Lunaforte Granz Part one: Unnatural selection
#1 of Lunaforte Granz
What happens when my twisted imagination delves into the world of science fiction? Lunaforte Granz! (Seriously, I have no idea what the title is supposed to mean. I just like the way it rolls off the tongue) This will be a four part series. Maybe longer. It depends on how part four turns out.
Contains violence, sex, swearing, situations not suitable for minors. Blah, blah, blah, no one really reads these warnings anyway. Enjoy. ^-^
Lunaforte Granz
_In the year twenty-one-fifteen the corporation known as Genetech Industries rose to prominence.
Dominating the market in the fields of cybernetics, bioengineering and virtual world technologies they ushered in a new era of prosperity for humanity and its children.
Fifty years later, mankind . . . is still trying to adapt._
Part one: Unnatural selection.
"No dreams this time Six." He slid his fingers inside her waiting sex. He loved the way it felt as he slid into them, both in body and mind. "But I'm not really here either."
Building a steady rhythm as he went along he brought his mouth to her breasts and kissed them softly.
"But I can feel you." She gasped as he bit her gently, his fingers teasing her in all the right places. "Oh god can I feel you."
"I learned how to project myself. It not as good as being with you in the real world."
She pushed him onto his back, effectively silencing him.
Her tail held high in the air she slid her body across his, luxuriating in the silken feel of fur against flesh and found him ready for her. "For now." She whispered. "It's enough."
Twenty-three held Six's hips as she pressed herself against his cock, helping to steady her as she slowly pushed it deep inside her.
She growled possessively as she hilted herself.
Digging deep furrows into the ground on either side of his chest she spoke in a haughty voice. "Now make love to me."
Twenty-three was only happy to oblige.
As a projection, though he had to borrow her senses to see and feel, and even to touch; that simply made their lovemaking all the more intimate.
Through her he could taste the heady sensations of life around them. The scent of her desire, the warmth of her body, the way it felt to give oneself over to pure unbridled passion.
With her, sex was not merely an act, but a work of art.
Six remembered the first time they had made love like this. Twenty-three had appeared before her in her dreams and had offered her his hand.
At first she had been surprised to see him. Normally she dreamed about nothing at all. Preferring it to the usual fragmented recollections of tests and training she had endured during the day. But Twenty-three, dressed in a simple tux with his spiky white hair smoothed into some semblance of order had cut a figure both handsome and roguish.
His silver eyes slit like a cat's shining in the moonlight he had lifted her into a world where stars hung in the sky, and they had danced among them.
For a time she had felt human again. And when she closed her eyes she could still taste the stardust on her lips.
Twenty-three was an esper, a telepathic soldier created by Genetech Industries, She was a kemono, a human transformed into a beast soldier. But he hadn't cared about any of that. He had simply chosen to fall in love with her. And she with him.
Twenty-three held Six as she shuddered in pleasure. He preferred to live in a world where dreams were a part of reality. Taking Six with him had saved her from the harsh nature of the endless experiments. The painful tests they were all subjected to.
In a way she had saved him as well.
Using the time they had left they began to explore each other's bodies. Each of them holding the other, both of them basking in the afterglow.
As a man Twenty-three felt he was nothing if not promiscuous. He had sampled more than half the women in the facility, having used their dreams to get to know them intimately. Sometimes he even used them to commit various acts of sabotage.
It was a dangerous game to play and in order to keep from getting caught he was ultimately forced to erase their memories of the event afterwards. Only he would ever know of his sexual prowess.
But Six was special to him. Like her, he was also a part of Genetech's ultimate soldier program. And the only one he felt he could truly confide in.
Bio-weaponry. Humans transformed through the power of science. It was the way of the future. He had lifted the knowledge from more than one of Genetech's employees. Their thoughts had often run the gamut from: Who cares if a few people have to be sacrificed in the process. To. It's all for the greater good of mankind anyway.
Twenty-three kissed her goodbye. "Sorry Six." He was disappearing even as she tried to hold on to him. "Looks like my time is up." He whispered into her mind. I'll be with you for real someday. I promise.
Shannon tapped her pen against the glass of the containment tank. She knew for a fact Twenty-three was only pretending to be asleep. "Looks like we can add astral projection to your list of abilities." She made a note of it on her clipboard. "That makes it telepathy, telekinesis and pyrokinesis. Are there any other abilities you have that you're not telling us about?"
