Chapter 3- Doomed

"Oh, if it isn't the legendary Black Plague of War here to help his brother in need! So nice of you to show up" said Kamir as he was getting up from 36's blow.

"I see your appearance finally matches what you really look like on the inside, Kamir. You're nothing more than swamp of toxic waste and human dirt. Your type doesn't get to have a personality but get to personify disgust itself."

"Hehe! Improvise. Adapt. Overcome."

36 looked down at Marshall for a moment, knowing how Marshall can be such a big nuisance sometimes, for both government and rebellious forces. "I wonder if he's worth more dead than alive," thought 36.

"War isn't about playing fair, you know… Now you get a taste of what's it like to fight with someone out of your league, boy. I won't go easy on you so you can go all out!"

Kamir's hand tightened in a stiff vibrating fist that began to emit a low pitch sound. His eyes locked on 36. 36 doesn't waste a moment and dashes into Kamir like a lightning bolt until his hand's stuck deep in his foe's guts. His arm began to steam as Kamir's stomach started boiling. "He's so radioactive most of the people here within a 20 miles radius are likely to die of cancer in the next few years…" Kamir starts to shake and stabilize his regenerative cells gradually, but fast enough to catch 36 off guard. He grabs him by shoulders and butt heads him hard.

Kamir's body starts hardening from the gooey state to a solid rock-like body. 36 falls back a few steps enough to stabilize and compress his own cells to attack again. He plunges into Kamir's raised fist ramming and provoking an implosion into Kamir's body.

"Still gooey on the inside, pops? I bet you struggle with arthritis too!"

Both their bodies were soon drained of energy and will to fight. From high-class weapons of destruction, they began exchanging melee hits like some high-school kids. Kamir got the high land by hardening fast a spiked coating, then uppercut 36 who flew into a tree. Neither have enough power to fight any longer so the last attack must end with the death of the opponent. Kamir doesn't waste a moment and launches himself to end the sparring. Kamir knows 36 is not a life to be wasted but transformed so he swallows him into a softened pond forming into his chest.

36 felt helpless. "Damn the old man is tough material… I can't make any escape move."

Then, a mountain of a man appeared behind Kamir. In an instant, Marshall turned now purple with rage, uses his forearm to decapitate Kamir and takes his friend to an open space where rescuing helicopters to land. Marshall's blood was pumping so fast, especially in his broken leg, the pressure from the blood filling the space left by the shattered bones. "I guess I'm done for…damn we lost so hard!" The situation settled with Kamir spreading uncontrollably in a state where he's neither dead nor alive. Regardless, he will cause a great deal of disturbance. No matter how prepared the soldiers were, they can never stand a chance in front of such a menace. This is war, worse than the Continental war. But it will be contained and called a civil war, so no one else gets involved. The revolutionaries took over plenty of land by now, but taking it back will not be much of a win.

Those damned radioactive corpses!

[11:02, April the 8th 2094]

Central Capital Hospital for war-class personnel. The most privileged location a soldier can enter.

Marshall woke up covered in bandages. He suffered a broken leg, a dislocated arm, some scratches, and 3rd degree burns on his entire body. He was waiting silently for a nurse to pass by just to ask her where his comrade is, worried that 36 didn't make it. Eventually, he passed into a deep sleep. Marshall is a 3rd generation Powerholder. The Powerholders consist of 5 types: the first generation the AG-project result, then 2nd and 3rd grant superhuman strength and resistance. The 4th and 5th are more stable and less straining on the holder's body as they don't come with as many errors as the previous generations. Nanotechnology is always a work in progress, especially when paired with human biotechnology.

Every generation gets a specific ability:

There is the first generation, the early 100 AG-project purge program test subjects for war eradication. There are about 10 subjects left now due to fusion instability and self-destruction. The AG-project was suspended shortly after. Their power is to move and rearrange their bodies' atoms to cause nuclear reactions in contact with the environment. While in a sterile lab, no issues are encountered, the outside environment is very contaminated, so the body of the subject becomes very unstable and vulnerable cellular death. The subjects carry a chain reaction where they can become fluid, hard and even light waves, or particles, then react and synthesize their energy into a certain state of aggregation depending on the nature of the subject and their predilection. For example, you have a first generation like 36 who can make himself one with the air and form different types of chain reactions from particles to thin gases or plasma. Ultimately, he is the one deciding what to become and what to do causing explosion from subtle air frictions, composing and recomposing. He's meant to be like that: his cells and nerves are over 70% dead but at the same time they have become very stable and no longer present major injuries from using the powers. In other, words he can arrange his atoms to be dead without dying.

