July 21, 2175
07:00 P.M.
The sun had set, an orange afterglow still visible on the western horizon over the skies of New Pittsburgh. The atmosphere was calm and peaceful, with occasional sounds of birds and animals breaking the silence. Often, the sound of the Ortho Sapien vehicles would be heard as they regularly patrolled the area.
Jack Hauston was still asleep, though not for long. Diana entered the guest room soon and woke him up for dinner.
"Hey Jack, wake up, man. It's 7 P.M.," she said, shaking him to wake him up.
"Hmm? Ah, alright," Jack said, his voice heavy with sleepiness as he slowly opened his eyes.
Diana had her long black hair open. She was bending down to wake him up, her smooth hair brushing Jack's face, tickling him.
"Wakey, wakey," she insisted as Jack almost closed his eyes again.
"Yeah, yeah, I am up. Now let me get up," he said.
The thing he had just experienced—he would have given up anything to experience that once again. Diana, the person he loved, waking him up. If it were any other day, he would've been happy beyond comprehension. But alas, this was not the time to be happy, and he knew that. Yet, he couldn't help but feel a little tingle in his heart.
Jack got up and washed his face. He then headed to the dining table, where he found Diana sitting, having already served dinner.
"Time to dig in! Thank you for the food," they said together and started to eat.
They finished dinner, and Jack helped Diana clean up the utensils. Then they headed to the living room, where Diana picked up the TV remote and was about to turn it on when Jack interrupted her.
"No, don't!" he said, alarmed.
"Huh? Why?" asked Diana, confused.
"Your TV is registered in a Kratian home. If you tune it to the main network, they might notice, as I am 90% sure they are monitoring everything that is going on. If they have infiltrated government bodies like the police department, this plan must have been underway for a while. And if they have infiltrated governmental bodies, infiltrating the network department or introducing a virus there would be a piece of cake for them."
"Alright, makes sense. How will we keep up with the news and stuff then?"
"You will find out soon enough. I have something in mind."
"I see, alright."
Diana headed to her study and returned with a novel. She lay down on the opposite side of the couch, and Jack, too, took out the Ortho Sapien armband and started to browse through it.
On the Ortho Sapien broadcast, he could see a lot of images and videos, which included the Ortho Sapiens clearing out the "tenacious cockroaches" who had hidden themselves and survived the massacre. Jack looked through the broadcast history and saw another glimmer of hope.
There was a post about the Rawkins Lab. It said that the Ortho Sapiens had succeeded in taking over the Rawkins Lab. They had even killed a few scientists working there; however, many of them were missing as well. They were searching for them.
There was a faint chance that among those missing scientists was his mother's name. Meaning she might be alive somewhere. Jack jumped in excitement as he showed the post to Diana. She also smiled and said that she was happy for him, giving a faint smile. Jack suddenly realized how insensitive that was of him. They still hadn't heard from Diana's parents.
"I'm sorry, Diana. That was really insensitive of me. But I know your parents are alright because there is no way that some lowly terrorists can get the better of two trained army individuals—even though they are healers," he said, trying to cheer her up.
"I hope so too," she said, throwing a weak smile at him.
There was some awkward silence for a bit, then Jack asked Diana to go to sleep. Diana protested a bit, but Jack convinced her by saying that he had to prepare for the lookout tonight. Diana nodded and went to sleep.
Jack climbed to the terrace. He put on his Ortho Sapien suit, which allowed him to perfectly blend with the surroundings. He took out a pair of night vision binoculars from his item pouch, along with a mat that he had gotten from Diana. He lay down on his back and faced the dark sky teeming with stars.
In the solar system of one such star was their home planet, Creta—the planet where there were no Ortho Sapiens. His grandfather had given vivid descriptions of the planet, about its massive royal castle, widespread lakes and forests, beautiful animals, and dangerous monsters. A planet that had it all—from technology to beauty. Everything.
Why did they leave then? one might ask. If they had such a beautiful planet, then why did they come to Earth?
Well, they didn't have a choice. Their planet was destroyed in a war. This was all the info the new generation knew. Whenever Jack would ask who the war was against, his grandpa would always say, "Traitors and scaredy cats."
Just then, an Ortho Sapien patrol car passed by. Jack turned and lay on his stomach, using his binoculars to follow the vehicle. It passed by normally without stopping there.
