Atrea'Dune: The Awakening

" Break time's up, we should get back, Karine," he mumbled quietly so she wouldn't feel as if he'd simply shoved her off.  She leaned back and nodded, composing herself after a short amount of spilling her worries onto Kineno, "You're right, let's go back, and see if we persuaded them or not."  With that they departed, back into the council room, first Kineno, a minute or two later Karine came back inside and stood at her place at the table, her opposite side to her partner.  The members of the Committee returned to the council room in short order after that, first the researchers and mystics, then the council chairpersons.  "Now that we've had a chance to look over your proposal, we'd like your opinion on the best way to utilize the available gene pool at our disposal, Dr. Porale, what's your opinion on the possibilities of your two units?" inquired the mustached antagonist from earlier, although now he seemed quite interested in what she had to say.


"What we have available, as in inside this Committee, or in the whole of Atrea'Dune, Chairman?" she inquired, amber hues focused on the aging green eyes watching her every movement for some sign of faulting in her body language. "I'll allow you to answer that question for me, I do not believe it requires me to answer such an inquiry." Karine wasn't visibly frustrated, but anyone with half a minutia of sense would be at the very least annoyed by this man's constant put downs of intelligence of anyone in this room. Brightest in their fields, had all brought to the table a project of their own, and he'd shot everyone of them down the same way, skepticism; over their head insults, and just general distaste for the new ideas being proposed by such young members of the scientific and mystic communities respectively.  "If that's the case, I believe even here inside this particular council room; we have the necessary genes to create a perfect soldier and espionage agent, and then mass produce them," she said, before continuing, not allowing him room to throw her off balance, "Bare with me, but the genes themselves will be manipulated somewhat to create a more uniform look, the first generation will be a test run. A test run to determine the general aptitude and longevity of our project."


With those words the chairman sat back in his large reclining chair; the screen in front of him flickered with the smaller details of the project- he was screening for something, checking to see of something else he could point out, a hole in her plan.  When he was clearly defeated, he sat back again, and let his arms rest easily on his chair's armrest, giving his colleagues the signal that he'd conceded that her idea was more than applicable. "Alright, I see that I can find no further fault with this plan, and I will put it too a vote, All those in favor of continuing with this plan, indicate on the panels in front of you; the blue tab. Those opposed the Red tab." His own hand slid down onto the blue plate in front of him as the light indicator in front of him reflected his favor of the project going forward.  The light indicators continued to light up blue, with only a few hold outs, if nothing more than petty feelings of their rivalries getting in their way from agreeing with this plan.  


"Very well then, Dr Porale, Professor Verine, I assume you two will be spear heading this project?" the chairman addressed the silver-haired Kineno once again, who responded by standing and confirming with a simple nod of his head in the direction of the chairperson. "I understand, I'll report this to the high command, the Laboratory will be open to you, and every person here, with the exception of the council tribune will be appointed to the project effective immediately." His voice boomed slightly louder than before; sighs of relief and stammered and humiliated noises could be heard below his voice from various people in the large council room. "All members of the council will be responsible for giving their genetic material samples promptly one week from this very night. Dr Porale, Professor Verine, this goes for you as well, of course, that goes without saying." He indicated to them rather promptly as well, as if they had planned on not submitting their own DNA Samples.  They responded with simple nods and salutes, "We understand, Chairman Olicnov," Kineno responded in kind, before excusing himself from the table and council room ahead of everyone else.  His black labcoat fluttering in the breeze created by his movement as he vanished out the door and into the dark hallway, leaving those behind him staring out the door confused.  


Four months passed after that night, and what a long night it had been for many members of the council and committee; the provision had been passed, and after Professor Verine had departed, a sizeable budget had been set aside.  The laboratory was crowded that evening, the first of the two clones would have awakened; A Male, with black hair had been created, and had been in stasis for three or so months as his body developed and reacted to various tests.  He responded to a resonance test of the Dark Crystal, leading to the development of the theory that these super soldiers could be augmented by granting them shards of the Crystal Being itself.  The Council Members showed themselves at the laboratory floor that evening, dressed promptly, and in attendance with the current Marlord, Vincent O'nuren. Kineno and Karine appeared on the scene from the control module above the tank floors, where the artificials were being held.  


As Karine entered the room, she was greeted by her assistants and colleagues, as well as Marlord O'nuren, personally addressing her as she approached the tube where the progenitor was stored, "Dr Porale, it's been a short four months since we began this project. In four months, you and your associates managed to not only to pick the best possible sequences from the genetic material you had, but also produce the first of our new soldiers. You should be proud of yourself, this is quite an achievement."


The slightly taller than average man extended his hand to Karine in congratulations as Kineno entered the room from the control desk upstairs.  "Thank you, Marlord, it's an honor for you to be here with us this evening," she took his hand firmly, and gave it a good shake before letting it go and turning her molten gaze up toward her partner who was leaning on the rafter – unlike her, still dressed for work.  A black laboratory coat, slacks, shirt and non-slip soled shoes, and always the odd man out, so to speak, "Go ahead, Professor Verine, please, throw the switch; let's show them that we have done what we promised we would do!" she shouted up at him. As the glances turned to where Kineno had been, he vanished into the control room from whence he'd come. The loud speaker came on with a slight bit of feedback, "Alright, everyone stand back from the tank, should anything go wrong, we don't want anyone getting hurt." He replies as his fingers slid away from the com button and his fingers moved over the module infront of him and began the start up sequence.   "Vitals, Brain Waves, Heart monitor, all green. Beginning startup sequence," the computer responded to him in an even neutral gender tone.

