Ectyper

[Saiklex]

I'm visiting Uncle Jon. It's a Thursday evening, my usual time. His rather large detached house looms over as I approach. Something's not right... The gate looks lopsided, I walk closer and see smashed pots... As I reach nearer to the front, I see the doorway... The door, however, off its hinges. Forced open and lying in the hallway. I'd already started jogging, now I run inside. I hear noises, crashes, objects being swept to the floor.

"You won't find it! Just give up!"

My uncle's voice! I'm about to call when I realise alerting the intruders to my presense would not be a good idea while my entrance remains unknown. I creep upstairs, following my uncle's voice and trying to avoid the sounds of the others. I find him in his study, unguarded.

"Jon, what the hell is happening?!" I urgently whisper.

"Ben... They're looking for the research... The genetics coding, the glove... The blueprints are in the safe, they'll find that soon, but we've got time. The glove is in a compartment in the study, press the blue and green drawing pins on the corkboard at the same time, it will reveal itself."

"Why can't you come?" I'm already back by the door.

"Why do you think I'm not gone already?" he says, with a sly smile, opening his jacket, revealing a gunshot in his side.

"I can't leave you!"

"I'm finished. Just get the glove, it's more important!"

I start leaving, tears welling. "And don't put it on... Get out of here with it, but not on!"

I sneak past several rooms where I see fully armoured men searching in other rooms, completely black with helmets covering their heads. No insignia was on any of them. I find the study, press the drawing pins, and pull out a fabric glove out of the compartment that slides out from below the corkboard. It's black with what seems to be circuitry in white strips all along it. There's a letter beneath it, adressed to my uncle. I take it, and close the compartment, stuffing the objects in my coat pocket.

I need to leave, quickly... I slip out, and phone the police as soon as I get to the front of the building. In hindsight, it would have been best to hide while doing this.

"People, we've got a visitor!" I hear in a muffled voice, and look up to see one of the men staring at me through one of the top windows. I dive for cover, seeing his gun pointed at me, but no shots are fired. After 20 seconds I peer round the bush I'm hiding behind to see that there's no one at the window. Five seconds later. The house explodes.

A man comes from the back of the house, with a terrible grin. At that second the police arrive. His grin turns into shock as he ducks behind a fence, then points at me and shouts, "He's the one! He searched that man's house and blew it up! The owner's still in there!" ****. They're all looking at me, guns raised. I stand up with hands in the air, not sure what to say. There's a sound of a motorbike, coming very fast...

Through the police cars, and breaks to a halt a few feet away from me. The driver's in leather and their bike's big. "Get on now." I hear their voice through their tinted visor. I'm still in shock at the previous events, now my mouth's gaping and I'm utterly confused. Who the hell is this guy and why should I trust him? "Can you hear me, dumbass??" The police are shouting, guns at the ready. Before I can make a decision I'm thrusted towards the bike and I automatically put my leg around the saddle. We're driving off at already a fast speed, and the stranger hands me a helmet as a bullet whizzes through the air beside me.

We stop down a dirty alleyway about 20 minutes after losing the tailing cars. The sun had been setting and it was quite dark by the time we stopped. I get off and take my helmet off, already shouting at my mysterious "rescuer". "What the hell? I'm innocent, why did you do that, I could have proved it! And who are you?!"

"The guys robbing that house were no ordinary thieves, the organization they're from pulls the strings of the police like their personal puppet. No amount of evidence will sway a bribed judge."

"Organization? What is all this..." my mysterious biker takes off their helmet... Pouring out dark, blood red hair all over her shoulders, revealing bright red lips and depthless eyes that stop me mid-sentence.

"I can see you're not very informed for his nephew... And you might want to close that mouth, a whale could fly in there" she says, touching a slender finger onto my chin while she passes.

"So... Tell me what's going on... And I'd like to know who my 'rescuer' is..." I stammer as I follow her up metal stairs up the side of the building, slowly starting to realize just what had all happened.

We get to a door, she knocks and it's opened by a small woman. We're ushered in and my new partner leads us into a small room through a door with a hotel number on it. Inside is a hastily made bed and a drawer with a lamp on it.

"First off, it's Scarlett." Scarlett says, putting the briefcase she was carrying onto the bed and opening the latches to lift the lid. She retrieves some photos from inside and splays them across the bed which she's now sitting on. She points at one. A man and woman in labcoats. My parents. "That explosion that killed them was no accident," she said. "Your parents weren't ordinary scientists, they were working on revolutionary research. Great research, but the possibility to be greatly destructive also. There's many organizations that want it destroyed or for their own." She brings out another, CCTV shot of some men in the same black uniform as I'd seen. "You've finally alerted the big shots. These are soldiers from the Black Knight group. Your uncle became in charge of the research once your parents had died, so they went to him."

