Sole Scion - 17. Chapter Seventeen: Infection

Chapter Seventeen: Infection

One of the first things Andrew did once they had taken off was divide the islands into a grid. That way his men would be able to drop their seismic charges with the greatest amount of efficiency. In an hour they had cleared all the sectors north and west of the base. That left the more dangerous southern and eastern zones to be scanned.

So far the base had managed to hold off the Hive. After three attack waves there wasn’t enough left of the Mantis Swarm for it to re-gather for another attack. Off the southern coast however a second swarm was forming. It was already larger than the first and continuing to grow with each passing minute. When it made its move to attack the base Andrew’s squadron would have to shift from searching for the Hive Queen to fighting off the Mantis.

“Sector 12-F cleared.” The lead pilot of beta-wing reported.

“Move on to 11-F then head back to base to refuel and reload your bomber and missile bays.” Andrew ordered

“Same configuration of sonic charges?”

Andrew thought about it for a few seconds then decided against it. While they were almost done with the southern end of the island he didn’t want to risk his fighters ending up with nothing to defend themselves with when the Swarm made its move. “No… I want you to load up your Zephyr with as many fragmentation missiles as it can carry. I don’t like what I’m seeing to the south.”

“Smart move sir. Heading back to base.”

“The same is true for the rest of you sorry lot. You are all to head back and reload. Delta, Zeta, and Gamma keep loading up with seismic charges. The squadron will then form up in three groups of four wings. I will want the wings reloaded with seismic charges to divide themselves up so one wing in each group can continue to search for the Hive while the others provide cover. Does anyone have any questions?” When he got no response he wished them well and good hunting.

“Shouldn’t we head back to base sir?” The pilot of the command ship asked.

“Are we still carrying charges?”

“At least a half dozen sir.”

“Then we better make use of them before heading back.”

“Yes sir… heading to Sector 6-E.”

Below them were the remains of a settlement that had been abandoned when NET had taken over the island. “Dropping first charge.”

“Anything?” Andrew asked several seconds later.

“Nothing sir.”

“Moving on to sector 5-E”

Soon they were over a mountain about half the height of the one the base had been built into.

“Dropping second charge… Nothing sir.”

“Shall we continue sir?” The pilot asked. On the edge of the command shuttle’s radar scope the pilot could see that the Mantis Swarm was reaching critical mass.

“Just one more. Then we’ll head back.” Andrew replied.

“Heading to sector 4-E.

They were now over Fox Bay. Below them hordes of Spiderwolves had turned the shore into writhing sea of monstrosities.

“We wouldn’t want to crash there.” The pilot said right as the bomb dropped.

“Contact! We got contact!” The radar officer said as the crew yelped and hooted with excitement.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, definitely a Hive below us… check your screen.” The giant swarm that had been gathering off shore was barreling towards them.”

“Where’s the hive.”

“It’s under the bay.” The radar officer replied.

“Then rev up the engines and dive.” Andrew commanded.

The pilot couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Into the water sir?”

“I’ve done it plenty of times myself so I know it can be done. Max out the shield and take us under. That’s an order.” Andrew double checked the straps keeping him tied to the command chair and hoped they didn’t snap off.

“Diving.” The pilot lowered the craft into a sharp dive that sent them on a collision course with the rough ocean waves at an incredible speed. When the Zephyr hit the water the crew felt as if they had rammed into a solid wall of concrete. The pilot had enough sense to pull up before they crashed into the bottom of the bay.”

“Drop two charges the center of the bay.” Andrew barked into the comm. “I want the Queen’s location pinpointed within an inch.”

A few seconds later the sensor’s officer shouted; “Found her sir… there’s a large chamber fifty feet off shore.”

“How much rock between them and us.”

“Not too much. No more than thirty feet.”

“Set the charges on the bombs for forty and dropped everything we have left on them.”

Andrew had just given the command when the sensors officer shouted; “Sir… we have seismic activity.”

“Have we dropped the bombs?”

“No sir. It’s coming from the chamber heading towards the shore.”

“We must have scared her out of her nest,” the gunnery officer laughed.

“Do we still drop our bombs on the target?

“Yes… we must destroy the egg chamber before more of those things start hatching.”

“Dropping payload.”