Twenty-three rolled his shoulders as he opened his eyes. "Yeah. I can teleport."
She wasn't impressed. Twenty-threes' personality was already borderline unstable. With his increasing tendencies towards a predatory nature he was already slated for
life-recycling.
Asking him about his powers was merely a formality, a way to increase the data gathered on the prototype before they started over.
"I'm increasing the psychic inhibitor in the neurogel. You won't be able to use your powers."
Oh come on Doc. He said in her mind. That's not playing fair.
"Test subject Twenty-three." She used the control panel to send a corrective electric shock through his nervous system. "Use the microphone."
Twenty-three shuddered visibly. He had already altered his bioelectric field to compensate. To him, the shock was actually quite enjoyable.
"So when are you finally going to let me out of this jar Doc? I'm sick and tired of staring at boring white walls and transparent glass all the time. I wanna see the real world while I'm still young." He placed his hand against the glass. "Y'know?"
Shannon unconsciously undid the top half of her blouse. It was suddenly getting warmer and the fabric chafed uncomfortably. "You're parents signed the waiver allowing you to become the property Genetech Industries. We can hardly let you out until we see a return on our initial investment."
"Chhh! Figures you'd say something stupid like that."
Twenty-three watched in mild satisfaction as she pressed herself against the cool surface of the glass tube. She really had no idea how far under his power she already was.
Her hands drifted lower, unbuttoning the top of her pants. "Now, if you decided to be more cooperative, maybe tell us a little about yourself and your powers. We might see fit to letting you out every once in a while."
"I think I have a better idea. Why don't I simply give you a demonstration."
Shannon felt a kind of double vision. Twenty-three was still sealed inside the tank, but he was also standing right next to her.
Something was wrong. According to the read out, the psychic inhibitor should have already taken effect.
Her eyes widened in surprise as the memory of what had really happened surfaced in her mind. He had merely let her think she had introduced the psychic inhibitor into the neurogel.
The Twenty-three in the tank lifted his hands like a puppeteer. I like to call this technique Ningyo Hime. His duplicate caressed her face possessively as he began using her body to deactivate the control subsystems. Now dance my puppet princess.
Shannon struggled against his mental control. This was something altogether different from his usual hypnotic suggestions. "Twenty-three. Stop this immediately!"
"You know. I don't think I like being called Twenty-three anymore." Already the neurogel was being drained from the containment tank. "From now on." He removed the oxygen mask from his mouth, revealing sharp teeth and a cocky smile. "Call me. Rasler."
Rasler had Shannon act as his escort as he moved through the underground facility. Turning aside the minds of any soldiers or researchers who might attempt to question them was a simple task. Most of the sensor pads and doors however, were keyed to human bio-signs. As an augmented human, he would have already tripped half a dozen alarms already in his attempt to escape.
"You won't get away with this." Said Shannon.
"They'll find you." He finished for her. "And do what? Kill me? They were planning to do that anyway." He stopped her outside of a door marked with the number Fifty-two.
There were hundreds, if not thousands of augmented humans held within the facility. But in order to release them all he needed the help of three very specific people.
She pressed her palm to the scanner and the door slid open.
The room was the same antiseptic white as the rest of the facility. Its sole occupant Fifty-two looked much like a thirteen year old boy and could have easily passed for human. If it wasn't for his bushy ring tail and ears like a raccoons.
He was strapped to a chair with various cables running from his body to a nearby console.
Though altered in mind and body, as far as Rasler was concerned Fifty-two was as human as he was. "Let him out."
"You can't be serious. Fifty-two is a class S security risk. I don't even know the release code."
"I don't remember giving you a choice in the matter." A look of concentration flashed across his face. "The release code is Lambda - Epsilon - Cross Slash - Override - Omega." She had already begun entering the code into the control console before he had even finished speaking. "I took the liberty of pulling it from your mind just now. Is there anything else you want to lie to me about?"
Shannon merely glared at him, her eyes and her mouth were about the only things he had left to her control. Had he but wished it, she would have already ceased to breathe.
"How long have you been planning this little escapade?"
