The No Longer Human Prologue In a future not too far from our present, a new minority group was formed. Created by the massive amounts of nuclear radiation being let out from our new energy source, they call themselves the NLH, or No Longer Human. Developing abilities far beyond what anyone thought normal humans can do, they have been deemed freaks, and have been labeled dangerous, a diseased people that have to be exterminated before they overtake all mankind. That’s around when planet Earth turned to Planet Hell. After 5 years of fighting, it was evident that the NLH were losing, for despite their fantastic abilities, they could not withstand all of humanity, massed against them. Finally, one particular NLH named The Protector did something that made us pretty much untouchable. He created a dome, 100 miles wide that no human could pass through. However there was a catch. Once inside, no NLH could leave. This action killed The Protector, but saved the last 500 of us left in the world, all of us under the age of 18. What else we found is that under the dome, we did not age, but at the same time we could not reproduce. It was peaceful, we had enough food thanks to the “veggies” or those who had a talent for growing plants, and if we needed water, the “weather vanes” would have it rain. We developed a Utopia, or so we thought. Then a guy who called himself “Avenger” showed up. He began to rally the NLHs to break through the dome and take revenge on the race that had abandoned us. This caused utter chaos. Fighting broke out, and everyone took a side. Everyone but me of course. That’s when we found out the second great secret. No one could die under the dome. Nobody actually even needed to eat or drink, and no one could be murdered. 4 others and I have been hiding inside the hotel complex at the exact center of the dome. We all hide a great secret, a secret that could send war rally into an utter frenzy. If anyone found out, this would mean the end of our once peaceful existence.
Chapter One Aynia With low thud, my brother Esh flew through the window and landed on the floor, breathing hard. I immediately jumped up from the floor where I had been meditating. “What’s wrong?!?” I shouted, noticing that there was blood spattering to the floor. Esh groaned and leaned against a wall. “I got caught.” He groaned “You WHAT!” shouted Utho, Irian, and Delmare, running into the room at the same time. We exchanged a glance. Being twins, our minds were telepathically connected. I quickly read through the memory he sent. “One of Avenger’s assassins caught him.” I said curtly, “Name of… Blade.” “Abilities?” Iriana questioned, her violet eyes worried. Thankfully both me and my brother could read someone’s nuclear aura, and tell what type of ability they had, even before they knew they had it sometimes. It came in handy in times like these. “Increased physical abilities, speed and aim. He also is unnaturally quiet, but nothing we haven’t seen before.” I replied. “Age, race, appearance?” “No idea, he always wears a hood. Prepare for battle.” Delmare and Utho both nodded. We had been prepared for this day thankfully. Utho shrank down to about an inch tall, ready to jump the enemy. Delmare just readied his water powers. Esh was always the coolest to watch. He had long sharp pieces of metal burst out of his knuckles that were retractable, and could be shot like small daggers. They would come out of his hands one at a time like a wave, and he would always hold his hands up right in his face so he could see them come. Irian and I merely stood in a corner. I was not the fighter, I was the interrogator. Iriana’s power was useless in this battle as well. She was a power booster, with the ability to control and overlode anything technological. We didn’t want her to destroy our electricity, so she didn’t get to do much fighting . We all stood ready and not a moment too soon. With a yell, a dark hooded assassin burst through the open window and jumped at me. Utho grew up to full size in a millisecond, grabbed him by the scruff of his hood and slammed him against the wall. Esh shot two finger daggers (as I called them) at the boy, where they went through his clothes and pinned him to the wall. “Who are you!” Blade shouted at us, his voice high. Definetely a boy, probably no older than 15. I quietly stepped out of my corner, and walked over to where Blade was pinned against the wall. As I prepared to enter Blade’s mind, I noticed Esh stand by the window, just in case there were more of them. “You read my mind,” I said with a smile. He rolled his eyes. “Yes I actually did.” Then I pulled down the hood obscuring his face and looked into the icy blue eyes of a 13 year old boy. “Whoa!” I said in surprise, “You’re a little young aren’t you?” “And your kind is the reason that people can believe we aren’t human.” He growled. I sighed, brushing my white hair out of my face. It was true. Both Esh and I had a pulsing bright colorful tattoo framing one side of our face. It had been there ever since I could remember, but it had started pulsing with color when I had discovered my freak abilities. “Well,” said Utho coolly, breaking me out of my reverie, “since you attacked us, Aynia here is going to pick your brain for information.” “I have a mental barrier, you can’t get through it.” He scoffed “We’ll see about that.” I said with a confident smile Now Blade looked a little scared. But only for a moment. I put both hands on top of his head, and concentrated. He did have a mental barrier, blocking me from his thoughts and memories, and a good one at that. However, that was no match for my unique abilities. I opened a small hole in the barrier, and began to investigate. It didn’t take long, he had had a pretty average life for an NLH. Thankfully, he hadn’t seen Esh’s face, so his identity was safe for now. I quickly ripped out all memories of us in his brain. Once I was done, I turned to Delmare and said, “Tie him up. We have a package to deliver.”