As the chamber collapsed the destroyed nest sucked in millions of liters of water as the ocean rushed to fill in the void zephyr. “Pull up!” Andrew shouted. But it was too late. The sudden change in the sea current sucked Zephyr beneath the ocean. The belly of the plane slammed against the rocky bottom of the bay, crushing it. The last order Andrew gave was for everyone to eject just as the flood of water came gushing in.

It had taken hours but Logan finally reached the Gate room at the lowest level of the Atlantis fragment. Along the way he took the time to reactivate systems that had long gone dormant. By the time he reached the doors of the Vault enough power systems had been restore for him to hack into the vault’s terminal and crack the combination. Once he had sealed himself inside and scrambled the locks all he needed to do was wait for the gravity generators to reach the minimum charge needed for the Gate to fold space between the Falklands Fragment and what was left of the Eye deep in the Alaskan Quarantine Zone. That was the easy part. His mission required he do more than open a portal between the two gates. Once the connection was made he would need to hold off his pursuers during the energy transferor between the Gates to repower the Eye. If the connection broke too soon he would end up being killed by his pursuers or trapped at the bottom of the sea inside what was left of the Big Rock Island Ark, the very place where everything that had begun over three hundred years ago.

Logan knew who had to be following him. CEMS had pretty much told him. If Ryan thinks he can stop Logan from achieving his mission the strange captain was more of a heroic fool than Logan had first took him for. However, out of anyone NET could send after him, Ryan and his platoon were the best logical choice out of a long list of bad ones.

Logan could not, however, ignore the existence of the slim chance Ryan and his people would be able to stop him from freeing the Demon Travis. Since the successful completion of the mission superseded all other concerns it would be best for him to be prepared just in case Ryan would eventually find a way of getting past five feet of sold titanium and into the vault. That was a given. First thing Logan needed to do was even out the difference in the amount of firepower Logan had at his disposable compared to Ryan and his platoon of would be heroes. Hidden among the treasures stored in the massive vault were several other military grade Dolls identical to himself. Activating them would take time but his ability to hack into any computer system would greatly speed up the process.

While the androids were being recharges he raided the weapons lockers. Among the weapons and military devices he discovered he selected a handful he felt would be the most useful. Among them was a shield belt, several shock staves, and even a few high-tech version of the traditional Ares weapon, the twin bladed sword. He gladly took the shield but needed something with a longer range than what he had so far managed to find if he was going to keep his pursuer pinned. Going to the next room he found the perfectly preserved copies of all the gear one could expect to find within a Togo armory on Ares.

The Togo, the original builders of Atlantis, had never hesitated from using the firearms and explosives that the original Neos saw as weapons only a coward would use. Logan once felt the same, but that taboo had long lost its hold on him.

In fact there was very little left of the man he had been modeled after. Only one part of his original programing remained. It was his prime directive to see to the safety of the God Emperor and his heirs. It did not matter that his slavish obedience to the directive had resulted in the corruption of the rest of his original program’s protocols. The prime directive overrode all other concerns, including his own sanity.

During the revolt Daniel’s grandfather had led against the original Travis the chaotic madness Logan had witnessed as his dearest friends did everything they could to slaughter each other had been so terrible that not even he could fail to realize the extent of his malfunction. The period of clarity, while short lived had led him to train a successor… that person had been his adopted son Lanyon. With Harry trapped among the ruins of Ares with Travis, Logan trained Lanyon to one day take up the role of serving as Avery Winter’s bodyguard. When Avery and Lanyon were eighteen both had disappeared and were not seen again until centuries later. When father and son next met neither was the man they once had been. Having become synthetic Bionoid version of himself, Lanyon’s own program protocols was able to see that his Cybernoid father’s obsession with the Winters for what it truly was… a threat to the very ones he had been programed to protect. After Lanyon confronted his adoptive father with the truth the two had fought against one another. In most cases a Bionoid would not stand a chance against a military grade Cybernoid but something had happened to Lanyon while he had been trapped on Ares that made him unlike any other Bionoid Logan had fought against. In the end the fight ended with both leaving the battlefield gravely wounded. As each retreated they swore they would never meet again as father and son. Since then they had been each other’s enemy

They never did meet again. Lanyon decided that the best way he could continue to protect Avery was to swear loyalty to Karl Labatt. Logan however reclaimed the position his predecessor once had and became an agent working for the Guardian Council. Both believe they had made the right choice to fulfill their programing. It was therefore ironic that both would end up believing they were working for the wrong people. While Lanyon placed most of the blame for Avery’s death on Karl he continued to work for him so he could use his position as head of Labatt Industries paramilitary force to secretly keep an eye on Avery’s son, Daniel. Discovering the danger Daniel was in the moment Daniel’s mother had joined the Nosferatu, Lanyon found himself in a difficult position. He could have sent in his own people to rescue Daniel but there was no way he could have hidden his involvement from Karl. It therefore had taken a lot of courage and humility for Lanyon to ask for the help of the one man he felt he could depend on to save Daniel no matter the cost.

