Six months prior.

The room was a massive hall that not only had long slatted redwood flooring but was covered by multiple martial arts mats. Kneeling Japanese statues—made from black copper—were arranged all along the perimeter of the room.

Dane was covered in white bandages from top to bottom, except for his face.

He looked down at his hand and flexed his fingers experimentally.

To test his body, Dane decided to do a few katas from aikido. With his palm wide open, he slowly traced the air before him and then pushed forward against an imaginary wall. Then, leaning into it, he continued along with his movement before sweeping backward with both hands extended, washing against the same imaginary wall in a sweeping pattern.

He sidestepped to the right and threw his arms into a spiraling twirl before stopping dead still.

An elder Japanese gentleman was sitting to Dane’s right. He had a pointed white beard, his height was just shorter than him and he was standing with his hands crossed in front of his crotchet relaxed and loose. His face was wizened and old, wrinkled by laugh lines and soothing tranquility in his soul. "Walking so soon?"

Dane brought his feet together and then pushed both hands toward the ground while exhaling. "The doctors advised that I stay in bed for another week."

"A restless heart?"

Dane was still, and then reluctantly nodded. "I couldn't sleep. It feels like my skin is on fire from the pricks of a thousand needles. Everything hurts. My bunkmate died last night. Doctors said his heart just stopped from the pain. I wish I could feel that merciful peace."

"Because of the pain of the surgeries?"

Dane shook his head and slowly ran his hand over his shaved skull. "I wish. The physical pain I can handle. But my heart is cracked. I have killed so many. Destroyed so many lives..."

The elder sensei approached Dane from the side, and though he was smaller, he had a personal inner power that was easily felt. "All men that have been brought together by Doctor Isaacson and Doctor Dobson are killers. But they are different from you. You can see it in their eyes, like ice when the mention of death flows into the room. But you—I sense remorse. A simple guilty thought for past wrong is a powerfully hard thought to shake."

Dane chuckled cynically. "Atone? I cannot atone for what I have done. There is no point!"

The elder chopped his hand down violently. "Yameru! It is a childish wish to set a price on atonement! You spit on the lives of the souls that were lost! You cannot remove the blackness of your deeds, but you can stop adding to it!" After speaking his peace, his body stilled, and he stopped shaking.

Dane's jaw clenched and unclenched as he struggled to swallow the words his sensei spoke. "Why do you care about what I do? How do I feel? Who I am? I am trash!" he yelled, and a tear entered his eye. Maybe it was the pain speaking, or maybe his sensei's words had gotten through the steely exterior. But for the first time, the torment that his soul had been feeling was very real.

The sensei placed his hand firmly on Dane's shoulder and slowly clasped down to accentuate his point. "Because atonement can only be reached in death, and here I see killers, rapists, and murderers being given a chance to grasp a power that could only be attained by a god. And among them, you are the only grey pinpoint in a world of blackness. When you die, make the deeds you do from here on in worth dying for."

The sensei bowed his head to Dane and then walked away. His footsteps faded into the distance, and he heard a door open beyond his point of view, but he did not hear it close. Instead, he heard the pitter-patter of multiple feet, which caused him to quickly turn around.

Four lab techs were running to Dane with marks of concern stamped across their faces, while Doctor Isaacson walked calmly behind them.

The doctor's eyes were locked coolly on Dane as she walked, and she gave him a slightly mischievous smile.

The lab techs quickly swarmed over Dane with different lab equipment, checking his vitals and the bandages to make sure that he had not caused any damage to himself by leaving the confines of his room. They quickly began urging him out of the practice room.

The doctor walked with Dane and fell in step beside him. "A little brash, leaving your bed in your condition."

Dane reluctantly went with the lab techs and shot the doctor a perturbed look. "I'm fine," he responded while walking with his eyes concentrated on the floor.

She smirked. "That's funny because I thought we just stripped the skin from your body and then slapped it back on with a nice new shiny finish." Her smiled died. "They told me you weren't taking your pain medication. Some of the subjects died from the pain alone."

He merely shrugged. "At a certain point, pain becomes so intense it dulls the sense. Being here helps."

The techs ushered Dane through the solid wooden doors and continued to run all manner of tests on his body as they walked. One of the techs pulled out a needle and was about to stick it in his shoulder.

Immediately Dane snapped him a look that turned his blood to ice.

A lilting laugh escaped Doctor Isaacson's mouth and she stifled it. "Oh, how manly. Take the drug, if not for yourself, for me."

Dane let the tension ease from his mind and nodded to the technician. "What is it?" The needle entered his shoulder, and he felt the warm sting of the liquid flow throughout his arm.

"A special compound to feed the nanites in your body,” the doctor said. “The normal kinetic absorption cannot happen at this delicate stage, so we need to feed you an artificial form of thermal energy. The nanites do the rest."

He started to feel weak. As they walked, his legs gave out on him.