Chapter 2 Irian It is quite astonishing how bad things can get worse so fast. The pro war and anti war were having battles on a regular basis now, and since their territories crossed right in the middle, we normally had a good view of them. It had only been about 5 weeks since Avenger started rallying the troops. Despite the fact that we had been in hiding for about 4 weeks, I decided that I would accompany Utho and Delmare to deliver the unconscious Blade back where he belonged. This would blow my cover, but to be honest, I was as tired of hiding as everyone else. The only people who had been hiding longer than me were Aynia and Esh. Aynia hadn’t even been outside for 5 weeks, so I wasn’t able to complain. As we walked through the main street that went through the center of camp, we heard whispers begin to surround us. “Who’s that girl? I don’t remember seeing her around and trust me, I would remember seeing her around.” “Oh my god is that Blade? How did they catch him, he’s one of the best stealth assassins we have!” We continued walking, knowing someone would have to respond to us sooner or later. Then finally, someone did. “Where do you think you’re going?” An older teenage girl snapped running up to us, her black hair flying wildly around her face. “We merely came to return what has been sent to us.” Delmare said calmly as Utho dropped the boy at her feet. I saw the girl look at Blade, and something flashed in her eyes. Worry? Protectiveness? Then it was gone. “You realize you just took out a soldier of the NLH.” She said coldly “You realize he attacked us?” I questioned. “You’re lucky we didn’t beat him up.” “Much.” Utho added with a grin. The girl sighed, then frowned. “You best be going.” She snapped, “before someone less nice comes to forcibly remove you. I bowed and spun on my heel and began to walk back.
Chapter 3 Aynia After Irian and the others left, it was just me and Esh left to “hold the fort” not that anyone would want this dilapidated old place. Because it was on the border, it got a lot of damage. “Do you really think that was a good idea?” Esh commented as we watched their progress through the crowd of pro wars from the window. I sighed. As always he was voicing the doubts that I was trying to ignore. “I don’t know. But this is their first chance outside since… well, since this whole war frenzy started. You’re lucky that you get to do espionage.” “I know.” Then, I felt something. Something rippled in the fabric of our world. I jumped to my feet. “Did you feel that?!?” “No…” Esh jumped up and looked towards the window. “I don’t see anything,” He said turning back to me. “No not out there! Well yes out there but not out there out there.” I sighed, extremely irritated. I couldn’t seem to put my feelings into words. “I think…” Esh said slowly, “It’s time for you to go outside.”
Chapter 4 Aynia “You really think it will be safe?” I said quietly. He snorted, “Hardly. But you need to find the source of this disturbance. If it’s what I think it is, we need to find it fast.” “What do you think it is?” I questioned him, surprised he would have figured out an answer so fast. He didn’t reply and blocked his mind from me, so I took that as my cue to get going. The sunlight on my face was blinding and hot. The smell of fresh air was like a hammer in my face. Worst of all, after 5 weeks of little sound, my ears had trained themselves to hear the smallest drop of a pin. I could hear the sounds of fighting, though they couldn’t have been very close. Each individual scream filled me with terror and a sort of dread that made me so thankful that I had gone into hiding. Had I revealed my secret, the fighting would be ten times as worse and me in the middle of it. Once I managed to block out this bombardment of the senses, I followed my mutated intuition until I came right to the edge of the barrier. Lying on the ground right next to where the barrier started was a boy. His blue skin gleamed in the sunlight, a dead giveaway that he was a NLH, but there were cuts and bruises all over his body that signaled to me that he had been in a fight, a bad one. His scruffy brown hair covered his eyes, and he appeared to be unconscious. Fighting wasn’t unusual in the dome nowadays, so why was he the cause of the entire disturbance? With a gasp he woke up, startling me and Esh. He looked around, his blood red eyes frightened. Then they fastened themselves on us. “W-w-who are you.” he whispered, his voice hoarse. “I’m Aynia, and this is Esh,” I said slowly, still trying to comprehend why he was such a disturbance, “Who are you?” “I’m Dylan.” He said cautiously. Esh gasped quietly beside me. “What!” Dylan snapped, “What’s wrong?!?” “Dylan,” I breathed, “his name is Dylan.” “You guys are really creeping me out here.” He said with a nervous laugh. “What’s wrong with the name Dylan?” “It’s a human name.” I explained, “It means that you’re new here. It means you just came through the dome, the first to do that for about 3 years.”
Chapter 5 Aynia Dylan, Esh and I were now walking back to HQ while we explained the situation to him. “I think I’ll stay neutral right now,” he told us, “if you don’t mind, can I hang with you guys?” Esh and I exchanged a glance. “That should be fine.” Esh replied, “We just have to run it by the others.” “But right now I have a more important question for you,” I said addressing Dylan, “How many more NLHs are there left out there and how come you waited so long to come here?” Dylan sighed, his red eyes sad. “There are about a hundred of us left out there. We’re being persecuted. We can only live in certain areas, and we have to be on a government file. If any mutant is found outside of the specific living arrangements, they are usually drugged and brought to the MCA. I was chased from where I was living, and have been living it rough for around five or ten years. The reason that I didn’t come sooner is because the dome is surrounded by a base, called the Mutant Containment Area or the MCA. Any mutant caught trying to enter the dome is killed on sight. I got lucky. I was captured and I was brought to the MCA to be tested on along with my brother Matt. Just yesterday, they brought me on the viewing deck, which is the deck in which the dome is watched at all times. They do that to us as a morale breaker. Like a “So close but yet so far,” kind of deal. I managed to break free of my chains and made a run for the dome.” “And Matt?” I prompted “I have no idea.” He replied sadly, “He didn’t have as obvious as a mutation as I do. My arms can turn into anything I want while he just had increased reflexes and hand eye coordination. We were separated almost from the start.” In front of us, Esh froze. “This has been a nice little chat.” Esh whispered, “But it’s time to hide. The battle approaches.”