A small arm descended from the roof of the large room the others were in, with a small hand clasping a shard of the Dark Crystal. The shard was placed into a conductor setting on the tank, and it began to crackle, resonate, and shine as the tank's liquid began to do the same thing.  The body inside, now visible, began to resonate subtly, the figure's hair began to change colors – from black to white, and some stirring was seen as the body's fingers slowly began to curl up into limp fists.  Its lips moved ever so slightly, as did its toes, the form itself was thin, perhaps shy of six feet by only an inch, carved correctly in an athletic mold for the purpose of combat.  Complexion; pale, almost ghostly so, much to the shock and awe of everyone but the engineer up in the control booth, who had seen his creation's appearance, long before many of the others had.  Suddenly the tube began tilting back at a slight angle, which turned into a sixty degree angle shortly there after, and the safety locks on the tube disengaged themselves with precise baring, the hissing of oxygen escaping was heard as a small portion of the tube opened.

"…" the entire room was silent, bated breath was held as the figure's eyelids twitched slowly, then the sound of breathing was heard from its nose and lips as those thin lips parted to draw in a breath, its eyes opened. Behind those eyelids, were brilliant binary-colored eyes, a deep ocean blue, and a molten amber hue. A soft whisper was heard, more like a muffled question, a source of confusion? Surely, he'd just been born, and certainly judging by the appearance, and other choice details, it was clearly a male. "I give you, Dark Knight Project Number Zero. The Savior of our world, created by our hands," Kineno's voice rang out over the loud speaker as he left his control desk in a hurried fashion, disabling the intercom. He slid out the door and literally cleared the railing in a hurried jump down the ten foot drop to the floor, landing with a somewhat loud thud, he joined the group.  He took his place by Karine Porale, and waited for their responses to the awakening of the first "Dark Knight", and by proxy, more than he could ever know, the dawning of a new Era.  The engineered being moved his hands gingerly to the confining edges of his test-tube, and pulled himself out, not at all bothered by his nudity, although some of the others seemed a little more self conscious for him.  His eyes were alight with an intelligent glow, he seemed to want to say something, or ask a question. Indeed, he did postulate something, intelligible, "Wha?" was all he managed before he was nearly swarmed by automated guard units.  

Someone had ordered the drones to attack as soon as the tube was opened and it was clear whatever was in there was able to perceive the things around him. The being's reflexes immediately kicked in to the perceived threat, and his hands came to fists in front of his body; prepared to defend his person, all the while getting some space between himself and his would-be assailants.  They were unarmed aside from various melee weapons, no long range ones; whoever ordered this test wasn't attempting to get everyone else killed in the process.  The drones, ten in all advanced on the figure's position with frightening speed, only to have the first of their number sent reeling back with a full force blow from the construct's balled fist.  The drone in question had literally had a hole punched into its chest, still operating, but barely functioning it fell to the floor and was disarmed immediately by its target.  

The construct wretched a large-handled bladed weapon from the drone's grasp and turned on his attackers with a flat expression. The weapon in question had to weigh at least several pounds, perhaps about sixty, or even seventy, at least now he was armed, and somewhat able to defend himself without engaging in close quarters combat versus mechanical assailants.  He looked over the remaining nine, and chose his targets carefully, ripping the head off of the one he'd disabled a moment earlier, he threw the piece of scrap into the head of another, with enough force to sever its head as well, rendering it inoperable.  With his right hand, he hefted the unwieldy weapon up and brought it broad side into two of the remaining drones, sending them hurtling into the floor and a tangled mess of wires and scrap.  One of the drones unleashed a nasty club toward him, which those in attendance thought would put him down for good – it connected, with a clank, a piece of metal? Yes, the construct had side stepped his assailant's maneuver and put one of its allies behind is own person, as opposed to in front of himself.  

"Impressive battle tactics for being fresh out of the womb, so to speak, Miss Karine, and Professor Verine" the Marlord mentioned to the two researchers as the demonstration of the construct's power continued without stopping.  "Number Zero, Behind you!" one of the other research assistants called out as two of the remaining drones charged the Zero number; only to be impaled by the weapon that number Zero had taken from a fallen enemy, and rammed by the club object he had stolen from the other drone that had clubbed another drone with. "Two," the construct mumbled loud enough, counting his adversaries as they fell before his might.  "He can already count?" some of the others voiced their observations of his brain functions as he hefted the sword, if you could call it that, above his head and brought it down on one of the remaining two drones – bisecting it vertically, then slamming it diagonally into the other one, and performing a similar maneuver on it.   "Threat… neutralized," he mumbled again before discarding the weapon into the remains of the two he'd broadsided with it- the sickening clank as it cut through them without even so much as resistance.  

"That was incredible, such strength, such power, and even able to make tactical decisions based on the enemy's equipment variations.  I'm impressed with this one," the Marlord rained praise down on the research team, the Zero Number, as it was called then, had performed perfectly; later the team would find out that the Marlord himself had called for such a test of the construct's abilities from the very beginning, and not informed the staff of his decisions which left them in somewhat an odd position.  


Shortly after that, the creation of the Female prototype began, while this genetic pool was much wider, it was also extremely specific – looking for the correct genes to create a perfect espionage agent, and the base for more would be difficult.  During this time, the Zero Number was educated, and a more apt given name was chosen for him, 'Ze', and a Surname, 'Fallsmeyer', was his designation, and fitting, that the original should have a name. Ze was immersed in society, and taught the basics of advanced military operation, groomed, so to speak, to command the prospective legions of Dark Knight clones that would surely follow and become soldiers like he was to become…