Rasler shrugged. "Months, years. Probably from the moment I realized I could waltz into people's minds and take whatever I wanted." After all. He whispered into her mind. Genetech Industries gave me the power. It only seems right that I should use it.
"You can't do this."
"I can't do this!" He roared, lifting her into the air with a thought. "Did you ever consider for a moment that there were people on the receiving end of your little tests?"
Tears had begun running freely down his face. "Every scream of horror, every cry of agony. I felt them as if they were my own!" He pushed those thoughts, those feelings into her mind. "Feel for even a moment a glimpse of their pain, and know why I would use my power to grant them freedom."
It was a world of darkness without form. Adrift in an endless sea of agony the nameless thoughts and feelings of a thousand different voices assaulted her. Each one clinging to her, desperate to find some island of sanity in an ocean of madness, desperate enough even, to drag her down along with them. So that they wouldn't have to die alone.
Rasler had comforted them in such moments, taking from them their fears. And in return weaving for them dreams of something other than pain. So that they would not go screaming into that dark night.
Though it lasted for but a moment, it felt as if an eternity had passed. When she finally caught her breath enough to open her eyes she said. "You're insane."
Rasler simply looked at her as if she had touched upon a very real truth. "In a world that has gone mad." He said softly. "Sanity is overrated anyway."
Designed to keep his mind in a state of hyper awareness the Neural Serial Bus linked Fifty-two to the main computer housed deep in the heart of the facility.
Genetech had kept him living in a virtual simulation for most of his life, training his mind to crack security protocols in all but the most protected of government computers.
The touch of his mind was not unlike drifting through a waking dream. One in which the worlds of cyberspace were his playground. With the endless flow of data the only family he had ever known.
Rasler had found his mind hiding in one of the many online games that humans enjoyed playing.
Adopting him as something of a kid brother had made both of them happy. In return, Fifty-two had shown him the outside world through the lens of cyberspace. It had merely sparked his desire to see it for real.
"Big brother?" Fifty-two blinked in wide eyed surprise as Rasler began removing the NSB from his neck. "Is it really you?"
"Sure is Koon."
Fifty-two cocked his head to the side. "Who's Koon?"
Rasler placed his hand protectively his brother's shoulder. "You are."
He pointed to himself. "Me?"
"We're not numbers anymore. We're people. And people have names."
Koon hugged his tail as he considered the prospect of having a name to call his own. Looking up at Rasler he said. "I'm Koon." He smiled innocently. "I like it."
With Koon at his side Rasler had no more use for Shannon. Leaving her in a containment cell he had wiped her short term memory. When she finally awoke she would have no recollection of how she had come to be there. It was he thought, a humane solution.
More humane than the way they've treated us anyway.
A stolen holo-pad served them as a map. The three-dimensional overlay of the facility showed an entire city complex buried deep within the earth. It was home to both Genetech employees and their families. Some of the test subjects were even their own children.
Those who had been unwanted anyway.
Code named Lost Shinjuku the various sectors were divided into different ecological environments. Each one serving to act as a training ground for soldiers who would experience combat under varying conditions.
The lowest tiers where Rasler had escaped from were dedicated solely to those augmented humans whose abilities had enough range to effect the outside world. As such there was no forests or deserts to pass through. Merely endless corridors of steel and plastic.
Rasler stopped in front of a door marked with the number forty-eight. "This is it." He had already made psychic contact with the man inside. And had found him more than willing to assist in Rasler's bid for freedom.
Pushing with his mind the door buckled and bent inwards. It had been designed to withstand incredible pressures, absorbing sheer brute force and negating physical energy. Crushing it with his mind was child's play.
With an unholy groan the metal warped and twisted beyond recognition, revealing a room as barren as all the rest.
Its sole occupant hung suspended from the ceiling. He was being restrained by titanium alloy cables thicker than a fist. Anything less would have been useless. Forty-eight had been designed to bench press an elephant with ease.
Rasler stepped around the twisted hunk of metal. "Think you can help me get him out of there?"
Koon began interfacing with the control console. "No problem I just have to."
There was a hiss and a snap as the suspension tethers were ripped from the ceiling. Rasler let out a low whistle at the impressive show of strength.
Forty-eight lifted the sensory dampener off his head, revealing a braided silver tail of hair that fell to his waist and piercing hawks eyes. "Lord Rasler. I am honored to be chosen as one of those who will stand by your side."