Chapter 6 Aynia We hid in the shadows of a large building as we watched the two sides line up. There were only six people against around 20. “This isn’t going to be a battle,” I heard Dylan mutter; “It’s a slaughter.” “Don’t be so sure,” I murmured back. “Not all abilities are made to fight. The battle could go either way.” “So this really is a town of mutants.” Dylan muttered I cocked an eyebrow at him. “Sorry,” He muttered, “I’m just having a hard time believing it.” “Shhh!” Esh hissed, “They’re starting to talk!” The obvious leader of the six stepped up to face his attackers. He was tall and muscled, with pure white hair and light blue eyes that reflected the sky above him. “What do you want?” He snapped angrily, his voice light and airy, “Hotel line is neutral ground we’re not invading. We aren’t always looking for a fight.” A teenage girl, obviously one of the oldest in the dome twitched her cat ears and snorted. “Yeah Luke we’re not afraid of a fight. You love humans so much, you even took their name.” “Hey!” Someone muttered behind me, “that’s the girl that took Blade from us, right Utho?” Recognizing Delmare’s voice, I grabbed Dylan’s arm before he could put a bullet through his head. “Whoa there, this is Delmare, and Utho. They’re friends. Speaking of friends; where’s Irian?” “Resting, she didn’t feel so good.” I nodded and returned my attention to the standoff. The girl was still talking, her tail twitching. “… and we’re going to do exactly that. We’re not COWARDS.” A scarred boy standing behind Luke growled deep in his throat. “We’re not cowards, we just aren’t ready for war. They have an entire base surrounding us that we can’t see!” Dylan gasped, “That’s my brother! Matt!” Thankfully he remained where he was. “Mitorr is right,” A beautiful girl added, standing to Luke’s right, “It’s foolish to march blindly into battle.” She pulled her sunglasses down to show off her emerald green eyes. “Marching blindly is better than not marching at all Cass!” Another boy stated coldly, his black and red skin pulsing in the sunlight. “We can take them, they’re only human.” “Well Dut,” the girl replied sarcastically rolling her eyes, “we can die outside of the dome. Not all of us can regenerate. Plus we don’t know what kind of weapons they have. We haven’t gotten a new NLH since Mitorr came through.” “Like this?” Dut said with a cold smile. There was an enormous explosion that sent the six antis flying backwards. Luke was the first to rise, his blue eyes murderous. “Geb!” He snapped, “Some sand please.” A small boy with dark blond hair nodded and raised his hands. Luke raised his as well and pushed them forwards as if punching the air. A huge sandstorm rose up and blocked the pro wars from view. Despite the roaring of the wind, you could still hear the screams. As soon as the storm subsided, Cass sent fireballs into the blind pro wars’ ranks, her eyes turning as red as Dylan’s. A white wolf leaped and took down another. Arrows sprouted from the chests of another two or three, causing them to fall back gasping. The girl who fired them grinned, her teeth and ears pointed as she slapped hands with Geb. Luke continued to pound them with bursts of air and Geb made the ground underneath them soft and sandy so it was hard to maneuver. The battle was pretty much over before it started. The pros took off running, and while the antis were celebrating we made our quiet exit. As soon as we were back in relative safety, we started laughing and discussing the fight. We all sat down in the living room of sorts except for Utho who went to get a glass of water. Then we heard him yell. “Aynia! Get in here!” I ran inside to find Irian lying on the floor in a pool of blood. “Oh ****,” I muttered
Chapter 7 Irian I heard Utho yelling for Aynia, and I heard her entrance, but I could do no more than whimper as she bent down to check if I was still awake. Her pulsing tattoo was insanely bright, and it didn’t help that it reflected off of her white hair. “Still conscious,” I heard her confirm. Utho in the meantime shrunk down to about a foot high so he didn’t have to lean over me. “What happened,” He whispered his red face still looming over me despite his small stature. “I got dizzy. I tripped,” I muttered, “I also happened to be holding a kitchen knife.” I heard his sharp intake of breath. “What a bad time to be clumsy eh?” I uttered a choked laugh and was shocked to find myself coughing up blood. “Pull the knife out,” Aynia commanded Utho tersely, “As soon as the obstruction is gone, it should heal itself.” Utho looked at me, concerned that it might not work, but after a moment of careful thought reached down and gently pulled the knife out of my stomach. Despite his attempt at making it as painless as possible, it still was excruciatingly painful. I shrieked, sounding like some sort of deranged bird. However Aynia was right. She always seemed to know the limits of the dome better than anyone else, even her brother Esh. My wound healed over the course of five minutes, vanishing without a trace. Even the blood on the floor seemed to disappear after a while. I collapsed into Utho’s arms, sobbing until I noticed Esh looking at me weirdly. I immediately stopped crying and got up, my face burning, with embarrassment. I looked behind me at a boy standing in the doorway appearing confused and awkward at the previous scene. “So,” I said turning smoothly to Aynia trying to act calm, “I think it’s time that you introduce me to the newbie,” “I’m Dylan,” He began, and so the story was repeated to me. The whole thing took around an hour to explain, including my questions. “So what do we do now?” I asked, “The information he has could be extremely useful to the pros, but we don’t want to give them an excuse to break our only safeguard against complete annihilation.” “But we still owe it to those not protected to find a way to defeat the humans;” Dylan said quietly, “Their suffering is great.” Utho nodded in agreement. He was pro war as well, but he came into hiding to protect Aynia. “I agree we cannot let our brethren suffer while we sit in comfort here.” “Still we cannot have an unprovoked attack,” Delmare insisted his blue eyes wide, “that’s how the world would read it; I highly doubt they know about the MCA’s experiments.” I nodded silently in agreement. All three of them were right. Esh and Aynia as usual said nothing. They tried for the most part not to get involved. “Well,” Aynia said, breaking the comfortable silence we were all sitting through, “I think that it’s time that we got Dylan settled. Then after that, bed. Agreed?” We all nodded tiredly. As mentioned before, we didn’t need sleep, but it was nice to escape the real world for a couple hours. “Does that mean I get a new name?” Dylan asked. “If you want one, then yes.” Esh replied. “Ok, here goes. What do you think about Dyonn?” I smiled, trying to be encouraging, but quite honestly I was too tired to walk straight let alone think straight. “Great! It suits you. Now it’s bed time.” “You get that room.” Aynia said, pointing to the room right next to Utho. “I warn you though, Utho snores loud enough to make the windowpanes rattle.” Utho rolled his eyes, too tired to argue, and we all went to our respective rooms. I fell asleep before my head hit the pillow.
