New encounters..

A cool breeze flowed along a section of Los Angeles, California, where a fatigued young warrior had just barely escaped an explosion of a bomb in a warehouse. His target had attempted to blow Soulshade up, along with all evidence of his criminal deeds. Soulshade had caught an evil scientist named Dr. Gero, who was building powerful androids to take out meta-humans. Soulshade had managed to get past all of the little robot minions the good ole Doctor Gero sent his way, annihilating them with ease.

The sky was pitch dark, while a bruised, ragged Soulshade sighed at his failure to stop the good ole doctor from escaping. After Soulshade diced up all the robot minions, Dr. Gero sent one of his earlier projects on the warrior, a rather large robot capable of destroying a military tank with ease. Soulshade used all of his smarts and his skills in order to turn the machine against itself, but by the time he was finished, the good ole doctor had fired the bomb, giving Soulshade barely enough time to escape.

Soulshade's thoughts were scattered, his ears ringing wildly from the "boom" of the explosion. He pondered to himself, "Mission failure. I failed to stop and terminate Dr. Gero, now it'll take yet more time to track him down and stop his next plan. For all I know I'll find him again AFTER his androids are finished. Maybe I should find a way to become more powerful, as of recent events, my skills haven't been sufficient enough to match some of these higher level tasks." Soulshade sighed, he would have to leave these matters for a later time, for now he had to get back and heal.

The young warrior would rise, he would have to get to the air strip, Millennium would not be pleased to learn that he had failed in his mission. He would report to Millennium HQ, and then prepare himself for his next departure to a new assignment. He would then set a quick pace for himself, as he began to sprint, his movements much quicker than a normal human could comprehend. He had no idea what to do from here...

Hovering silently a few meters above a nearby building, CORE was lost. He had been patrolling the area in search of a meta named Soulshade, who had been identified as a viable candidate for Abraxis Corp. when his world tilted slightly to the right. The explosion of a warehouse several blocks to his left had sent him reeling out of the sky. Luckily, he was able to phase through the building he had almost collided into, and slowed himself before he actually hit anything, and phased back out through the wall. Upon rising back up, he noted a smaller figure picking himself up near the wreckage.

TArGEt IDeNTIFIED | PERsUE UNtIL OpTIMAL APPRoACHING TiME

As the man bolted down the street, CORE repositioned himself a fair distance behind him in the air, so that he could see him, but the man would have to know exactly where he was to see him floating behind. "I have identified the target, and will remain in pursuit until I am able to contact him."

As Soulshade was running in fit condition towards the air strip, he tried his best to ignore the wounds he had sustained in his previous battle, as well as small pieces of shrapnel that pierced a few places in his legs. Soulshade thought to himself, "Being on the borderline of human limits isn't good enough, I need to ascend past the limitations of a normal human.. but I'm not sure how." He would have to give that some tough thought later. There were several routes he could take to enhance his powers, but some of them may not work out, and all of them require time he doesn't have. "I just need to be patient and get some more experience in the field," reasoned the young warrior.

Soulshade had the strangest feeling he was being watched, and would look to his left and his right, not seeing anyone that could be watching him. He then turned his attention to behind himself, but didn't spot anyone around him. He then smirked at himself, "You're simply being paranoid Soulshade, no one is following you. But just in case, I think I'll take a few precautions." Soulshade would activate one of his unique abilities, the ability of temporary invisibility, as his entire body would seemingly "disappear" from sight. Taking use of this stealth, he chose to make a left, his sprint turning into a swift yet silent jog. He would begin to continue this way, until he made a right after about two blocks, to once more go towards the Air Strip. He was now confident that no one following him would uncover him now. After a few seconds of running toward the airstrip on this new street, Soulshade would suddenly appear on the new empty street.. confident no one could tail him now.