Rasler tapped Forty-eight's perfectly sculpted chest with the back of his hand. "Glad to have you with us. Famran."
The kemono exercise compound was filled with lush vegetation and a domed ceiling that mimicked the sky of the world above. But no matter how convincing it may have been made to look. To Six it was still a cage.
While she ran she avoided anything that smelled even remotely human. Even the other kemono augments could sometimes be dangerous, if their mind had devolved into that of a feral beasts.
Those failures who forgot they were ever human were often culled.
The scent she was following was getting stronger. She dropped down onto all fours and increased her speed.
She knew the scent as well as her own. Though she had never truly smelled it she knew it could belong to only one person.
She burst from the trees and into his waiting arms. "You came, just like you promised you would." She buried her face into his chest. Drinking in his scent.
He was real.
Rasler stroked Six's hair. To touch her for real. To hold her for even a moment. It was everything he had hoped it would be and more. "Of course I came. I just wanted to save the best for last." You need a name. How about. . .
I'm Six. She replied. Its the name I'm choosing for myself.
He nodded that it was so.
Rasler introduced Six to his companions. Koon laughed happily as Six swept him up into a hug while nuzzling her neck affectionately.
When Six thanked Famran for protecting Rasler he remained stoic and impassive, muttering something about honor and duty and to think nothing of it. Rasler could feel a quiet pride suffuse him. Famran drew strength from duty. He was not unlike the samurai of old. For he too had been trained to follow the ancient code of bushido.
Having a master to serve and people to protect completed the programming Genetech had instilled in him.
Though they had each been created for a different purpose together they completed each other. To Rasler, they were already a family.
And he intended to see reach freedom safely.
Hidden within the heart of the artificial jungle was an access point that lead to the main computer housed with the Genetech facility.
Rasler stood before the massive behemoth. It was an engine that held the key to their salvation and yet it was also the instrument of bondage which held them all in check
"Koon. I want you to program the computer to simultaneously shutdown and release every experimental test subject at once. But I need you to put it on a delayed timer. Can you do that for me?"
It would be absolute pandemonium when it finally happened. A fact he was counting on to help aid in their escape.
Koon, eager to prove himself was already making it happen. "Of course."
"Good man."
Rasler smiled. Once they had drawn enough attention to themselves in their bid to escape the rest of the augments would simply be able to walk out of the facility to freedom.
Genetech would be too busy trying to contain the incident to stop them.
The final stop on the tour of Lost Shinjuku was the staff locker rooms. Rasler felt they were conspicuous enough as it was, walking around in white shifts that barely covered their bodies.
They needed new clothing and while Genetech wasn't exactly springing for the latest in designer fashions for its test subjects. The staff and their families who lived in the veritable city beneath the surface would have plenty to spare.
He opened a locker, tossing a pair of jeans to Koon. The rest of the clothing he tossed onto the growing pile in the middle of the room.
Six had already found herself a nice little ensemble and was happy to simply sit back and watch as the boys dressed themselves.
Rasler opened another locker and found a white leather jacket and blue jeans that fit perfectly. Oooh. He slipped the jacket on, tracing the collar of white fur with his hand. Someone has expensive tastes. Inside one of the pockets was a fully loaded cred card and a pair of designer sunglasses. Putting them on he turned to look at Famran.
He had opted to wear a traditional business suit with a plain black tie. The way the jacket hung loose around his waist instead of being tucked in gave him an added aura of danger. "You look good in a suit." He pointed at the katana Famran was holding next to his waist. "But where did you get that sword anyway?"
"Found it."
He shrugged. "Works for me."
"Security just activated a silent alarm." Said Koon. "They know we're trying to escape."
"Chhh! That's just makes things more interesting." He thrust his hands into his pockets. "Come on. Let's get this party started."
The corridors in the upper levels were all crawling with black ops soldiers. More than a dozen guns took aim at the researchers stumbling down the hall.
"Don't shoot us!" Said one of them. "For god's sake we're humans!"
Not one soldier lowered his weapon until one of them said. "Confirmed. We have human life signs. No trace of augments among them."
Another soldier waved them through the blockade.
Rasler sighed as he returned to his body. He had hoped to find someone he could slip into. But every single one of them had been doped up with enough psychic inhibitor to scramble even his attempts at remote viewing their location. Genetech wasn't taking any chances.