Chapter 8 Aynia “Think fast!” I heard Utho call as he tossed a large piece of wood at Dyonn’s head. Dyonn’s arm then transformed into a flat metal plate which deflected the wood right into the chandelier, breaking whatever lights were still intact. The lobby of the hotel was considered our training area. It’s once magnificent plush red carpeting was torn to shreds, and the elegantly framed paintings on the walls were unrecognizable. I sighed as I watched the glittering pieces of glass fall to the ground like snowflakes. It had been a week since Dyonn had been found, and we found him to be a great guy, if somewhat shy. There had been a couple of battles since, and both sides were getting bolder, completely leveling most buildings in what had once been a great city. Thankfully the hotel was still intact, though it had come close to a major hit a couple times. “Great job Dyonn.” I congratulated him, “but remember that destroying the wood would be better because it would be less likely to ricochet and hit one of your…” I fell to the floor with a soft gasp. My heart was pounding in my head, but that wasn’t the only thing pounding. Shockwaves rippled through the world, and I felt each one through my own body as if it was me getting hammered. I noticed Irian let out a cry of dismay as Esh collapsed. “What’s happening?” What’s wrong?” Irian cried out seemingly unaffected. None of the others seemed to be feeling anything out of the ordinary as well. The booming only got louder and shakier if anything. I was holding up against it, for I knew I wouldn’t break. It was the shock and horror that paralyzed me, not pain. Delmare doused Esh and me with icy cold water. “Holy ****! Where’d you get that, the Arctic?” Esh gasped, sitting up. “Something like that,” Delmare muttered. He was looking concernedly at me he blue face glowing. “I’m up, I’m up.” I groaned miserably. “What happened to you guys?” Irian asked concerned. I looked around for Utho and Dyonn, but they weren’t there. Seeing my confused look Irian comforted me by saying, “border patrol, making sure it wasn’t mind sabotage. But answer me Aynia, what happened?” I hesitated, for I didn’t want to throw everyone into a frenzy. I then decided that it would be best to tell them outright, knowing that they were cool enough to keep calm. “It’s the dome, it’s under attack.”
Chapter 9 Aynia An hour later, the six of us gathered in the center of our town, now little more than rubble. The ruined buildings seemed to represent what we’d become. Dust in the wind. But now, with a single decision all that had changed. It was time to strike back against those who wanted our lives. They would not even leave us in peace. By now the entire town was aware that the dome was being shot at, and now for the first time they stood together, antis with pros, waiting for the answer that had been hinted at. No one wanted to destroy our only safe guard, but everyone knew that we could not hide behind it forever. Once everyone was gathered, I stood at the top of a mound of dust that had once been a one hundred story building. “I guess,” I started off a little nervously, “that I will start off with a human cliché. We are all in the same boat now. We all must stick together and act as a cohesive unit. Otherwise, we will all perish. We all know now of the attack, and I think that we are all of one mind that we must answer it. The main question I believe is how.” I saw a couple of nodding heads in the crowd. “You may not know me, for I have been staying out of these war discussions for a while. My ability in particular is one that would have thrown the match in the smoldering powder keg. It would have invariably dragged us all to where we didn’t want to go. Now, however I am ready to use it come what may and hell to pay. It is one that will somewhat solve our first problem. I have the ability to create holes in the dome.” Everyone in the crowd gasped as I stepped off the pile. “Now the question is what do we do?” Luke watched me then said, “Avenger willing, I have a plan that hopefully won’t backfire.”
Chapter 10 We all walked through the dome in lines of two, Avenger and Luke at the front each holding the white flag of truce. There were nine of us, three from each different group that existed within the dome. Walking in front of me were Utho and Delmare, because Esh stayed behind in case I needed to contact those still inside, and Irian needed to help with the second part of the plan. Dyonn was catching up with his brother. Immediately, the firing stopped, and two men walked out to greet us with an army of soldiers behind them. One had deep black hair and was battle scarred the other young and sandy haired and so obviously a rookie that it almost made me laugh. “What do you want,” the black haired man growled gruffly, “we don’t enjoy talking to mutants, unless you’re going to surrender.” Avenger snorted, his dark red face alight with anger, “hardly, we were just coming to discuss some… problems we have with you. Namely YOU ARE BLASTING OUR DOME!” “Hey,” said the sandy man coolly, “We thought you mutants had been left in peace too long. We could use some more freaks to experiment on.” Utho let out a deep growl in his throat, his red face so much like Avenger’s I forgot who he was for a moment. Cass responded with two flaming hands that Delmare quickly put out with a small squirt of water. She thanked him quietly. Luke tried reasoning with them though thankfully all was going to plan. “In our society we allow certain people to live away from the rest of us in their own way, we have our place and they have theirs. We call them Nonids. Couldn’t you allow the same for the rest of us?” The black haired man laughed openly at us. “Nonids? What a funny word. We don’t have any of those in our society, everyone lives in the cities, so why should we care if they got hurt or not?” Luke sighed, his handsome face fit with the look of a saint in pain. The Avenger grinned fiercely, his fists clenched. “Well I guess that leaves us no choice. You have twenty four hours before we come for you. You have been warned.” We turned to leave. “Not very good at subtlety are you?” the scarred one sneered. The Avenger stopped, but didn’t turn around. “Because of you, I’ve been an 18 year old for 15 years! You’re damn right I’m not subtle. Suddenly, a helicopter appeared out of nowhere, and a reporter and her camera crew jumped out and ran to us at top speed. The two military men looked staggered at her surprised appearance. “Wait! Umm Mr. Mutant? The one with the white hair?” Luke spun around his blonde eyebrow cocked in an adorable picture of polite confusion. “Yes? What do you want?” “What are you expecting in the terms of civilian injuries etcetera? Are you planning on keeping the battles away from cities?” He laughed then mimicked the words of the scarred man. “Civillians? What a funny word. We don’t have any of those in our society, everyone is a fighter, so why should we worry about hurting them?” End of Part One