"Why... What kind of research was this?"

"Genetics. Specifically, nano bots capable of copying and producing the genetic code of anything it's given, almost instantly. The power to save dying or even extinct species, to create new ones, the capabilities are extraordinary. But there's also the other side... One with the power to make any organism he wishes with a bit of machinery and the energy present in the air, it could lead to purely destructive creatures, or even superhumans. That glove that's in your pocket... Read the note."

It's in my father's hand-writing. 'Jon, I fear one of these days in my labs will be my last soon. I entrust you with all my research if anything happens to me, and the mark I prototype glove. Under no circumstances must you put this on, however, it is unstable and cannot be taken off. It must be kept hidden though, more than any of the research, for all can be rebuilt from it. I hope none of this letter is necessary, but all precautions must be made. Will.'

"We'll hold up here for now, you sleep on the bed, I'll go get another room or something."

"How can I trust you?"

"I've been spying on your family for years just to keep it safe, if you're wondering how I know all this. And I just rescued you, so you should be recovering from this exhausting day," she says, putting a finger on my lips, then peeling it off as she leaves.

I wake up to darkness, the moon shining in through a slit in the curtains. Scarlett's sleeping on the floor, curled up in what little space there is. She looks about 20, but with more experience than a woman her age should, with bags under her eyes and exhaustion written all over her face. She isn't wearing the leather jacket anymore, just a black tank top. The jacket's beside her, and I can see the handle of a gun concealed on the inside. Next to her hands is a knife. I know nothing about her, she could be a rogue, a wanted criminal. I have to trust her though, she's my only option here, and criminal or not, she's the reason I'm alive.

It's the morning, and Scarlett's back is away from me, looking out through the window. I sit up. "Good morning sleepy," she says as she turns around. "We've got to move some place else, despite the floorboards being a lovely matresss, we need to keep hidden. You probably have more questions, but they'll have to wait until we get to our next hiding place. M'kay?"

"Sure..." I rub my eyes and swing my feet to the ground, and sweep my jacket up.

We're driving down alleyways and through puddles. The bike slows down, and Scarlett hops off. "You guard the bike for a sec, I gotta get some supplies." I'm left with the bike while she wonders into a nearby shop. This alley is quite tight, with a small corner shop down the middle, which she must have seen the sign for. As I'm looking down one end, a black car screeches to a halt right outside it, blocking the exit. I turn to see another do the same down the other end. The soldiers from my uncle's house jump out.

"Scarlett!" I shout, as they come storming down both ends. She turns, drops the stuff in her hands and dashes out the door.

"Come on! Follow me!" She grabs my wrist and pulls me up some metal stairs on the side of a building. There's shooting now, but she takes out her gun and manages to take several out with the same amount of bullets.

We're nearing the top, when a grenade's thrown up. It's been cooked, and explodes right at the top. Parts of the building are falling, and one catches Scarlett on the shoulder. Shocked, she pulls me closer and we fall as another segment hits the platform we're on and brings it down with it. We hit earth hard, and Scarlett's legs are now trapped. She's in pain, but manages to get her gun out. She takes out one of the remaining guards, but there's still two left. She's crying out now, and trying to reach something. "I can't get my knife- Arghh, do something Ben!"

What do I do? They're probably about to shoot us. Scarlett's trapped, and her legs are probably broken. I'm winded, but otherwise fine, yet I don't have any skill... It's all going to be over, everything...

My hand goes to my pocket, and I get out the glove. I have no idea what I'm doing, but I slip it on. A stabbing sensation ripples through my hand and arm, the glove binding to my skin, I cry out and have to bend over in pain. Genetic code... Biological organisms, what's strong...

I look around, they're approaching, but I see what I'm looking for, a tuft of grass coming from the pavement cracks. It's summer and insects are plenty, and I see what I'm looking for. A solitary ant. I touch it with my gloved hand, and just pray for something to happen. Nothing. They're a few metres away now. I search for some kind of indication on the glove. There's a silver circle on the back, I press it. The circuitry glows, and I feel a rippling sensation.

"What are you... Ben! Click your fingers! I think that does something..." I do what she says, and my arm feels like it's being ripped off, but then it turns into an ant claw. Shock and horror at this go through my mind, but I have to save Scarlett! I singlehandedly (ant hand of course) lift the building piece off her legs, and thrust it towards the soldiers. They're swept off their feet and continue onwards to hit their own car, smashing it and themselves to pieces.

