There was a faint thrumming of electricity as the elevator descended into the bowels of the facility. Inside, a stern, bald man in uniform who appeared to be in his late sixties stood impatiently and with scarily good posture. Finally, the elevator stopped and the doors slid open with a faint swish. On the other side stood a tall man wearing a lab coat with black hair streaked with grey, heralding his approaching decline and advancing age.
“General Morscoe, good afternoon.”
The stern man harrumphed and replied.
“It would be a better afternoon if I wasn’t here so I could rather be dealing with more pressing issues. You can’t exactly win a war by sipping coffee with your staff now can you.”
The man smiled faintly and adjusted the rectangular glasses he was wearing.
“With all do respect, sir. I didn’t call you here for coffee. It’s in regards to the OUTREACH project.”
The general sighed.
“Don’t even remind me of that fiasco. We send a small group of military ambassadors and suddenly they decide to wage war on our best bet of victory. I still don’t know how that happened. They claim to have been issued new orders mid-flight, but nobody with the necessary clearance gave any such orders.”
“We discovered the cause of that.”
The general fixed him with a laser focused stare.
“And?”
“It was them, sir. Somehow they used their uncanny abilities to gain access to our broadcasting system and wreaked havoc. They’re the ones responsible for that disaster and the subsequent loss of the Harriers.”
General Morscoe scowled.
“So they can freely intercept our coms! This is a disaster! How are we supposed to—“
“General,” he said in a cool voice. “We discovered a way to permanently block them from interfering with our communications. That is no longer an issue. However, I did have something I wanted to show you... and something we wanted your permission to do.”
Morscoe gestured for him to continue. He smiled and turned on his heel.
“Well then, let the tour commence.”
He led the older man through a maze of corridors that branched off on either side. Sounds of machinery and crackling electricity resonated from several of these passages. But eventually he led him to a balcony overlooking a large room like a gymnasium. The general surveyed the room with calculating indifference before saying,
“Well? I’m still waiting.”
The lab coat wearer grew a cold smirk grew as he began.
“General, do you remember the ACHILLES initiative?”
The general scoffed.
“Yeah I remember it. You lot wanted to look into augmenting soldiers to make them more effective against our foes. The Harriers were the fruits of that labor, correct?”
At this he snickered and purred,
“Well, General, they are the prototypes of that project, but we discovered something... interesting.”
The general raised an eyebrow before gesturing for him to continued.
“You see, the ACHILLES initiative delt with the integration of the substance called AETHER into humans. The Harriers are proof that, when it successfully merges with the subject, the human gains enhanced agility, strength, senses, and durability.”
“They become superhumans to put it bluntly, am I correct?”
The man huffed.
“I guess you could put it that way, but they pale in comparison to what I have to show you now.”
He pressed a button and spoke into a nearby microphone.
“Enter, 001.”
A door at one end of the room opened and out walked a man who appeared to be in his early thirties to late twenties. He had fair skin and raven hair. Nothing spectacular physique wise. The tour guide hit another button and an automated machine gun rose from the floor facing the man.
“Don’t worry, the bullets are rubber. Now watch this.”
As the man gave the gun a bored look before resting his arms behind his head, another button was pressed and the gun opened fire. The general was sure the man would soon be screaming in pain, his bored look replaced with one of severe displeasure. Just because they were rubber didn’t mean they wouldn’t hurt. But, to his amazement, every single bullet curved around the man. He was sure that his eyes were fooling him, that the gun was just missing, but the bullets were hitting the wall behind him and bouncing to the floor... with a large gap in the middle of them, right in line with the barrel of the gun. He gulped,
“What... am I looking at.”
“The future. As you noticed, all the bullets just happened to miss him, correct? But what if I did this.”
He raised his voice and said,
“Please send all the projectiles back at the sender this time.”
The man sighed,
“Alright, I guess. Whatever gets this over with fastest.”
The button was pressed again and the gun began to fire, except this time the man held his hand out in front of him like he was stopping traffic. To the general’s amazement the bullets all bounced straight back towards the gun with amazing accuracy, destroying the paper target he just realized was hung behind it.
“Remarkable, isn’t it?”
General Morscoe leaned over the railing and asked,
“What... was that.”
“That was Deflect. You see, we discovered that some humans possess not only the ability to have AETHER integrated into them, but also develop bizarre powers due to it. For instance....”
Down below, the man moved to the side as a woman with long, scarlet hair took center stage. The gun lowered back under the floor and a dummy took its place. Once the signal was given the woman drew her arm back like she was preparing to throw an open palm strike. Red sparks arced across her hand before she whipped her arm forward, flinging a bolt of crimson light. Upon contact, the dummy burst into flames with such force that it flew, blazing. Across the room.
“That is Subject 026. Her power, Combust.”
“Remarkable.” General Morscoe mumbled in bewilderment. After her came two people. An older man who appeared to be in his mid forties and in phenomenal shape, and a man obviously no older than twenty five, thin and wearing half moon spectacles with pale blonde hair.
“I hope you are enjoying your tour, General Morscoe.”
The general jumped and spun to see a man that looked exactly like the one below standing beside him. The man smiled faintly and spoke in a light, clear voice.
“Before you ask, I am the same person as the one down there. I am the Head of Research here, Doctor Jarvin Achten. I am also one of the few people who's power entails multiple abilities.”