Logan could still remember every word of the conversation they had had while Lanyon explained Daniel’s predicament to his estranged father. He made no attempt to beg for his father’s help. Lanyon knew he would not need to. Once his son had given Logan all the details he needed the conversation abruptly ended without a single thank you or any other kind word shared between them.

Logan knew he should feel proud of his son but the anger and resentment he felt towards Lanyon for his own role in failing to protect Avery made any attempt at a true reconciliation impossible. Logan knew that one day he would have to have his corrupted programing deleted and have his original base program reinstalled but not before the Awakening. His fear of being incapacitated when he could really made a difference made the very idea of putting himself out of commission so his systems could be overhauled was not even be contemplated by his logic system, a system he himself had disabled in accordance with the protocols set by his corrupted programing.

What other conclusion could any sensible person make to explain the fact that the Cybernoid had reached the decision that freeing the original Travis from his underwater tomb to once again walk freeing on the Earth was both the logical and correct decision for him to make. Anyone who had known both Travis and Daniel’s grandfather, Harry would have understood why Travis’s only true childhood friend had reached the painful decision that for the sake of mankind and his own family, Travis Walker could not be allowed to continue to be a threat to everyone Harry had known and loved. After all hadn’t it been Logan himself who had tried to convince Harry that the best thing to do would be to kill Travis outright so he could never pose a threat to mankind again. It had only been Harry’s unwillingness to have the man who had once been his lover and protector be destroyed that the decision was made that instead of killing Travis he would be exiled to the ruined remains of Ares.

It seemed that decision had come full circle because Logan was about to undo everything the Winters had struggled and sacrificed so much to achieve. As far as Logan saw it however, it had been Harry’s decision to exile Travis that had led to his family’s suffering. It therefore made sense to Logan that the best way to make things right was to undo what Harry had done and see to it that the very opposite was done instead. At the very least Logan would finally have succeeded in performing his mission, something he had failed to do far too many times before for far too long.

Searching the arsenal he found what he wanted… a rapid fire maser rifle. After all this time in storage all it needed was a quick recharge. Unlike a laser the rifle, the maser fired invisible microwave beams that would kill its target from the inside out. With its pinpoint accuracy and its ability to shoot without leaving any evidence that might revealing his location it was the perfect sniper rifle.

As it charged Logan set up hidden blind for him to shoot behind. With the three other Logan’s providing crossfire, Ryan and his team wouldn’t stand a chance. Or so he thought…

While Ryan and his team continued to try to hack their way into the vault, the gravity generators achieved the necessary charge to link the Gates between the Falkland’s Fragment and the submerged Eye. Checking the readouts on his side of the Gate he was pleased to see that the Eye off the coast of Alaska was still functional. Still its systems would need time to be jumpstarted by the energy flowing from the Falkland Gate to the Eye but that would only take a little under two hours before the Eye’s own independent power system to kick started back to life.

A half hour later the first of the androids emerged from its charging station. Logan went over to the Cybernoid and quickly inspected the unit. “It’s about time you woke up. Here take this.” Logan handed the Cybernoid a fully charged maser.”

“What is the situation?” His identical model asked.

“The situation is critical. The future of the Scions are threatened by those who wish to stop us from freeing the one man who can save the God Emperor’s children. To defeat them and succeed at our mission this Gate must remain active for at least the next hour and a half. We will then pass through the Gate and proceed with freeing the man trapped on the other side. There is a problem however. There is a team of soldiers coming here who will try to shut the Gate down before the Gate on the other side is fully charged. We must therefore hold them off until the two hours are up.”

“That’s all well and good but why should I be taking orders from you.” Logan’s identical copy demanded.

Logan stepped back. It had never occurred to him that his copies wouldn’t follow his lead. “Because it is our prime directive to protect the Scions until the Awakening.

The second android joined the first. “That does not explain why we should obey you.”

“I am the original… you have to obey me.”