Chapter 11 As we walked back into the dome, we were greeted by cheers from the rest of the NLHs. The other part of the plan was to use Irian’s expertise to broadcast the event to all the satellites around the world, and therefore broadcast it to every television in the world. This would prove that we attempted to make peace with the MCA, and that it had been them that started this in the first place. Another unexpected result was that it revealed to the world that the gov’t had been experimenting on us, which would throw up huge controversies all over the world. If the USA was doing it, other countries had to be as well. We watched over the next few days as people protested, argued and rioted all over the world, causing the governments to lose just a little more power. As promised, we brought the MCA to rubble, and planned on continuing our conquest until all the MCAs of the world looked exactly like this one. One Year Later The battles had been going well. The MCA fell with little trouble, and the rest of the world was hesitant to do anything about it. After we had destroyed the MCA, we began to target various other MCAs all over the country. The dome was left with the wounded and the healers. No humans could attack it because we always put them on the defensive. Today however was a little different. Despite Luke’s controversial announcement, we had always tried to keep the battles away from cities. Unfortunately, we had no choice now but to draw the battle into The Angels, one of the biggest cities on the west coast. They had an MEZ (Mutant Experimentation Zone) that was still going despite the protests, and we wanted to bring it to the ground and add to our already formidable force. As we walked through the city, we could see the faces poking out of the windows and doors in fear. Despite our easy pace and unconcerned air, this was somewhat of a surprise attack. We saw many people run for the nearest door to pound on it, and many people stopped what they were doing just to gawk at us in our freakishness. We made it to the MEZ before we saw any kind of military response. Outside the plain cinderblock building, we saw hundreds of protesters with various signs and banners. They stopped for a minute to stare at us with gaping mouths before they parted for us and dispersed. As soon as the civilians were gone, the base started bringing out the big guns. Various bullets and energy beams attempted to breach our shields. A couple of beams made it through, but thankfully they didn’t do much damage. Luke and Geb sent swirling sandstorms to blind the cameras and Avenger started throwing energy beams of his own at the complex. Unlike the MEZ however, we had to be careful with what we threw at our enemies. We couldn’t risk losing any NLHs with a careless blast. We breached the security measures with ease, and began to storm the building. “Esh Aynia, you and your group check the rooms for any NLHs. The rest of you, follow me. Let’s go kick some human butt!” We nodded and prepared our powers. We walked through the first door. The room inside was blindingly white and impossibly sterile. It was also completely absent of any life forms. “One down, a hundred to go,” Esh said with a sigh. We continued our search, finding the rooms absent of any NLHs, it was mostly just nurses and scientists who we killed. No one messes with the NLHs and gets away with it. Finally we came to the last room. The sounds of the battle were faint, for they had taken it to the other side of the base. We could still however feel the vibrations, and catch various threads of telepathy. From what we could hear, the battle was coming our way. Judging by the enormous amounts of the nuclear energy coming from behind this door, we were about to find all the NLHs and complete our mission. Utho broke down the door with little trouble, and we walked in cautiously. It looked… completely empty. Morte, a new addition to our group let out a low gasp at the emptiness. “I can sense them,” he said with a frown, flicking his dark hair out of his frightened dark blue eyes, “My readings tell me that there’s around ten of them. Look there! One moved!” “I still don’t see anything,” Utho muttered. Delmare nodded his head slowly, then spun and shot a jet of water at nothing. The nothing shrieked, and slowly turned into a girl. The girl was beautiful, with long black hair and golden eyes. “Don’t hurt me,” she whimpered. Matt let out a low growl in his throat. We found NLHs in various conditions. This one had obviously been tortured before, and that really pissed us off. Matt however seemed especially enraged whenever we found one like this, probably because he had been treated the worst and could empathize with them. I reached out to her mind and said, “Don’t worry, we’re friends. We’ve come to help you.” She let out a low sigh of relief. “So you’re one of us,” She said softly. “What?” Utho snorted, “You couldn’t tell by the red skin?” She let out a low sigh, and then tapped a small metal object imbedded in her temple. “Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to see for a while.” Matt growled even louder now. “MASs,” He snarled. MASs also known as Mutant Ability Suppressors were small metal pieces put somewhere on the head (usually the temple) to suppress any mental abilities a mutant might have. One of the many awful side affects is partial to full blindness, depending on the strength of the ability. The stronger the blinder. “Irian!” I called, “A little help?” She nodded and raised her hands. “Hold still,” she said. “If you’re trying to blast it off, it’s not going to work.” She said with a sigh, “It’s imposs…” she trailed off as the piece of metal fell off and hit the ground with a high skittering sound. One by one, we saw the others appear. “My name is Aurea by the way,” the raven haired girl said with a smile, “and this is George, Kara, Logan, Nezar, Alena, Sey, Rayd, and Brutte.” Kara and Alena waved cheerily at us, the rest just nodded. Irian removed MASs from the heads of Brutte, Sey, Alena, and Logan. After the formalities were over, Esh and I looked at our new comrades. Strangely, we both looked at Logan at the same time, something we’ve never done before. We knew something was wrong when he rose into the air, and started glowing brightly. “Holy ****! What’s happening?” Logan screamed. Esh and I couldn’t look away for fear of having him drop to his death. Then a strange voice sounded out. “Mental abilities: Shadow Stalking, invisibility. Physical Abilities: Super speed. Physical attributes: arm and wrist blades.” I then realized it was my mental voice speaking aloud. “Whoa!” Utho exclaimed, “I didn’t know you could do that!” “Neither did we,” I replied as Logan was gently lowered to the floor. The room suddenly shook, and cracks began to appear in the floor, “But I think that it’s time we got out of here!”