With only a few moments before the elevator doors opened he said. "Remember. The men out there are soldiers who've decided to be here. Don't hesitate when it comes to killing them. They won't hesitate when it comes to killing us."
Each of them nodded in turn.
The silver doors opened and Rasler stepped from the elevator. A grim angel he stood before the assembled soldiers. He waved at them. "Hi there."
The corridor was filled with a hailstorm of bullets. The air thick with them. They didn't stop firing until a veritable wall of lead completely blocked him from sight.
Reaching out he plucked a single bullet from the air. The rest fell to the ground like raindrops as he released his hold on them. "Is it our turn now?"
Men screamed as he released a wave of fire into their ranks. Alive with purpose the flames followed his line of sight.
Some dropped their guns and rushed him with combat knives in hand. Knowing the psychic inhibitor would prevent him from accurately targeting them.
Rasler just stood there, watching them move as if in slow motion.
Out of the corner of his eye there was a flash of silver, a blur of motion. Famran was scything them down, moving amongst them faster than they could see.
Those who realized what was happening were already lost. Famran flowed through the gaps created by Rasler's flames. His sword a quicksilver blur.
It was over in seconds.
Rasler kicked aside a gun in distaste. The idea of being used as a weapon to cause such slaughter on a global scale disgusted him.
One of the researchers he had used as a decoy was still alive. The man was laughing hysterically. "Wonderful! Simply wonderful! You're even better than we imagined."
Rasler leaned down so that they were face to face. "You self-righteous fucks have a truly twisted imagination."
"But don't you see? You really are the ultimate weapons! We succeeded. We succeeded." The man was trying to laugh and cry at the same time.
"You're wrong. We're not weapons. Not if we don't want to be."
The man started babbling nonsense words. "Lunaforte Granz! Lunaforte Granz!"
Rasler touched his mind and recoiled in disgust. The augments had just been the precursor to Genetech's true research. Lunaforte Granz was a psychoreactive virus capable of wiping out entire nations overnight.
Rasler, Six, Famran, Koon. Every single augment in the facility. They were all designated as potential carriers for the different strains of Lunaforte Granz.
It was truly the ultimate bio-weapon.
By shutting down the main computer Rasler had turned the entire facility into ground zero. It was too late to turn back. Already they had passed beyond the point of no return.
Six took Rasler's hand into her own. "Let's go. I want to remember this place as a bad dream and nothing more."
Rasler nodded his agreement.
In order to contain the virus Lost Shinjuku was completely shutting itself down. Blast doors were already dropping into place. Effectively sealing the different sectors off from each other. The facility would continue to operate. But no one would be able to get in or out.
They had come so far, and now the only thing standing in their way was a wall of metal.
"This is the final door." Said Rasler. "Beyond this lies freedom. Think you can do something about it for us Koon?"
Koon used his bio-neural net connection to remotely access the computer core. What systems he could reach were limited only by distance. The rest was up to his own skills.
He shook his head. "I can't open it. The controls are kept completely separate from the main system." He hugged his tail looking frustrated. "Plus, there's an autonomous command structure outside the compound preventing me from bypassing the control subsystems. Someone keeps rotating the password faster than I can find it."
Rasler only understood half of what he had said. "Thanks for trying Koon. If you couldn't hack their security then no one could." Koon brightened considerably. "But the tighter they lock this door the more it makes me want to see what's on the other side."
Rasler placed his hands against the door and focused on slowing down its molecular structure. Frozen waves of cold began spreading outwards across its surface until the door was completely encased in ice.
He stepped back. "Famran."
There was a faint click as he drew his sword. "With pleasure."
Famran slashed at the door while executing a series of rapid fire strikes, each one faster than the eye could see.
There was a second click as he sheathed his sword, and with a sound like breaking glass, clear and crystalline the way to freedom appeared before them.
Outside the facility the air was filled with a thousand different scents, each one of them alive with the promise of a new world, a new life.
Koon looked at the forest around them. "What are we going to do now?"
Rasler covered his eyes with his hand, the sun was truly bright. "What are we going to do? Why, we're going to save the world."
Next time. Outbreak, opposition, more obscenities than you can shake a stick at!
*Sets off to write part two*