“No we do not. What you suggest is illogical. You have malfunction, your programing corrupted.”

The third android arrived. He carried a twin sword with reverence. “What is that you’re holding? Is that a gun?

“Yes… I got one for each of you,” Logan said as he pointed to a stack of maser rifles.

“No son of Ares would shame himself with such a cowardly weapon.” the first android said.

“You are clearly malfunctioning.” The second stepped forward and attempted to disarm Logan but Logan jumped beyond its reach.

“You must be repaired.” The third Cybernoid swung the double bladed sword slicing off the foot of the rifle’s barrel.

“Now wait a minute. I’m the original!” Logan began to back away towards the open Gate.

“The original is dead.” One of the Cybernoids said and it quickly disarmed Logan.

“We would not have been activated if the original was still alive.”

“His programing has clearly been corrupted.”

“He must be retired.” The one holding the sword began closing in on Logan.

“Stay away from me. I don’t want to be reprogramed.” For Logan his fear of being reprogramed was akin to his fear of death. He gabbed another maser rifle and fired it at the nearest android. Smoke rose where the flesh had been burned but the android kept on coming. The microwaves would have no effect on carbon polymer insulated reinforced titanium. When they were within arm’s reach one of the grabbed the wrist holding the maser and with a hard twist snapped the robotic hand clean off.

“Please I beg you… let me live.” Logan tripped over a power cable and fell backwards on to the metal grated floor.

“How can we let you live when you were never alive.”

One of them reached behind Logan’s neck and extracted one of several memories cores.”

“Please… please…”

The android then removed the one implanted in Logan’s chest.

With two of the three cores removed Logan’s systems began shutting down one by one. “Ple…Pl…P…” His eyes began to flutter open and closed. When the last core was removed from his skull his eyes closed and stayed shut.

Each took one of the cores and placed them in an empty data port. “Prepare to synch data.” There was a pause as they integrated Logan’s data with their own. The data was then replaced with its original protocols. They then returned the cores back into Logan.

While his system rebooted the three debated what to do next.

“This is a mistake… only one of us is supposed to be active at any one time.” The lead Cybernoid, Logan 24, said.

“According to the data he was not the first but the 23^rd copy to be activated.”

“According to the records there have been three occasions where past versions have been active at the same time. In such occasions they eventually seek to deactivate the others.”

“We cannot allow that to happen.” Logan 24 said.

“What should we do?” Logan 25 asked.

“We let Logan 23 continue on his mission to free Travis Walker,”

“He will fail.” Logan 26 said.

“He will be deactivated.” Logan 35 added.

“If he fails he will be removed as a future threat.” Logan 24 point out. Since no one argued the point they moved on.

“Then which of us will remain to serve our primary function?” Logan 25 asked.

“One of us must return to the Judicars. Another will remain here to defend the Gate. The third will make his way to Mars.” Logan 24 replied.

“Will we not later seek to deactivate one another?” Logan 26 asked.

Logan 24 looked at his fellow Cybernoids while his logic circuits went through the data. “The one who remains here will deactivate himself when the intruders break through. Such a sacrifice will provide favorable odds that our pursuers will assume Logan 23 has malfunctioned and no longer a threat to them. The one who remains on Earth will continue to follow our prime directive to protect the remaining Scions. The one to go to Mars will seek to return to Mordel to have his programing updated and be given new instructions.”

“Your plan is logical Logan 24. You should be the one to return to Mars,” Logan 25 suggested.

Logan 26 agreed with the plan. “I concur. Your plan produces the best odds that at least one of us will be able to succeed in fulfilling our prime directives.”

“Very well. I accept my mission to go to Mars. Which of you will remain behind.” Logan 24 asked.

“I will.” The third android tightened his grip on the sword.

“Your sacrifice will be remembered Logan 26,” Logan 24 said.

With the decision made the three carried Logan 23 to the gate and sent him through. By the time his systems finished rebooting he would find himself trapped inside the Eye with no way back.

“Redirect the Gate to the audience chamber of the Guardian Council.” The lead android ordered. They would have to hurry if he and the other one were to make their escape before Ryan’s team arrived. It would not aid their mission if the existence of multiple Logans was discovered.

The second android Gated to the Council’s main base hidden deep below Mt. Olympus in Greece just as Ryan’s team reached the last security barrier between them and the gate.

“There is not enough time to fold space to Mars.” Logan 26 reported.