Chapter 12 We ran pell mell through the violence. Everywhere you looked it was NLHs cutting down another robot or soldier. The MEZ was giving us all it had, but unfortunately for them it still wasn’t enough. The fallen NLHs were just revived by our healers, and began fresh as ever .It wasn’t our job to fight however, we were to get the rescued NLHs to the safe zone to be checked out and healed if need be. We sprinted to our temporary HQ with a mind to get there as fast as possible. Thankfully the newbies were all in excellent shape, and well fed for MEZ survivors. The asphalt and stone of the city flew by, an incomprehensible blur even to our eyes, and we were for the most part ignored. As we walked into camp lieutenant Rika came running up to us, cat ears flapping wildly. “Welcome,” She gasped. It was obvious she had just sprinted across the entire area we had made camp. “My name is Rika Catteye, lieutenant under the order of the NLH. What are yours?” To my surprise, it was Nezar that stepped forward. “My name is Nezar, leader of the The Angel’s mutant population, consisting pretty much of us nine. This is my sister Alena, my younger sister.” The cute little black haired girl waved cheerily at us, her deep brown eyes sparkling with excitement. “This is Aurea, Kara, Sey Ki, Brutte, Rayd, George and Logan.” The latter’s name was spoken with a sort of disgusted contempt. I vaguely wondered what he had done to earn such disrespect. Rika nodded. “Well then, you have a choice to make Nezar. You can go out on your own and attempt to survive without help, or you can join us. Nezar nodded and said, “Can my group and I discuss this for a moment?” Rika nodded her approval and they all went into a huddle. All except Logan that is. I quietly walked over to him. “Hey Logan why aren’t you with the rest of them.” “I f you haven’t noticed,” Logan grumbled, “Nezar doesn’t like me. Even if I do say anything he rejects it immediately. Being the leader, everyone else just goes along with it.” “What’s the vendetta?” I questioned curiously. Logan grinned a little, with a mischievous smile. “His powers don’t work on me. He can paralyze almost anyone, but not me. It frustrates him to no end that he has nothing to hold over my head or control me. Plus our personalities tend to… well clash. I’m a loner, and he’s a control freak. We don’t get along.” I nodded and opened my mouth. At that exact moment however, Team Nezar broke their huddle and came walking over us. There was nothing on their faces that even hinted in either direction, and as I watched them walk, I noticed that Nezar wasn’t making eye contact with anyone but Rika. “A decision has been made!’ Nezar announced his yellow brown eyes alight with a sort of excitement.
Chapter 13 Aynia “We of the The Angels Mutant Experimentation Zone have come to a conclusion.” Nezar began dramatically, his voice deadly serious as if the fate of the world rested on his shoulders. “We have decided to join you in the fight against the humans. They have damaged us far beyond the realm of forgiveness, and it is time they pay the ultimate price for their attempted annihilation of our species, and the crude experiments they have enacted upon those who they do not allow their peaceful death.” Rika nodded her beautiful face just as serious as Nezar’s. “Nezar of The Angels MEZ, we accept your alliance, and hope that our organization is up to scratch with your undoubtedly high expectations. For the leadership of your group, you shall continue to be and you will represent them in our meetings. We may promote you to a higher status should you have a natural talent for a job higher in the ranks. “She then raised her eyes to encompass the whole of the new MEZ survivors. “As for the rest of you, you shall remain under the command of Nezar, unless you wish to be moved. You will all do your duty to these forces, be it big or small. Your block number, in case of an emergency meeting shall be block thirteen. Welcome and thank you.” We all waited a moment to let them take it in, and then Irian added her own comment. “Welcome, not just to the NLH forces, welcome to the NLH family.” Chapter 14 Aynia After Block 13 filed away, their faces alight with excitement and fear; I began to remember my first battle, The Great Battle. The battle for the MAC. It was dark when I opened the hole in the dome for the first time. The wind whistled across the desert its lonely voice mourning the violent act that was about to be committed. The brilliance of the stars were masked by the enormous flood lights that bathed the area in a harsh white orb. However, it was child’s play for our invisibles to sneak past the guard and shut the lights off. It was the only warning they got. Unlike Esh, I was not a fighting NLH, so I was sent on a search and recover mission, whose sole job was to get the captured NLHs out of the building alive. It was pretty simple. Most were able to walk, and we sent them back with little trouble. It remained so, until the last room. I remember that room number clearly stated 1013. We walked in cautiously, our steps measured and slow, not sure what we were to find in our last room, this room of 13. Inside, it was perfectly white, perfectly sterile, and perfectly evil. Inside the last room, there was a large triangle of silvery tables on wheels, each with a NLH on it. The prisoners of the place were hooked up to various tubes and machines which were all buzzing and beeping. Irian being the one with the most technological experience immediately began to investigate their purpose before shutting them down one by one. She let out a few well deserved cuss words and slowly and surely the beeping, clanging and buzzing came to a silent end. When there was only dead silence in the room, the first of the people, a young boy whose name I cannot recall, began to stir. He let out a quiet yawn and opened one eye to look at us sleepily. He then proceeded to yelp and make a spectacular flying leap off the table. “W-w-who are you!” He gasped, shaking in fear from head to toe. I merely frowned at him, not sure how I should answer that question. “Lucas, Lucas wake up! I think you should see this!” The boy being shaken then repeated the same performance his young follower had performed. “A rather jumpy lot eh?” Delmare muttered to me out of the side of his mouth. I watched Lucas for a moment to make sure he was in control of himself. Being hooked up to all those machines probably made him a little unstable. Once I deemed it was safe to speak, I took a cautious step toward him, and spoke the same greeting that I had said to the other prisoners I had seen. “Hello, I am Aynia, representative of the NLH alliance. If you haven’t noticed, right now the MAC is under attack, and we need to get out of here.” “And how do we know we can trust you. For all we know, this could just be another trick to break us in.” A voice behind us stated coldly. I spun around to look the last of the prisoners in the eye. She was obviously tall, with long thin legs and dark red eyes. Her hair was black as coal, and despite her emaciated body she was obviously very beautiful. At a second glance I noted that she had very long pointed teeth. That was kind of scary. “You don’t know.” I responded, matching