The second generation was created shortly after the first one was discharged and was meant to fix the bugs of the first project, but they just ended up becoming an inner army. Those who got second generation powers are now the Centre City guards, also named shifters. They are the least discussed generation because the government doesn't wish to disclose details of their special duties. Their powers are allowing them to react to the environment, not like the first generation that combined with it. A second gen can react to changes in the environment such as weather or geographical conditions but is more exposed. He can control things like fluids or solids by imitating their molecular configuration, hence, the name of shifter. They also can absorb humans and take their form, but this thing isn't recommended because absorbing a human mean absorbing his neural patterns flooding the brain with the victim's memories, including trauma and weaknesses. Psychological instability is not allowed for a second gen.

While first and second gen are based on the nature of the subject tied mainly to their genetics, the thirds are based on emotion response or affects. The third gen are the ones who can adapt to specific situations depending on how they feel about it. For example, you take any gen subject in deep water, his body will react to his survival instinct and will harden the bones, rearrange the internal organs and the muscles to withstand pressure and reduce the need of oxygen to minimum. But a third gen subject, could simply die, if they have no emotional response in front of the situation. The thirds required extensive psychological evaluation and a crystal-clear emotional response to the context. Marshall's wrath made his blood thicker allowing him to walk and carry 36 with shattered bones. Their will to live, their compassion and fighting spirit made them the most loved among the Powerholders. Yet, from numbers counting up to 10.000 decreased drastically by end of the WW4 to a handful because depression and sorrow played a toll on their bodies that went into a self-destructive mode causing cancer, strokes and even complete disintegration.

Now, the 4th and 5th generation of powerholders are the most common in the special forces giving the subject partial control over what they can do. It is like a booster for vision, endurance, and strength. That doesn't mean they are weak as they can easily compete with the rest of powerholders by using their skill intelligently and coming up with very intricate strategies. They do not charge recklessly like the other gen types into battle and are the least affected by the side-effects because they do not have access to self-destructive cellular control. The fourths are known for their strength and stamina and fit bodies, while the fifths are thinner, swift and highly praised for their sharp cognitive senses. However, the main difference between them and the previous generations are the time of the "upgrade". Mostly first, second and thirds were chosen after they were born. Some successful experiments included even veterans in their 70s. However, this was no longer the case for the fourths and fifths. They were genetically engineered. The scientists have understood that stability decreased because the previous subjects had a very drastic and even traumatic shift in the perception. They began to lose touch with their identity and that triggered all the side-effects. But if one was designed "different" from the start, they would have better chances to make sense of the world without feeling the loss of self. Rumours are, they are currently thinking of the 6th generation. Nothing is yet revealed, but the government has been breeding women to fit a very strange type of requirement…

On the rooftop of the hospital stood two doctors starring at the city landscape.

"Do you think it will rain tonight?"

"I don't think so. No changes in the heat current. It's still too dry."

"Well. I think is time to get back to work" said the older one while dropping his cigarette and stomping it.

They were walking across the ER cubicles. In one of the saloons a blind man was taking faced to a wall. One of the nurses passed by the doctors and quickly went into the room to seat him on his bed and sedate him for further rest.

The two doctors enter Marshall's room.

"Good day Mr. Brock, isn't it a lovely day?"

"Indeed, Mr. Cadar, I thought I'll never see you again."

"People like me retire only when the last healer visits: The woman in black!"

"You mean your wife? Ha ha ha!"

"She's long dried into some grave near her family, ha-haha! Death is my soon-to-be bride, son."

The second doctor was preparing to fill his perfusion. In that time, Marshall faded into sleep again.

"His stats are stable" said Dr. Cadar.

"Should we keep a close eye on him?"

"Don't. We should keep him calm, so don't rush to bring any news to him. If it's something that he's known for is his wrath and this is a hospital. We need to make sure it remains a hospital and not a pile of rubble and flesh."

*Gups* "Understood."

[10:50, April the 8th 2094]

"Are you fully aware of the consequences, 36?" Said Cadar lighting up a cigarette.

"Don't tell Marshall anything that I told you. My time has come to an end here."

"Say, son, do you believe in God?"

"I don't know what you mean by God. I think we have different concepts of God. I do think we believe in the same thing that is associated with God. After all, we both experience the absurdity of destruction. See you around!"

"Good Luck, boy!"

36 disappeared into thin air as he jumped out of the building, right on time to avoid the encounter with another doctor coming for his cigarette break on the rooftop."