Jack turned back and faced the stars once again. He lifted his right hand, in which he was wearing the Ortho Sapien wristband, which was still there but continuous with the suit.
He opened the broadcast channel to see if he could get some info on his mother. In the end, he found nothing except videos of Kratian harm and torture and ended up filling his mind with more hatred.
"There might have been fearsome and ruthless monsters on Creta, but these damned Ortho Sapiens are worse than them. Truly, monsters to the core," he said to himself, disgusted at the videos he just saw on the broadcast channel.
He sat there looking through the wristband. He was bored, so he thought of doing something. He used his body-strengthening Ikanami to the second-last stage and jumped. When he reached the highest height he could, he deployed a Kana slab beneath him as a foothold. He tilted the Kana slab forward and jumped again. He shot like a bullet in the forward direction, reaching the next block in a second. He turned around and deployed a slab to halt his motion. He was still parallel to the ground and about 15 meters high. He reinforced his body, did a backflip to turn around, and landed with a small crash.
He broke open one of the house doors and went in to turn on the television. Then he hurried out, jumped a few times, and reached high into the sky.
"Now, let's see if they are monitoring the networks," he said to himself. He jumped back and stood on the slab several feet over Diana's roof so he could watch both the houses.
A few minutes later, two Ortho Sapien cars came. Jack turned on his night vision binoculars. He could see the humans flowing out of the cars, searching around the whole block. There were 18 officers that came, yet only 16 came out of the car. Jack could see the silhouettes of two individuals who were still in the car.
The Ortho Sapiens searched around in every nook and cranny to find the Kratian who had interacted with the network. Of course, they didn't find any. One of the Orthos went back near the car and talked to the two men in the back. They did a gesture, and all the Ortho Sapiens fell back into the car and drove away.
"So, they are monitoring the networks. But who were the two people in the back? They seemed to order the Ortho Sapiens around. They can't be their boss. Humans are fearful and selfish. They will gladly use those under them as meat shields and run. I think they were some sort of ace fighters or something that came here just in case the Kratian was strong," he said to himself.
Jack returned back to Diana's roof. The night passed away slowly yet peacefully. Except for the regular Ortho patrol cars, no other activity was observed on the road. Jack lay on the rooftop, working on the wristband and his Ikanamis as time passed.
July 22, 2175
6:00A.M.
A faint orange tinge was visible over the east horizon. It was sunrise. Jack yawned and decided to do his exercises and stretching in the fresh air since he would have to go down when it lightened up. Being on the rooftop during that time was just pushing himself off the cliff.
Just then, Diana came to the rooftop and asked Jack to come down now. Jack followed her, sleepy because of the long night. To his surprise, Diana had already cleaned the house and prepared breakfast.
"How long have you been awake for?" he asked, amazed.
"5 A.M. You don't expect me to just lie down and sleep in when you are out there keeping watch at night. Anyways, wash up and eat, and then go to sleep. We will execute part 2 between the 1 P.M. and 2 P.M. patrols," she ordered.
"Alright. Damn, you are awesome," said Jack, heading towards the bathroom.
Jack followed Diana's orders and went to sleep after breakfast.
12:30 P.M.
Diana woke Jack up, saying it was time to execute the plan, so he should get ready. Jack woke up at once and got ready. They put on a different attire than yesterday, and Jack put up a fake beard and spectacles to not get recognized. He then took a picture and returned a few minutes later, forging it on another identity card that he had found among the Ortho Sapien bodies.
They headed to the police station. When they reached the station, nothing was peculiar. It was the same as yesterday. Jack headed to the help desk and asked Diana to stay a few feet away from him so that they wouldn't look like they were together, and in case something happened, Jack would be able to protect her with Kana slabs. She nodded.
Jack got out of the car first. Diana got into the car and drove off, parking it in another slot, and then followed Jack inside.
As soon as Jack saw Diana had entered the police station, he headed to the help desk and told them he wanted to file a missing complaint. They told him to go to the same counter they had sent Diana to. Jack spotted Officer Jones sitting there, stroking his beard.
"Hello, Officer. I want to file a missing report. It's about my friend. He still hasn't returned home for a few days. He is an orphan with no living relatives. He lives at my house on rent," Jack informed.
"I see. Let me get the FIR register. Then tell me the details," Jones said, opening his drawer and looking for the register. Jack activated his telepathy Ikanami. He took turns reading everyone's minds. Everyone's thoughts were normal. Some were thinking about their problems, working out possibilities and suspects, or wondering what was for lunch.