the coolness of her voice. “You just have to trust us.” The boy Lucas snorted. “Trust you? You walk in here, expertly shut off the machines and tell us you can lead us to freedom. Yeah of course we trust you!” The last comment was heavy with sarcasm. I shrugged my shoulders. “Fine, don’t trust us. Stay in the building and be crushed when Avenger and Luke bring this place to the ground.” I was a little tired of putting up with whiny children, and was not up to dealing with more crap. “Umm Aynia? I got a reading from the computer. There’s a hidden door directly to your right.” Irian commented. I looked over a noticed a faint leakage of nuclear energy coming from the door. I spun around on my heel to look Utho in the eye. “Up to it?” As a reply Utho merely smiled and cracked his knuckles. Then he began to grow. As he grew, his muscle did also and therefore was able to knock down any door with relative ease. The little boy watched as he reached his limit, around ten feet. Lucas and the girl seemed unimpressed by the show. With a swing of his fist, Utho knocked a huge hole in the wall. Three more and the whole thing caved in with a high pitched squealing noise that had my head ringing for a couple of minutes. That was nothing however to the pain of my eyes once I saw the amount of nuclear radiation that burned from the life form of the boy inside the room. “Holy ****” I whispered to myself. “What? What’s wrong?” Delmare asked, his voice worried. “It’s the boy! I’ve never seen a nuclear aura that bright in all of my life!” That boy then opened his eyes and looked at me sleepily. “You’re not a scientist,” He said with a yawn. “Damn right we’re not!” Utho muttered. “Well now that we’ve established that,” I replied, glaring at Utho, “Who are you?” “My name’s Morte, I can bring the dead back to life.” I nodded; I had already figured that out. Utho and Delmare gasped. “My name’s Aynia, I can sense the gifts of others through their nuclear auras. Yours almost blinded me.” The room began to shake, and dust fell from the ceiling. “We have to get out of here!” Utho yelped, “They’re bringing the building down!” We got out in time; they weren’t actually taking it down yet, just shaking it to knock off the aim of the defense system. We got the other three assigned to a different unit, but Morte decided that he wanted to stay with us. He kept us alive throughout all of our missions by sensing all the life forms in the area, but only had to use his powers once. Now however, we were preparing for possibly the last battle any of us had ever fought. In one month’s time, we were going to make the final march to the fortress of the affliction called Homo sapiens. We had one month to train Nezar and his gang, and one month left of the shattered image of peace we were holding on to. No matter what happened in thirty days time, peace is either going to be an unbreakable certainty, or an impossible goal. No matter what happens, we would no longer be a shattered people. No matter what happens, we will be truly free.
Chapter 15 One Week Later Aynia The warm summer was slowly ambling its way into fall. Funny how summer didn’t seem to go as quickly when there was no school waiting at the end of it all. The red and gold leaves crunched under our feet as we sparred against one another in preparation for the final battle. Nezar had proven himself to be a brilliant, if a little ruthless commander. Whenever we fought each other in teams, we always put him as a leader. He won about three out of four of the battles he lead, and that was a good record for anyone but especially a newbie like him. He was willing to sacrifice anyone, including himself if it meant his team would come out the victor. That also scared us a little. Nezar’s little sister Alena however was another matter entirely. For some reason, Esh and I were just not comfortable around her. She was always a little too cheery, a little too bright eyed and a little too happy for us. Normally we could put up with people like that, but for some reason she just put our teeth on edge. The rest of our group, Block 4 seemed to agree with us Morte especially so. Avenger was also a little suspicious, but that was in his nature I guess. “Something’s wrong with that girl,” He would mutter to us whenever she passed our way. Everyone else however loved her almost as much as Nezar, but Esh and I wouldn’t say anything; we would just sigh in agreement. There was no reason to instigate something, especially since we needed Nezar on our side. His right hand man… Erm woman Sey Ki was another matter entirely. Most people felt uncomfortable around her because she was a bit of a mind controller, by power of suggestion. Whenever she talked, people were a bit frightened because they weren’t sure if their thoughts were their own. Esh and I always knew that she would never do anything of the sort, we could tell when we were being manipulated, and she had never tried it on us. She was a sweet looking girl, with long legs and curly blond hair, the typical look for a controller. She was sweet tempered and fair, and like us was a little uncomfortable with Alena. Not for the reasons we were though. _____________________________________________________________________________________ After the harsh battle we had just endured, we were all ready to go collapse in our beds. Nezar had been leader of our team today, and he was the only one whom I had known well. He kept me by his side almost the entire battle, to clarify who was who. We won that time, but just barely. One minute to go, and there was only me and Nezar left standing plus three people from the other team. Nezar stood there until they were literally no more than a foot away, then jumped at them. The first one he managed to catch by surprise, and he paralyzed him with little trouble. Nezar had picked the right one to jump; the one he had immobilized was the only NLH with a ranged attack. After he took out their “archer” the next one was easy. I recognized him as George, one of the guys found with Nezar. That didn’t stop him from pounding Nezar in the stomach with a fist of steel. While Nezar was down and George was exulting in his triumph I did something completely insane. I jumped on George. Putting my hands on his head, I sent a brain blast that momentarily disabled him. Nezar got up and in a flash numbed him down so he couldn’t move. “Team Nezar is the victor!” The announcer shouted. Our frozen teammates got up with a groan, and we all walked solemnly off the battlefield. As we prepared to hit the sack in our various tents, I noticed Sey Ki run up to Nezar and give him a hug. Nezar ignored her and walked up to me. “Good teamwork eh?” Noticing Sey Ki’s hurt look, which she quickly hid. I turned to him and replied, “Yeah but I’m kind of tired right now. I think Sey Ki would be excited to discuss the spar with you!” Hearing that, Sey Ki gave me the most grateful look I have ever seen on a living creature, before or since. “Oh,” He replied, looking quickly over his shoulder, “You really think so?” I merely nodded, and turned to go, noticing that Alena was quietly sneaking out of the back of her tent. Probably nothing, but just in case I decided to follow her. This should be interesting.
