⁕ Peeling Away The Layers (part 3)

Are people naturally evil? When all reasons are lost, when all meanings are gone and when all there is to live for no longer exists, is it there when we truly expose what we are underneath? Without the distraction of hope, are people doomed to regress back to their savage nature? This is a question, unreachable to the philosophers in their chairs, and only understood by those who experienced such dehumanization.

Seeing a world tainted in ugliness behind a pair of crimson glasses, witnessing only the worst of humanity while ignoring the rest. Hatred and rage, fueled by the disappearance of the dreams that drove one to stand up every morning. Once one accepts this as their reality, the only law is the rule of nature. Can you break free of your own prison or will you become your demon's prey?

The father looked up at the massive hole in his roof created by the acid rain as he left the house. In the garden, his daughter cried over the makeshift tomb she had created for her dead dog, killed by the acid flood the preview week. Though the situation is grim, he marches onward toward the bus which will take him to work. Things will be better he thought naively. 

The commute was a relatively peaceful affair. The sun was shining and the city looked bright and lively, unlike the other days. The deeper into the metropolis the vehicle took him, the more the city became better at hiding its ugly side. There were young couples holding hands and even punks leaving their seats for the elderly. For a moment, it almost seemed as if everything was going to be alright. 

As the man stepped off the metro toward his company, he was suddenly shaken by a notification on his cellphone. Upon looking at his screen, he noticed that his boss had fired him through an email, stating they no longer needed low-skilled workers of his type due to automation. Desperate, the man tried to enter through the gate of the company, but was immediately denied access by the heavily armed guards. 

[guard] - "Step off the property. You are no longer an employee of this company. "

Yelled the guard as he raised his rifle. 

[father] - "No, please, you don't understand! I need this job, it's all that I have left. "

Pleaded the father at his knees. 

Without hesitation, the guard fired into his side bag, spilling its contents over the sidewalk. The father, now terrified, backed off while trying to pick up the soup in his thermostat. However, not a single drop was left as the shot spilled its content all over the ground. As the father looked around, he saw a police officer who didn't seem slightly bothered by his situation as he continued chatting with his partner. 

Later, as he headed toward the metro, defeated, his phone rang again. As he put it against his ear, he heard the voice of his wife, asking him if he could bring some groceries while on his way home. Without a word, the father hung up and moved toward a supermarket near the station. As he entered, he noticed a few drug addicts passed out in front of the store. Maybe they are dead or just asleep, but no one can or could afford to care. Each has their own struggle to fight before they can spare a thought for others. 

At checkout, the father was shocked at the price of meat. With him being scammed with the roof and now losing his job, all that remained in his bank account was five dollars after he bought half a pound of chicken. As he remained stunned at the pitiful situation he and his family were in, the cashier simply told him to move out of the way without caring for his pain. 

[cashier] - "Move, dude, you're blocking the damn line! If you're done, get out! "

A painful sting echoed through the father's body as his mouth twitched bitterly. 

[father] - "No, I'll be taking this as well. "

Said the father as he grabbed a pack of rat poison with his last five dollars. 

On his way back home, the usual glom over the city came back. Instead of kindness and humanity, he saw a young man getting robbed by a gang of thugs while no one did anything to help. As his train moved past a station, he saw through his window a bunch of homeless people fighting and killing each other over a dirty blanket. It might not seem like much to fight for, but that was the difference between waking up the next morning or going to sleep for the last time. 

Later, as the chicken soup simmered on the stove, the father hesitated as he thought of his daughter and wife. With the rat poison dangling over the pot, the father breathed heavily before deciding against it. After all, maybe today was not the end. Maybe tomorrow, maybe there will still be hope. However, the sound of thunder echoed across the city as the massive dark clouds of acid rain loomed over the open roof. 

As the acid rain began filling up their apartment, this time there was no scream or panic. The gentle vapour of the chicken soup was still rising from the pot in the middle of the table. However, all three members of the family lay motionless, face against the table. On top of the kitchen counter was the packet of rat poison, now empty of its content. 

For some people, the demon hunts them down and consumes them. For others, some might break free and escape from their prison at a price. Even though it was temporary, to some it was worth their entire existence. 

Even as Emilia (KD-551) died, she tried to reconnect with the KD-554 she grew up with. She lived every moment of her life smiling and optimistic until her last moment. For Julia (KD-553), even though she believed that the world was unfair, she knew she needed to strike out on her own way to rise above that unfairness. Even though it cost her life, she regretted nothing as she perished at her sister's hand. 

Amidst the intense acid rain storm, a limousine rolled through the streets carrying a familiar face. As the car rolled into an underground parking, it passed through a row of water jet sprays which cleansed the acid coating it. Finally, coming to a stop in front of a row of guards, a beautiful young woman opened the door and welcomed the guest out of the vehicle. 