Without missing a beat, the techs grabbed Dane as he fell and helped him back to his feet.

Doctor Isaacson rushed to his side. "Dane, Dane! Are you all right?"

***

The present

Dane was snapped from his reverie by Dennis chirping in his ear. "Sir, you should be ready to continue shortly."

Moments later, he felt his internal temperature begin to normalize as Dennis sent nanites to his heart and caused them to vibrate slightly, creating a warmth that would be spread to the rest of his body. His shivers began to subside.

As he became warmer and warmer, he began working out a plan for his next steps. "Dennis, can you find me a route to UEDF freedom base?"

Dennis was silent for a moment as he computed the request. "I have accessed a cloud server in the near vicinity. It indicates its position is ten miles outside of the city. I must warn you, sir: it is very well protected. I would highly advise against a frontal assault like you are so... likely to consider. And may I note, we still do not know where in the base your brother is located."

"Do you have any ideas, Dennis?"

"Yes, sir. I have one. But you are not going to like it."

***

Ten miles outside of the city, Dane walked down a road toward a very large Ferracrete structure with high electro wire on the highest points. There were multiple gun turrets—both automated and manned—mounted on the walls in regular intervals. The guns trained on Dane as soon as he approached and a call to arms were sounded from within the walls.

A military contingent of four soldiers quickly ran out from within the base, their kiptik assault rifles trained on Dane the entire way, moving in a smooth run that prevented their weapons from swaying up and down.

The lead member of the small squad waved his gun toward the ground. "On the ground, now!"

Dane slowly went to his knees, then laid on the ground with his hands clasped behind his head.

"My name is Dane O'Breine. I just escaped from orbital prison outlook 6 where I was being held as a political prisoner. I killed two of your MKII Shadows, and one nanobot security droid on the way out. And I have to say, it has really been eating at me and I feel so guilty about it that I just had to give myself up."

"Doctor Cornelia Isaacson was the godmother of many technological achievements that we have today. She created ACEs (Armored Combat Exoskeleton), adapted the Deathheads for combat readiness, and her crowning achievement was the creation of the Kinetic Redirection and Interaction Suit. She had a partner named Doctor Vincent Kuhn Dobson. When Doctor Isaacson went off the grid and was assumed dead, it was Doctor Kuhn Dobson that grabbed the reins of her projects. While she had been compassionate to some degree, he was not. Doctor Dobson had another name. They called him, behind his back, Doctor Pain."

Chapter 4

The hallways were lit with a clean white sheen of multiple lights from all corners that shined off pristine white floors and beige walls. Two individuals were walking down the hallway.

The first was a tall straight-laced man with intelligent eyes and horn-rimmed glasses. He also had a subtle air of superiority to him. He was wearing a black suit of a bureaucrat and was walking with his back ramrod straight, holding a clipboard. His lips were pressed tightly together, and his face was thin, sharp, and attractive.

The other was a hunched elder man with a cane. He appeared to be well into his later years. His overall demeanor was one of utter disdain for anything and everything. He was wearing a white lab coat, and the white hair on his head was long, ragged, and untamed.

As they walked, the old man sniffed dismissively at the other. "Imbecile!" he snapped aggressively with his eyes flared open in unconcealed rage. "Nolan! Dane O'Breine was your responsibility! You were to care for him and hide him from the world! Now I find out that he has escaped. How did this happen?" Dobson grabbed the other man firmly, despite his old age, by the wrist. "Your answer had better be satisfactory, or I will replace you with another body to do my bidding." His threat appeared quite sincere.

Nolan appeared unperturbed by his elder's outburst. He coolly nodded and then, when he saw that his superior had calmed, nodded. His face remained impassive. "Ah, yes. I apologize, Doctor Dobson," he said graciously. "I will see to it immediately. May I point out that he is being held in the same base as his brother? Perhaps this has something to do with the current situation."

Nolan's insights seem to appease Doctor Dobson's aggressive demeanor, and he became lost in thought for a moment. "You are more than likely correct in this. But I wonder…" He trailed off.

The two of them stopped in front of a glass window that refracted the clean white lights slightly. Inside there was a set of men and women suspended in large metal and glass tubes filled with a strange green liquid.

Nolan rested his hands on the window. "They seem so peaceful." His voice was almost whimsical.

The doctor regarded the men and women with the same respect one would give an insect. "Remnants of one of my past projects. They are of no concern now."

Nolan looked down at the doctor, disregarding the comment. "Doctor, can you tell me what is so important about Dane O'Breine?"

The doctor spat on the ground in derision. "Why would I tell you anything? He has outlived his usefulness and has become a bother. Terminate him. That is all you need to know."

Nolan quite courteously bowed his head deferentially. "I do apologize, dear doctor. But if I may be so bold, I need to know so that I may do my job better. If I do not know what I am going up against, then I will not be as efficient."

- End of Episode 5 -

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