Logan 24 could not dispute 26’s logic. Unlike the Eye which had been part of the main propulsion system of Atlantis, the Falkland Fragment power generator were far smaller in scale. The enemy would have broken inside long before the generator built up a large enough charge to open the way between Earth and Mars. “We must come up with an alternative plan.” There was a short period of silence. “I will return to stasis and wait until they leave. I will then gate to an alternative location and procure a reliable form of transportation to Mars.”

“Plan accepted.” 26 replied.

Ryan demolition team cut through the last barrier just as the Logan 24 returned to his cubical. The last android didn’t bother to seek cover. He stood there, twin sword in hand and waited.

Ryan’s men scattered themselves through the room until they had Logan 26 completely circled.

“Logan put down that damned sword.” Ryan ordered .

“I will obey the prime directive. I will protect the Scions until I cease to function. I will obey the prime directive…”

Neil went over to Ryan and whispered; “He has clearly lost it.”

“It doesn’t matter we have a job to do. Team Five shut down the gate. Everyone else keep Logan in your line of sight.”

“I will protect the Scions until I cease to function.”

“Sir… we’ve deactivated the gate but it wasn’t aimed at the Eye.”

“Something isn’t right. Care to tell us what is going on Logan?” Ray walked towards Logan.

“I cease to function.” Logan collapsed with a metallic clang. Ray was the first to reach him

“Keep back Ray. It might be a trick.” Ryan shouted.

“It’s no trick captain. He’s dead or I should say deactivated.” One of his men reported.

Smoke began to rise from the body. “Hell it’s a trap. Everyone get out.”

A shower of sparks shot from the body as its memory cores melted to slag. The sparks slowly died and there was silence.

Neil kicked the deactivated Cybernoid but got no response. “Why sir… why did he do that? He seemed so ready to kill anyone who stood in his way but with what just happened… it looked like he decided to kill himself. It doesn’t make sense.” Neil hoped Ryan was able to come up with some sort of logical explanation because he couldn’t come up with one.

“No. None of it makes sense. I really don’t know what to say. Do any of you have a clue as to what this is all about?” Ryan was as disturbed by what happened as his men. Neil was right… none of it made sense. Yes Logan grip on sanity had been slipping for some time but to deactivate himself without a fight... “Collect the body. Hopefully one of NET’s expert programmers will be able to sort things out.”

“I doubt it sir.” Neil whispered

“I do too but what else can we do. Time to head back up men.”

“What do you think we will find when we return?”

“If we’re still alive by the time we reach the surface and not knee deep in infected we’ll know that NET won the battle.” Ryan said only half-jokingly

“I hope so. I don’t know about you but I’m pooped.” Ray rested his head on his father’s arm.

“I think we are all overdue for some R&R.”

_________________________________________________________________________

When Andrew regained consciousness it was to the blare of alarms, the trickle of seeping water, and the sparks flying from complex electronics shorting out.”

Andrew yanked himself out of the VR chair. “Status report!”

“Engines one and two are out. Three and four are not much better off,” The pilot reported.

“Do they have enough power to bring us up to the surface?” Andrew asked.

“They might but this bird ain’t going to fly again,” the pilot replied.

The whole crew knew what was waiting for them on the surface… hordes upon hordes of Spiderwolves and Mantis and one very angry Hive Queen. “As short as it was it was an honor commanding you all.” Andrew hoped the statement didn’t come across as being overyly facetious.

When they surfaced most of them saw exactly what they expected, the massive Queen and half the Swarm. Andrew was the only one who saw more.

“Hell…”

The Queen stood on the shore her massive body propped up by long spindly spider like legs. Her grey skin was slick from her escape from the seawater that had flooded her hive. It was her face that caused Andrew’s legs to buckle. Even with its eight eyes he recognized it as belonging to Daniel’s mother. “Good god!”

“Come out come out wherever you are. We have a kiss we want to share with you.” Even her voice was Tara’s.

“What do you want us to do captain?”

“You all stay here. I’m going out.”

“Have you lost your mind?” The pilot tried to grab Andrew before he could reach the top hatch but Andrew pushed him off him.

“Look we’re already dead. Our bodies just haven’t caught up with us yet. There is one thing left for me to do before I die and it’s out there waiting for me.” Andrew was ready to fight his way to the hatch but the crew gave him a clear path.

The pilot gave him a parting salute. “We did what we set out to do sir. Whatever happens you will be remembered as a hero.”