[Beth] - "Welcome, Doctor Dane, KD-554 has been awaiting your arrival. "

Stepping out of the car with a briefcase, Dane adjusted his clothes nervously as he saw the row of heavily armed guards. 

[Beth] - "Now, let us not waste more time. Master KD-554 is known to be quite short-tempered. "

As Dane silently followed Beth, he noticed the long crystals lining Beth's arms and the tattooed symbol of the cyberknights on her shoulder. 

[Beth] - "Eyes up front, Doctor Dane. Do not get yourself too distracted by my beauty. "

Said Beth teasingly with a sinister tone behind her words. 

The elevator soon took Dane and Beth down into a basement extremely deep under the government tower. As the doors opened, Dane and Beth stepped into a grim hallway with a strange stench of formaldehyde and other strong chemicals. Feeling beyond unsettled, Dane finally decided to break the silence.

[Dane] - "Your people said they could grant me asylum in exchange for my expertise in technology. I ain't no mortician or chemist, ya know? "

Said Dane while hiding his fear. 

[Beth] - "Mister Dane, Jagger and the Imperial warlords are all looking for you. I'm sure you are not a good friend of Jagger, and the warlords from the old Empire who are looking for you won't take kindly to your presence as well, considering your father's history with the Empire. "

[Dane] - "Gasp! How do you know about my father? "

Said Dane, shocked.

[Beth] - "He was THE father of all Imperial cyberknights. He was the one who refined the crystal system which opened the path for more people to access their potential. And he was the traitor who helped Mike. Thanks to your old man, I'm here out of a job and have to work for this crazy b... "

Beth stopped herself while trembling with fear as she saw the ominous dots in the obscure corners of the hallway. 

[Beth] - "...Place. This crazy place. "

Said Beth before taking a long breath. 

[Beth] - "Anyways, mister Dane, assuming you are familiar with your father's work, I suppose you must be familiar with the KD-series assassins. "

[Dane] - "Reckon I have partial information on that project. He designed the Kirchoff gene reshaper, which biologist Miho Tsujinaka used to create the KD-series of assassins. "

[Beth] - "Good, mister Dane. Because this is why you are here. KD-554 needs a man qualified in this field for her experiments. "

[Dane] - "However, I stand against partakin' in any immoral experiments and you people have to honour your part of the deal and keep the Empire and Jagger off mah scent. "

Said Dane in a firm stance. 

[Beth] - "Yes, mister Dane, but we all grow to understand that facades and claims of moral superiority are temporary. Especially when working in a place designed to break these illusions. "

Said Beth as she allowed Dane to move into a room before her. 

Before Dane could react, Beth shut the doors behind him and left him in a massive laboratory, empty of all life except for him. 

[KD-554] - "Doc-tor... Dane! "

Said KD-554 as she suddenly appeared before Dane. 

In a jolt, Dane jumped back as KD-554's red glowing eyes shined into his soul. There was a smile on KD-554's face but it was not a smile of happiness or a welcoming facade. It was a smile of pleasure and enjoyment. Unbeknownst to Dane, KD-554 was delighting in the ways she could've flayed his skin the moment he entered her periphery. 

[KD-554] - "Ohhhh, no, no, no! Doctors Dane, do not be like this. We are all the same underneath. "

[Dane] - "I don't understand what are you saying. "

Said Dane as he nervously shook his head. 

Though Dane expected KD-554 to be just a shadow ruler of America's elites, he never expected her to be an actual KD-series assassin. 

[KD-554] - "Oh, you poor soul. You think you are a good doctor, upholding morals and refusing to step below what you consider to be uncivilized. However, isn't this the same doctor who inadvertently helped Jagger massacre his opposition? The blood of thousands on your hands, yet you say you want to uphold morality? "

Said KD-554 all the while smiling creepily. 

[Dane] - "I never did that on purpose! All I ever wanted was justice against a monster like Jagger. He killed millions in a single night, in front of my face! "

[KD-554] - "And I know every single one of those people he killed in the Appalachian Disaster... personally. Years of weaving the perfect society of my like-minded people, destroyed in an instant by Jagger. "

Screamed KD-554 at the last part of her sentence. 

Though KD-554 wanted to unleash her rage somewhere, she breathed heavily and regained her composure in front of Dane. 

[KD-554] - "We are the same, Dane. You and me, we are people hunted by an unjust world. I was betrayed and unappreciated by even my own siblings because I wasn't perfectly flesh and blood. You are hunted because you want to do something good for this rotten world. "

Not wanting to offend KD-554, Dane decided to play along though clearly unconvinced by her facade. 