Chapter 16 Aynia I crept quietly behind Alena as I watched her slowly make her way out of camp. She took particular time to say hello to everyone. “So she has alibis,” I muttered softly to myself. I hoped deeply in my heart that I was just overreacting, and that Alena was just taking an evening stroll. The pink light of dusk was gradually fading into the purples and blacks of night when we reached the border of our camp. She immediately went from her cheery loud manner to a softer and more sinister one. She walked quickly and with purpose towards an old grizzled lightning struck tree. Around it was miles of open plains, and I was deathly afraid of being caught. I lost Alena for a second, and then thankfully managed to find her again when she stepped on a twig, the snapping sound echoing throughout the prairie. That’s when I made my first great discovery about Alena. She had no nuclear glow. I blinked twice to make sure that my eyes were not deceiving me. My eyes saw the truth; she had no abilities out of the ordinary. I wondered for less than a second how this had escaped my notice. It hit me quickly and harshly. Alena’s absence of glow was always disguised by the glow of other’s gifts. They shone so brightly that I didn’t notice the dark spot on the horizon. That, coupled with the fact that Alena avoided me as much as possible made sure that I was kept in the dark, no pun intended. I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn’t notice the figure behind me until he was too close to avoid. I spun quickly, raising my knife up in self defense. He grabbed my wrist before I could strike. I sighed; it was only Nezar and Sey. “We saw you sneak out of camp. What are you doing?” Nezar muttered. I hesitated for a second, not wanting to reveal who I was following. “I was watching…” “Get down,” He hissed at us. He then yanked us headfirst into the tall grass, and I was just barely able to stifle a shriek. “We appreciate your efforts at helping us exterminate the freaks. You shall be paid handsomely when this is all over” said a deep voice, coupled with the loud stomping of thick boots. “Thank you officer Laurent,” came a high female voice. Nezar gasped in shock, for the voice was his sisters. I had not recognized it at first because I was so used to Alena sounding cheery. Now she only sounded… well bored, as if the thought of bringing down all of the people that sheltered her, including her only brother, wasn’t worth her interest. Continuing on she replied, “I will inform them tomorrow. These mutant freaks need to die.” “Very good Miss Vanhollen. I already have my men stationed around the perimeter. Not too close of course but should something go wrong we’ll be ready.” I waited for a couple seconds as they walked away, and then assisted Sey Ki in pulling a shocked Nezar to his feet. He finally came to his senses, a reserved look on his face. “We need to get back to camp,” was all he would say. And so we ran.
Chapter 17 Aynia We ran back to camp at a dead sprint, the wind rushing past us like a wailing ghost in the night. As soon as I was within range, I contacted Esh. I quickly sent him the whole scene. He was not surprised. “Get here fast. I’ll tell the block in the meantime.” I nodded then realized he couldn’t see me. “Okay, almost there.” We entered camp in a flurry of dust, and as a group quickly and quietly walked to my block’s area, despite the fact that Sey and Nezar were from a different block. That’s when the second biggest shock of the day occurred. Alena had beaten us back. She immediately saw us all walking rapidly toward block four, and rushed to catch up. Unfortunately for us, she caught up at the worst moment possible. As soon as we were within earshot of Esh, she arrived breathless next to us from running so hard. “Hey guys!” She said cheerily. We all ignored her. When we walked up to the entrance, Esh was in the middle of talking, “… Alena turns out isn’t who she…” He froze when he saw us in the doorway of the large cloth tent. Alena’s eyes got really big. “WHAT about me,” she snapped. I could detect a slight hint of fear in her voice. Obviously Nezar did too. That small scrap of hope left in his eyes died as quickly as a snuffed candle. Esh turned from facing Block 4 to where he was facing the rest of the group to Alena. “Alena, we all know you’re a spy. You are trying to destroy us. We’re not about to let that happen.” Morte nodded in solemn agreement, his scarred face looking older in night’s shadows. She snorted, trying to blow it off. I could still see the fear in her eyes. “I always knew you were jealous of my popularity,” She said with a pitying frown. “Nezar you don’t believe these liars do you?” He remained silent. “Nezar? Earth to Nezar!” “I heard you alright! Don’t try and lie to me after what you said to that man.” The words seem to explode out of him. His eyes no longer displayed any hints of sadness, just grim acceptance. He was used to betrayal it seemed. “W-w-what did I say?” she said pathetically feigning innocence. “You know I wouldn’t want to do anything to hurt you!” “These freaks need to die? Ring a bell?” “I would NEVER say that! They’re lying to you!” She waved her arms emphatically to express her point. That’s when I noticed a small red blinking light on her watch. “Irian! What’s that light?” I snapped. I watched as Irian frowned in concentration, then she gasped. “It’s a tracking device! We have to warn Avenger and Luke!” We all rushed to the opening, myself in the front. In a matter of moments, I was looking down the barrel of a gun. A young man in uniform smiled at me. It was not a nice smile, more of a baring of the teeth. “Hey there!” He said cheerfully. “I’m with the United Alliance ground forces. Come quietly or else.”