to howl in pain begging his Mother to stop, but she did not care she only cared to see what Golem had.

Going back to the memory the moment Lilith had shot Golem, and holding on the split second before the bullet had landed in his chest, like pausing on a frame in a video was Lilith's face illuminated by the flash of the muzzle. Olsen was captivated, a young beautiful face, red hair, green eyes and what appeared to be a slender neck that would have applied to the rest of her body, it seemed almost too perfect. A body like that was beyond Olsen's dreams, she could take it and leave this place, finally. 'But who's that man next to her', she thought, seeing a lanky looking man with dark blue hair. 'Must be the Brute, judging by that unusual hair he must have some kind of body manipulation ability, probably a Hell Hound, never mind he will be child's play' Olsen contemplated.

Dropping back into her body, releasing her grip on Golems mind she began searching for Jericho's, she wouldn't be able to find Lilith but Jericho would be easy. But nothing, Olsen couldn't find him anywhere in the Helix Towers. 'Damn it maybe being too close to her must be hiding him from me, no matter I'll send someone to track them in my place.' Olsen thought to herself. 'I want these two tracked, but who would be the best for the job', thinking over the Gen Xs she had under her control who is best suited for tracking? Then she remembered Marcus had been placed in the Gen X Brute, Seon had labeled "The Rat" the name was used partly because of the creature's appearance, a grotesque human form whose features had been stretched out to form the appearance of a rat including a vestigial tail. Its skin seemed to rise and fall in patterns all over its body of divots and lumps and the pigment in their skin was exceedingly dark almost completely black making it almost invisible in the dark hallways of the Helix Towers. Only points of difference being its massive bulbous eyes, so blue they almost appeared to produce light in comparison to its ebony skin.

The Rat also had extreme dexterity and flexibility allowing it to move around quickly and easily in confined spaces. Part of the research done on The Rat was to figure out if its abilities influenced appearance or if it was only a coincidence. The Rat also possessed outstanding sight and hearing that outmatched even the heightened senses of an average Brute. Now with a somewhat sane mind controlling the body, Olsen knew this would be perfect for finding her pray.

Olsen closed her eyes and reached out to find Marcus, she didn't see a point in wasting time bringing him to her and go over what Golem had told her when she could communicate everything telepathically and have him move out immediately. In no time she found Marcus in a section not too far from where Golem had lost sight of Jericho and Lilith, ‘perfect’ she thought.

Marcus was scratching around the old remains of a kitchen looking for something to eat, he found a couple of old military ration packs that he wasn't sure if they had expired yet as they tasted like chalk and had the consistency of tea leaves. But he hadn't eaten much over the last week and gulped it down greedily, following it up with some water from the container he kept around his neck. When part of the food got caught in his throat he coughed and beat his chest with one hand, while at the same time his tail that was roughly one and a half times the length of his legs involuntary slapped on the ground.

Like Golem, Marcus still kept most of his human mind and understood how to use tools and had a modicum of shame about himself. Choosing to clothe himself in a grotty tatted vest that might have been a military coat at one point to account for the numerous pockets that cover the outside. As well an old pair of suit pants that has since degraded to a pair of tethered shorts held together by the will of the owner, with a hastily ripped hole for his tail, topped off with rope suspenders holding the outfit to his misshapen body.

After his coughing fit Marcus sighed heavily and glanced back at his tail, he could never really get the hang of moving the thing, half the time it seemed like it had a mind of its own, other times it gave away his emotional state without him noticing, like he was some kind of overgrown dog. He at least could manage to master it enough to help balance his new form that seemed to be a bit top-heavy with his new broader shoulders and larger skull, but he usually walked on all fours which were easier since his arms were longer now, almost as long as his legs. He could however use his tail like a massive club to swing at things, a handy trick when he had to fight over scraps with the other followers.