"Alright, I have the register open. Tell me the details of the incident," Officer Jones grumbled.
"My name is Dolan Scott. My friend Franklin Rickens hasn't come home since July 20. He is a Kratian who attends the training center for Ikanamis, and he is a speedster." Jack was going to continue, but he noticed something peculiar.
Officer Jones' eyes were wide open, his pupils dilated. His breathing was irregular and strong. His fingers were shaking, and the room fell completely silent.
Jack used telepathy. A voice was repeatedly playing in Officer Jones' head. The voice was the same as the one inside Officer Simian's head yesterday.
"Associate of Kratian. Must be disposed of, must be reported. All Kratians and their associates must be disposed of, must report," the voice repeated.
Jack quickly turned around and surrounded Diana with Kana slabs. He then used telepathy on her and started transferring his thoughts.
"Hey, Diana. Don't move. It's Jack. I am using telepathy right now. There is something strange going on here. Slowly walk outside and get into the back seats."
"Eeep, creepy. Alright, I am going out. Make sure to completely cover yourself with Kana slabs at all times," Diana said in her mind.
"Yeah, in fact, I have already deployed them all around me. Don't worry," Jack said in her mind.
Diana nodded. She hurried outside and got into the car. Jack turned back to Officer Jones. Officer Jones was still sitting like that and was mildly mumbling, "Continue with the details," again and again.
Jack continued with the fake details as he used telepathy on the other officers. The same voice had been replaying in their heads too. It was as if a program was embedded in them and was set to activate after certain conditions were fulfilled. It was the advanced form of telepathy, where the user suppresses the target's inner voice and controls them by using their own thoughts to replace the inner monologue.
The officers that were wearing the Ortho Sapien bands had no such voice in their heads. Jack finished with the details and thanked Jones, who just mumbled something. Jack quickly hurried out and got into the car.
He looked back at the entrance to the station. The officers with the wristbands were standing at the door, doing something on their wristbands. Diana was sitting in the back. Jack told Diana what happened. She was worried. Jack consoled her by saying the vehicle was bulletproof.
They drove out of the building. Two black cars started following them. Jack saw in the mirror that they were speeding toward them. When they got out of the Humans' settlement and onto the road to New Pittsburgh, the stalkers opened fire.
The sound of gunshots filled the atmosphere. Hundreds of bullets were hitting the vehicle every second, yet none managed to pass through. Jack turned to Diana as he was sure an on-road confrontation was inevitable.
"Just lie down on the back seat and make sure they can't see you. Don't come out until the fight is over. If something happens to me… get into the driver's seat and drive off. Morph the car into a racer, you will shake them off easily."
"Can't you do that too? Please, Jack, don't go."
"I am sorry, Diana, but I think it's time for some payback. And I needed some test subjects to check my Ikanami out," he said, smiling at her.
Jack drifted the car as if pretending to have lost control and stopped it, turning in such a way that the door to the driver's seat was facing the opposite side of the stalkers. Though none of the bullets passed through, they still left bullet marks. The terrorists thought one of the bullets got in and killed Jack.
Eleven Ortho Sapiens came out of the cars and assumed formation, arranging themselves in a line facing Jack's car. They were armed with assault rifles and battle vests, which they wore over their suits. They stood at the ready, their guns aimed at the car.
Jack stayed put. He laid back in his driver's seat and took deep breaths. He thought of his kin, the ones that were murdered ruthlessly by the very faction that was standing behind him. It filled him with hatred and determination to avenge them. It was time to have some payback.
"Are you watching me, Dad? If you are, please grant me your blessings and watch. Watch as I show you that I am still keeping our promises," he thought to himself.
Another Ortho Sapien came out of the car. He seemed to be the captain of this unit.
"Strike Team Unit 7, are you ready to engage?" he announced.
"YES, SIR," they said unanimously.
He tapped his wristband, and a screen popped out, showing the details of the members under his command. He bit his lip for a second and announced,
"Officer Number: 98976482, Codename: Hellvasga, go check if the target is still alive. Soldiers, WEAPONS AT THE READY," he shouted.
"Yes, sir."
A man about 27 years of age, who was second last from the right, came forward and started to walk toward Jack's car, his gun at the ready.
He circled around the vehicle and slowly bent forward to look into the driver's window.