[Dane] - "If you understand pain, then I suppose you weren't keen on inflictin' it onto others, right? So whatever you need my help with, understand that if we are alike as you suggested, it must be something beneficial and moral. "

Retorted Dane while swallowing his fear. 

[KD-554] - "Of course, Dane. I can notice those who are like me and differentiate them from those who are against me. If you are capable of an action true to your nature, then I can confirm that you and I are going to be good friends. "

Said KD-554 as she pressed a button which turned on the light deeper into the laboratory.

Suddenly, Dane saw the suspended corpses of the second-generation KD-series assassins in test tubes filled with fluid. Some of them were mutilated while others were outright killed, but kept fresh with an artificial blood supply. 

[Dane] - "Holy mother of Christ! By the devil, what is this? "

Said Dane as his eyes widened with horror. 

[KD-554] - "Murderers. These are the ones responsible for the attacks on the Allied bases last year, remember? Your friend, I believe... Kadyn? She even stopped two of them, remember? "

[Dane] - "Ugh! I don't... You... You hunted them down and captured them? "

Said Dane in disbelief. 

[KD-554] - "Dane, there is only a single Kadyn. But there are so many other assassins rampaging throughout the nation. Like I said, you and I, we are alike. As a good leader, I need to prevent them from spilling more innocent blood. "

Said KD-554 as she grimaced in disgust as she uttered the word "innocent". 

[Dane] - "But why? Why did the Empire send them here to kill Allied soldiers? "

[KD-554] - "Sniper's successor, CR-455, is crumbling. He's a coward and a fool, a childish pathetic emperor who only held onto power thanks to his ancient cyberknight warriors. Even his own army deserted or refused to fight for him, so he sent the KD-series assassin to weaken the Allied ranks just to prolong the inevitable. "

[Dane] - "How do you know all this? It's like you know everything here and in the Empire. "

Said Dane as he looked at KD-554 who towered above him. 

[KD-554] - "I would never been in my current position if I didn't hold such power. I refuse to hide behind a facade and follow my nature. I'm a leader, a revolutionary. I bring a change to a world rotten to the core. I do what I do for the benefit of all. And you, you are a scientist, Dane. Why hold back? Be part of my revolution and let's change this world together. The city you saw outside, all its glory and shine, don't you want this to be every single city on Earth? Instead of wars, look at the peace I built. "

Said KD-554 while holding back her laughter. 

There was a screech which startled Dane, but he failed to find where it came from. In truth, KD-554 entered acceleration and laughed hysterically at her irony before returning to Dane. The screech was simply the combined laughter of KD-554 compressed into 1/10 of a second. 

[Dane] - "Could I have maybe misjudged you? It was you who stopped these murderers from causing any further damage. "

Said Dane as he pressed his palm against the glass tube. 

[KD-554] - "See, Doctor Dane, what I ask of you is not difficult. I need your expertise to extract the Mercury-titanium poly-alloy in these assassins' bones and scavenge some of their parts. Then, I need you to build a new body. Look at my body, years of neglect because I couldn't find a person who understood my physiology. There are no moral concerns in this task I ask of you, right? "

Said KD-554 in a gentle voice.

[Dane] - "I can work with the first two, but the third one is still alive. "

[KD-554] - "She killed over a thousand people, Dane. Are you going to show mercy to a killer who never showed any mercy in return? "

Dane thought for a second as KD-554 stood behind him, a grin widening on her lips. 

[Dane] - "You're right. Coming to you was a good decision. If anyone else got their hands on me, they would've forced me to build more KD-series assassins or even do things that are beyond immoral. "

Said Dane while nodding his head slightly. 

[KD-554] - "Hmmm... Welcome aboard, Doctor Dane. Remember, whatever you need, just ask. Even things that don't concern these experiments are included in my offer. "

Said KD-554 as she shook Dane's hand. 

As KD-554 began to leave the room, Dane still felt that something was off. Though he could not yet point out what unsettled him, he knew his alliance with KD-554 could never be a long-lasting one. However, KD-554's tactics were beyond brutal. To peel away one's layers of morality and humanity, she would need to gradually dehumanize that person. By gradually blurring the lines between justice and morality, the monster underneath will be sure to emerge gradually. To her, one's savage nature is like oil. No matter how much water you add to it, eventually, it will all accumulate to the top and completely cover the water.

[KD-554] - "Today, you might be dissecting bodies in the name of justice. However, soon, you'll be cutting apart pregnant women like experimenting on worms. You weren't the first one to use this laboratory. The ones before you have simply graduated. "

Whispered KD-554 as she watched Dane from the doors. 

To be continued...