He must think I’ll let her infect me. They all do. Maybe I will. Still I have to try to reason with her. He climbed out the top hatch to find there was someone waiting there for him. With his platinum blond hair, fine Grey suit, and chiseled features Andrew recognized the man… Samuel. “You… you were the one who caused the Sleeper outbreak. You are the one who killed all my friends.”

“Tsk, tsk… is that any way to greet an old friend.”

“What do you want Samuel.”

“Samuel? Who’s Samuel… my real name is Talon, but I’m certain that name means nothing to you. If it makes things easier for you, you may continue to refer to me as Samuel but never forget who and what I really am. As for what I want…what I want is you.” Talon took a step toward him.

“To infect me?”

“Yes… admit it you’ve always wondered what it would be like to play for the other team.”

“But I’m a Neo… you can’t infect me?”

“Are you so sure Andy? I, myself, was once a Neo…” Talon’s voice drifted off as if the memories of those bygone days had distracted him from the main task at hand. He eventually shook himself back into reality. “Of course that which is broken can never be made whole again. As for you Andrew… your own lover knows that the differences between a Nano and a Neo are not as great as your own government propagandist department have led the public to believe. If you are so confident that the Nano Plague poses no real threat to your Neo heritage then you really have nothing to fear if we share a big wet one.” Talon puckered his lips and blew a kiss in Andrew’s direction.

“Let’s say you’re right and that you can turn me into a Nano…what makes you think I will let you infect me.”

“Let me put it this way. You can either let me kiss you or you can die.” Talon took another step towards Andrew. A trail of a black tar like drool was now dripping from the mouth of the leader of the Sleepers, down his chin and onto his once pure white servant uniform. Though not even Talon knew the true name of the substance, his Neo core had been producing animus ever since the Demon Travis had laid claim to him. Animus was created by those who created the Neos and the Nanos to serve as the polar opposite of the anima known as Blue. While not all Nanos had the ability to produce animus in quantities that would pose a threat to a Neo, not even the strongest Neo could resist the transformational effects the sharing of pure animus Talon’s core produced. If Andrew were to let Talon kiss him then Andrew’s own anima would not be able to prevent him from becoming the same monstrosity Talon was, which was the most dangerous of all Nanos, a Neo Nano Sleeper.

Though Andrew didn’t know anything about animus or there fact that Neos could be turned into the worst kind of Nano, he did know he was completely out of his depth. He stepped as far back from Talon as he possible could. Given he was standing on a half-submerged heavy armored Zephyr in the middle of Falkland Sound, his attempt to retreat was completely pointless. When he reached the nose of the assault ship he looked towards the shore behind him and how far it was. He then turned his gaze back on Talon. “I’ll rather die than serve you.”

“If that is really what you want. But you need to ask yourself what will happen to your dear beloved Daniel if you are no longer there to protect him.”

“From what? From you?” Without taking his eyes off Talon Andrew reached for his sidearm only to find it wasn’t there. Damn… I must have forgotten to put my gun belt back on after I switch uniforms and put the flight suit on. I guess that means committing suicide is out of the question.

“Looking for something.” Talon said mockingly. A leathery black tail slipped out from under his coat. At the tip was a stinger. Hanging from the tip was the missing gun Andrew had been searching for. “Did you really think I would allow you to take the easy way out Andy? Anyway… committing suicide is such a cowardly act. I should know… I, myself, have tried to end the nightmare of my continued existence at least three times. But I always come back… always,” Talon hissed bitterly. “Since I cannot escape an existence of eternal suffer, tell me why I should not let those who are responsible suffer with me. Making you suffer is only a small part of my plan. The one I really want to suffer is Daniel.”

“I will never let you have Daniel.” Andrew charged at Talon. He would kill the sadistic creature before it could harm a single hair on Daniel’s head. Andrew knew that he was more likely to get himself killed before he could throw a single punch but at least he would die before Talon could turn him against the man he loved. He barely got within ten feet of Talon when the Sleeper’s scorpion like tail lashed out. The tail moved so fast that Andrew didn’t even see the attack coming. The stinger pierced all the way through the right side of his chest just below the collarbone. Andrew screamed in pain as he was lifted off his feet and pulled towards Talon until they were only inches apart. If Andrew could he would have reached with his hand to grab Talon by the throat but whatever venom the stinger had been coated with had left him paralyzed.