Just as he was about to have another attempt to choke down more of the solid brick, he noticed a familiar ringing in his ears as the periphery of his vision began to darken, his head began to feel heavy like a dominating thought was weighing it down. His mistress has called him, suddenly that dominating thought eased and became a clear voice in his head, "Dear Marcus, it is good to see you doing well", the voice echoed and bounced around in his mind. "Mother, I am honoured you would call on me, what may I assist you with today", Marcus responded to himself as he bowed his head to seemingly no one, like all the other Gen Xs in the Helix Towers, Marcus was completely subservient to Olsen, it was impossible for him to think otherwise.

Although in Marcus's case the way he devoted himself was a little different to many he would often undermine his fellow followers if it meant he could gain greater favour with Olsen. This wasn't by mistake in his former life Marcus was quite the boot licker, but in a way that saw himself move quickly up the ranks in Seon, his particular style of favour seeking, often involved him using underhanded tactics to get results, often these results were outstanding and often extremely beneficial. It was this behaviour Olsen wanted Marcus to keep when she subjugated him so she allowed him to keep a greater awareness of himself than others under her control. This made him an excellent pawn for her to use.

"My dear Marcus there are some little mice that have made their way into our home, I would like you to find them for me," Olsen said in a condescending yet provocative manner, after all, she only saw her followers as playthings for her to torment. "Yes, my Mother, tell me where I might find them and I will root them out for you" Marcus responded outwardly, however inwardly he was cursing the mouse comment, wanted to question why she couldn't find them her damn self and what was in it for him? Olsen knew all this and chuckled at the fact he could not bring himself to confront her, after all, she was essentially God to this man. "Now Marcus you know I don't use words to tell you such things, words are too vague and lacking in context for what I require of you." Again, Olsen drolled condescendingly.

"Yes, of course, Mother, forgive me," said Marcus, he didn't forget he just hated what she was about to do, it was unnecessarily painful and he was hoping she could do without for a change. "That’s quite alright shall we begin?" Olsen mockingly asked. "Yes," the second the word formed in his head, a pain like no other came over the man. It was like a great hand had slithered up his spine into his skull and latched on to his brain and was using its enormous grip to crush it.

Olsen was pouring the memory of Golem's encounter with Lilith and Jericho into Marcus's mind. All the subconscious details that Golem had missed amplified. The pain from the attack tore at Marcus like they had Golem only this time it was much longer and slower in order to make Marcus remember exactly what Jericho and Lilith looked like, smelled like and sounded like. So many little details Golem had already forgotten but would be essential for Marcus to track them down.

Olsen wasn't wrong this was information that could not be communicated with words, it was something Marcus would need to have lived to understand. However, she could have removed all the pain from the memory and only given the knowledge Marcus needed, but... Well. Where would be the fun in that? What's the point in having a plaything if you can't see how far you can push them before they break?

As soon as the pain started, it ended, leaving Marcus in a collapsed heap on the floor breathing heavily as he tried to catch his breath after the shock of the new memory being forcefully added to his mind. He quickly gathered himself and pulled himself back up to a sitting position "Thank you, Mother, what do you want me to do once I find them" ask Marcus still breathing heavily.

Olsen chuckled to herself "For now I want you to just observe them, don't engage with them, I want to know what they are looking for, I will check in with you once an hour for updates. Once I know how I want them handled I will have you carry out the rest of my plan. But Marcus, I will have you know that no harm will come to the woman do you understand? The man is of no consequence to me if he dies, he dies. But if so much as a scratch is made to that woman, I will have you subjected to such never-ending torment the remainder of your life will be a never-ending hell, do you understand". Olsen demandingly stated.

"Of course, Mother, I would never upset you, you know this. On my life, will I allow no harm to come to this Woman". Marcus said bowing to no one, some of the words catching in his throat, he knew just how cruel and petty Olsen could be.

"Good, now go, I will be in contact in one hour", as the ringing disappeared and the edges of Marcus's vision returned to normal, he rose to his feet and spun around sharply using his massive tail to hit and throw a nearby table across the room. He took a deep breath and waited a moment for the anger to subside, once he was calm again, he gathered the brick of half-eaten rations and stuffed them into a pocket of his tattered vest and slowly creeped out of the room. Using the new foreign memory as a guide he began to head towards the room Golem last encountered Jericho and Lilith.

To be continued

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