"I... Thank you... That was amazing..." Scarlett smiles through the pain of her legs, which I can now see are twisted in all the wrong ways.

I look at my strange, furry claw-arm, and notice a siver patch where skin meets ant, and press it, reverting my arm to normal, albeit with the glove on. "We need to get you help!"

"Mmph... First we need to find out what they were tracking... I should have checked, this is all my fault," she gets out a small scanner and beckons me near. I crouch down, and within seconds she finds a signal from my jacket. "There. We'll throw it in some gutter a few miles away. Now..." She tries to get up, but I have to catch her as she falls before even on her knees. I carry her to the bike, and sit her on the seat.

"I'll go see where the nearest person who can help is, then I'll drive us there."

"You can drive?"

"I would have thought you'd know!" I said as I run into the shop, turning back to see her grinning mischeviously, in between wincing.

-----

Part one of a sci-fi tale. I kind of envisioned it as a comic, so it's quite fast paced.

[Saiklex]

Part two

-----

The doctors had done the best they could, and now we're in a small bedroom above, Scarlett resting. "Hey, get me my jacket."

I get it, and she pulls out a small syringe filled with blue liquid that seemed to be moving... She stabs it into her leg, injects a small amount, then the other. "Nanobots, they can repair my body as long as it's in the right position. My... Company had just made a breakthrough in them when it got destroyed."

"Who do you work for?" I asked nervously, it had been at the back of my mind for a while.

"They were called NanoTech Industries. They had a lot of enemies, and they had to have a whole network of people protecting that place. I was part of it. My brother was a researcher, and... He got killed in the finishing attack." she looks away, trying to hide the weakness she feels. "Your parents were researchers there until they decided they we're endangering everyone else by being there. Well, it ended the same way. But I was assigned to look over them while they researched in external labs." She turned and gave a sad smile to me, "I should be fixed by tomorrow."

"I need to find out some stuff about my newly acquired... Arm... What do you know about it?" I ask.

"I don't know much about it, I'm sorry. But I know someone who will do. He left the research before the attack, but we put him in hiding to be safe. Pass me my briefcase and I'll tell you where he is."

Fortunately for me, we were in the kind of area where you wouldn't expect a top researcher to dwell, and the people in charge of of hiding him must have known that. Less than an hour and I'm outside a dirty flat, walls damp and puddles murky. I enter the open door and climb the stairs. I find the room, and knock.

"Who is it?" a rough voice whispers.

"Ben Pierce. Will and Mary Pierce's son."

"I'm done with that crap, leave me alone!"

"I'm wearing the glove. I need some information on this thing that's binded to my skin."

The door opens. "Now why the heck would you put it on?" The grizzled man beckons me in, and I explain the situation. "Well, I guess you came to the right person," he begrudgingly admits. "You're probably feeling a bit of a strain on your arm right now, after what you did."

"Yeah." It's true, it had felt like this for a while.

"That's because it takes energy from inside you to do what it does. Theoretically, you should slowly get used to it, but you'll need to eat more nutritious food to keep up with the demand if you use it often. And don't overdo it, the glove's limit is your body's. As for the controls, it works on a telepathic system. All you do is click your fingers and think of the index number of the gene. The ant will be one, and the next will be two, and so on. That's all you need to know, I think. You could stay but you've got a lady waiting for you and I feel you're jeopardizing my safety. So be off."

"Anything useful?" Scarlett asks as I return.

"Well, I learnt that he's old and grumpy, that's about it. Oh, and how to work the thing, although I already figured out most of it."

"Well I'm sure it was great fun," she says, smiling slyly. "I've been working while you were gone, I know where the people who are behind all this have a base, and it's only a few days away."

"Oh yeah, who are they?" I ask, realising I have no idea who they are.

"Oh, yeah... Well, they started out as a biological department in the country's army, but the main team got kicked for being too radical. They made an organization called 'GenX' and made enough money through shady dealings of private information overseas to be exempt from any laws. Such is how the world works. Anyway, this possible base is the closest to us, and probably where the research has gone. We'll set out tomorrow, so you and I should both get rest. You're coping well after being thrown into this, but I bet it's taking its toll."

I wake up and find Scarlett's room. She's doing stretches. "Good as new! A bit stiff, but nothing to hinder a motorcyclist," she smiles, a strangely heartwarming smile underneath all the toughness. "Right, let's eat, and then head off."

We stop at an old basketball court, abandoned and covered with weeds. The houses all around are deserted, many with external damage no amount of wear and tear could explain, with gaping holes in the brickwork and scorch marks going all the way up the walls and insides.