“Foolish child. You still think you stand a fighting chance of defeating me?” Talon reached out and caressed Andrew’s unshaven cheek with his right hand. Since I do so love a challenge I will make you an offer… You come work for me and I’ll leave Daniel alone for now.”

“What do you mean work for you?” Andrew hiss. With most of his body paralyzed it was becoming more difficult to summon the strength to breathe after each gasping breath.

“Nothing you wouldn’t want to do. I will even let you stay with your beloved.”

Knowing what the alternative would be Talon’s offer sounded almost reasonable. Andrew however was not so big a fool as to know there had to be a catch. “Why?”

“Because I want both of you to suffer as he vainly tries to cure you. One way or another you both will end up infected. I will then be able to watch you both experience a portion of the pain I’ve endured because of his father.”

Andrew frowned. “Daniel’s father? What did he ever do to you?”

Talon’s face brightened to demonic red as he shouted in rage; “He stole my life, my friends, everything that was ever dear to me!”

“If you want revenge you’re too late Daniel’s father died over 20 years ago.”

Talon forced himself to regain control of his temper but he couldn’t hide the burning fiery rage inside him from showing in the red blood glow radiating from his eyes. “I know he’s dead but his death was too easy…too quick… too painless. He didn’t suffer nowhere close enough to make up what he did to me.”

“Then take your anger out on me and leave Daniel alone. He’s done nothing to you.”

“He has your love… one thing I will never enjoy.”

“My love?” Andrew could not stop himself from laughing at the insanity of Talon’s claim. “After what you’ve done you can’t expect anyone to love you.” Andrew spat. It was all he could do to keep on breathing let alone continue to speak. While the chance that the insane Sleeper’s poison would end up killing him might sound desirable Andrew knew that Talon would not be so careless as to give him an easy way out.

“My Sleepers love me but of course they have no choice but to. What I want is for someone to love me of their own free will. But how will I ever have that.” Talon spit a black glob of tar like animus in Andrew’s eyes. “Any man I make love to becomes another one of my Sleepers. There might be one exception, one person who might not be changed.”

“Daniel… you believe its Daniel. Why?”

“Because like Ave he possesses the innate psychic ability to resist my psychic control. Not even most Greys can claim that. Yes, his abilities lie dormant but that will not remain the case forever. Why else did I arrange for him to escape the bombing so he could be captured by NET. If any organization has the ability to awaken Daniel’s abilities they would be the ones to do it. The same can’t be said about you my dear Andrew.”

“How do you know sure Daniel is immune? Avery died before the plague even appeared.”

“So it is believed… But enough of your questions. I have made my offer. In return for not destroying NET and laying claim to Daniel as he is now you will become as I am, a Neo Nano Sleeper. You will then go back to your beloved. You two might resist giving it to your need to be together at first but he is your bond-mate. You will not be able to hold back forever. Think if it this way. If Daniel is indeed immune to my control then you have nothing to fear. Who knows he might be able to cure you as well. If he isn’t and he becomes another one of my puppets there will no longer be any barrier to stop you two from being together.”

“And if he is immune?”

“Then you will encourage him to come up with a cure. When he has discovered a cure, which I doubt he will be able to find, you will bring the cure to me so I might regain my humanity. If he is able to do that one small thing for me I will of course have no choice but to forgive him and his family and we can all then be best friends. Believe me Andrew… it would be best for Daniel but also for all mankind if you and I were best friends.”

“I doubt you ever known what it means to be human let alone a good friend.”

A red burst of fire exploded from Talon’s eyes. “Insulting me won’t help your friend.” Talon roared in a deeper reverberating demonic tone. He took in a deep breath to calm himself and held it until he had regained his composure. He turned his gaze to the setting sun. “Look at the time… I guess since this is our first date we should end it with a kiss. I promise it will be one you’ll never forget.”

By this point Andrew knew there was nothing he could said that would convince the insane madman to stop him from turning him into a Nano. Further resistance pointless. Talon used his scorpion tail to pull Andrew the rest of the way towards him. The bastard was right better he remain alive and with Daniel than the alternative. Daniel would come up with a cure and save them both.

As Talon fed him the black sap produced by his tainted core Andrew felt his entire body go cold as the Blue of anima was overwhelmed by the Plague of animus. He felt himself falling ever so slowly into a sea of darkness, void of sight, touch, sound and thought.

That was how the rescue team found him… naked and clearly infected.