He turned to the other man, the one who had led the general so far, and said,
“I believe you can go, Evan.”
He stiffly nodded and briskly walked away.
“Forgive him, general. He’s the supervisor here and one of my employees. He’s bitter that he’s incompatible with AETHER. Now, I bet you’re wondering what’s going on.”
The general nodded and looked down at the two men below. The larger man had begun to attack by punching the air and sending concussive blasts of air at the other... three? Sure enough there were now three of the bespectacled man calmly sidestepping his blasts while giving helpful advice. Morscoe asked,
“How is that possible?”
“That power is my Duplication. I can make fake copies of myself to act as decoys which I can also swap places with, although they break very easily. Next, I can analyze my opponent for weaknesses with the much higher processing power my brain has due to AETHER. Finally, I can fabricate various inanimate objects from AETHER.”
He turned and walked to the balcony before bluish light enveloped his hand. Seconds later a crossbow loaded with a bolt topped with a boxing glove formed out of blue light grew in his grip. He took aim and fired, catching the man on the jaw and knocking him down. He allowed the weapon to disappear and called,
“Better luck next time, Viktor.”
The man sighed and stalked away as the three copies disappeared. Doctor Jarvin motioned for the general to follow before leading him down a set of stairs and down the hall the demonstrators had entered and exited through.
“Oh, I forgot to explain Viktor! Now, Viktor’s power is the ability to create compressed blasts of air by punching it. It enables him to attack from close to mid range with devastating effect.”
They arived in a long training hall where people of all gender, nationality, and age were practicing with their powers. Among the trainees, General Morscoe saw a woman who was deconstructing various objects by touching them with her left hand before reconstructing them with her right, a man who was leaping around with incredible speed while shooting lightning from his hands, and a man punching a punching bag with some greenish, shiny material on his hands. The doctor led him to a man with curious devices on his arms.
“General, this is Doctor Smith. His power is Hemomancy.”
The general shook his hand before Jarvin continued.
“He can manipulate his own blood and the blood of others. Also, his blood has the property of advanced healing as well as being able to be transfused to people of all blood types. In fact, you might have seen some of it under the name Salamander. We’ve begun distributing it to the military.”
The other doctor nodded and said,
“It has so far been credited with saving many lives. I’m just glad that I can save even more people than before.”
Morscoe gestured to his arms and said,
“So what are those?”
“They enable me to fire siphons from my right arm to allow easy manipulation of blood, and to inject people with my blood from my left. Pretty handy for emergencies.”
Jarvin motioned for the general to follow him.
“I bet you’re wondering where AETHER comes from.”
General Morscoe chuckled.
“Is mind reading another of your powers?”
“Sadly no. Oh dear.”
The general saw that his guide was staring at the console beside the door. He turned and called out,
“Jefferson, did you zap the door again?”
The electricity wielding person dashed over and gave a sheepish smile.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to.”
“Well I guess we’ll have to wait for maintenance to get here before.”
“I can help with that, Jarvin.”
General Morscoe started at the cheerful, female voice that came from above him. He had expected there to be a flying girl or one walking on the ceiling or something. What he had not expected was for the woman to be... a killer whale. Her skin was shiny and smooth while bearing the distinct coloration of a killer whale. She also had a fin sticking out of the back of her head and had a thick tail. What also made her stand out was the fact that she was clad in a tight blue one piece... and that she was at least eight feet tall. Jarvin smiled.
“Why thank you, Orca. I would be most happy to have your assistance.”
He turned to the general and explained.
“Orca’s power is pretty self explanatory. Not only can she swim incredibly fast and hold her breath for an insane amount of time. And don’t let her shapely, slightly chubby body fool you, she also has the proportional strength of a killer whale. Her blubber and thick skin also acts as a tough layer of protection.”
Orca blushed.
“Sheesh, calling it blubber makes me sound like a total fatty. I’m just a bit chubby, and it’s not like human fat. You know, Orcinas orca is—“
“Orca, my dear, as much as I would love to hear about your passionate love of marine fauna, the general has pressing matters to attend her.”
“Oh, right!”
And with that she bent over and grabbed the seam of the blast doors. With apparent ease, she drew them aside and stood back.
“There you go! If you need me, I’ll be in the lab!”
As she turned and walked away, the general heard Jefferson sigh.
“It’s a real shame she’d probably crush anyone she slept with. I’ve never seen bigger boobs in my life.”
Jarvin laughed serenely.
“Let Wolfhound catch you talking like that and he’ll rip you apart.”
With a quick nod, the two were off again. As they walked, Jarvin spoke.
“I’ve been wondering if our powers manifest dependenty upon our own personalities. Orca, for instance, was a marine biologist before she accepted my invitation to join the ACHILLES program, and she became like the creatures she’s obsessed with. Meanwhile, her brother was a military K-9 specialist and he gained the abilities of a dog... as well as the appearance of one. Ah, here we are!”
He stopped before a door bearing the inscription “restricted.”
“Behind this door is something that is so top secret, no other human beings but myself and my fellow researcher knows of its existence. You must not allow this knowledge to be compromised.”
The general nodded. With all the shocking stuff he’d seen today, he didn’t know what to expect. Jarvin scanned his ID and then his fingers and eye before the door opened, revealing—
“Holy....”