"This is what war does..." I hear Scarlett whisper in a tone layered with anger and sadness. "We need to have you practice with the glove, you need to be used to it for when we get in their base. And we need to see its true capabilities. Don't move."

She crouches, and slowly waddles towards a cat licking its claw, who snaps its head towards her. Scarlett stops still, and the cat slowly creeps towards her. It snuggles up to her leg and she puts her arms under it and picks it up, with no resistance.

"How did you..?" I say in amazement.

"Shh... Now come and get its genetic code before it falls asleep on me," she whispers, and the cat purrs.

I stroke it a few times and then push the silver plate on my hand, and the glove glows like last time. Scarlett puts the cat down and it circles her legs before fleeing into the overgrown grasses.

"Now try it." I flick my fingers and think to myself the number one. And like that, my hand is now a claw.

"Well I suppose you could use it to cut open some stuff," Scarlett laughs. "Can it switch to the ant from there?"

"Nope, not sure I can even touch one claw to the other, let alone click them," I smile, and revert my arm back. I try the ant hand, and it does that instantly.

"So it's not limited to one morph every so often! That's useful!" Scarlett says.

"Yeah, but it's limited to what my body can handle, I feel a bit weak already, it's not much, just sudden hunger."

"Maybe you just need to eat healthier! Come on, let's go get some tasty fruit and then do some weight lifting or something to get you prepped for anything that could happen!" She grabs my human arm and drags me over to the bike, and she drives off with on back before I can switch my arm back. It felt like the real, warm Scarlett was showing through the cold mask she wore, and I had a feeling it was surprising her too.

I train and consume fresh fruit from the market just about all day, while Scarlett sits back enjoying a spare apple most of the time, occasionally telling me to move onto a more heavier weight or change into a claw and scratch some pillows we found. As the sun begins to set, I'm exhausted, and I come and sit next to Scarlett on the grassy patch she's found. She looks kind of embarressed, and immediately shuffles away and stands up. "I guess we should make some progress distance wise. I'll drive, and you tell me when you feel too tired to hold on, and we'll find somewhere. Okay?" She's looking away from the sun, but I can see her shadowed face was slightly red, but also distant and sad. I assume the sunset provoked a memory, and decide to let it slide. We haven't known each other for long, and these are confusing and fast-paced times for me, and I don't want any unnecessary problems.

I must have fallen asleep, because I wake up with my head on Scarlett's back and her fist punching my leg. "Ben! If you're just getting cosy or some ****, then stop it, but if you're asleep, stop that too!" She breaks and jumps off the bike, and takes her helmet off to look sternfully at me. We're in a deserted village, most of the houses rubble, and dry grass everywhere.

"Sorry, I guess I fell asleep..." I say, taking my helmet off. It's quite dark, and she looks really worn out. The sadness hasn't left her face from earlier, and I get the feeling something's troubling her.

"Well I told you to tell me when you got tired, you could have fallen off! Jesus, I've been trying to look after you, it's probably a good idea to listen to the woman who saved you from prison!"

"I'm dealing with a lot here, my uncle just died, and I saved your life the other day! It's tough on both of us, so we should-"

"I wouldn't have been in that situation if I didn't come and save your backside in the nick of time! You didn't trust me, and now you're just not listening!" She storms off into the grasses, and I know I've upset her.

"Hey, I didn't mean anything, I'm sorry-"

"Just bring the bike, I'm setting up camp." Her voice is angry, but it cracks in the middle. I feel bad, knowing that I wasn't careful enough, but realising I hadn't even said thankyou to her. Not once, for anything.

She'd found a patch of fairly soft earth and made sure it was clear by the time I'd dragged the bike there. "I didn't get a tent, and I don't like sleeping in abandoned houses. It shouldn't rain tonight, so we're sleeping out in the stars. There's blankets in the bike, get them out."

I got the blankets and held one out to her, which she snatched out of my hand. She lays down on the edge of the clear patch, and I lay next to the bike. We lie in silence for a long time. I hear movement and glance over to see Scarlett lying on her back, looking up at the stars, not looking very angry anymore, but the sadness hadn't resided.

"I'm really grateful for what you've done for me, Scarlett." I speak out and break the hold silence was keeping. "You saved my life, but you've been a great support and friend, even though we hardly know each other. Even if I had been saved, if it weren't for you, I would have completely broken down. Thank you." I glance over to see Scarlett closing her eyes and letting a small smile escape, and it might have been the light, but a sliver of silver in the corner of her eye. She turned her back against me, and I finally felt okay enough to sleep.