When his quarry disappeared from sight, CORE knew that it had to be him, or someone who looked like him and could teleport, and the former was far more likely than the latter. He flew higher into the air, to get a bird's-eye view of the ye rounding area. Upon seeing a inure appear out of nowhere on a nearby street aided significantly in locatin him.

DEScENdING | PRePARE FoR ImPACt

Streamlining himself towards the street that Soulshade was running on, he hit full speed in the air, and came crashing down but yards behind him in the empty street. The impact was softened by CORE's sudden backpedaling when he neared the ground, but he remained mostly in motion, and reduced the road to rubble where he landed. "You have spotted me Soulshade, but I do not seek conflict. I am honest when I say that I only sought you out to speak, and maybe give you a tour of the facilities." He stood, coming to his full height ((a foot and three quarters taller than Soulshade)), and looked down upon him. "I couldn't match you in hand-to-hand combat if I tried."

Fast. That was the singular word that Soulshade could use to describe the next few moments after he reappeared. He was smirking at himself for his "cleverness". Suddenly after he appeared, some kind of heavy impact was made, with enough force to send Soulshade flying with rapid force, which made him fall into the wall of a building head first, OUCH! The collision resulted in a loud "BOOM", as well a Soulshade shaped hole in the wall... damn these people should spend more money on their walls material.

Soulshade would appear from the wreckage with a frown on his face, as he tried to hear out this newcomer, whose words sounded a little robotic, "You ave spotted me Soulshade, but I do not seek conflict. I am honest when I say that I only sought you out to speak, and maybe give you a tour of the facilities." Soulshade was confused, what did he want to speak about, and what kind of facilities did he want to show the young warrior? However Soulshade was slightly intrigued as to what this person wanted, it must be important for him to not discuss it here.

However, Soulshade's facial structure was emotionless, as well as clear, it would be difficult for the newcomer to interpret his reaction to these words. After a little period of silence, the newcomer once again spoke, as he tried a simple use of flattery to help persuade him, "I couldn't match you in hand-to-hand combat if I tried."

Soulshade would stop him right there, as he scoffed at this statement, protesting, "Your impact with the ground as you descended was quite something, you would not have been an easy combatant to deal with. Flattery is not necessary, especially because it does not work on me. However I shall accompany you to wherever it is you wish to guide me. Be warned however, any suspicious behavior or act of aggression will result in a conflict you will not enjoy." Soulshade would then walk towards the giant, his quiet foot steps slowly pacing towards him, he was in no rush right now. His business with Millennium could wait for now.

Soulshade would finally be face-to-face with the giant, as he would bluntly state, "Well if you're ready to depart, we should go. We can discuss things wherever it is you want me to go..."

CORE spoke almost giddily. "Good, good. It was not flattery though, as I am a rather poor combatant. I fear one thing that might change your mind." CORE produced a blindfold from seemingly nowhere. "You must wear this, although you can take it off as soon as we're indoors. I have no means of preventing you from removing it, rather, this is my first act of trust to you." Whatever Soulshade's response was, CORE tossed the piece of fabric over to him, and began to move towards the side of the road. Stepping up on the curb, he called back to Soulshade. Holding up his left hand, he said, "I'm going to tell you what will happen if you accept. I will call for transport, and we will get in the car, and I will explain some things to you en route to the facilities aforementioned, where if you agree, I will give you a tour of them, and you might meet my erm... Coworker." Holding up his right hand, he said, "if you wish to be left alone however, then you must still come with me, but we will not talk, and you will only see as much of the facilities as necessary to get you to the anesthetics center, so that you need not remember this encounter, I'm sure you understand, we cannot have the general populous knowing that we were asking around in the meta community. That would be... less than desirable." Dropping both hands he then said, "it's all up to you. Again, I have no dark intents, and I seek not to force you into something against your will, I'm just conducting business."

Soulshade would make no comments as to the stranger's demands, quite frankly he didn't care if he had to wear a blindfold. If this was some sly way to lure Soulshade into a trap, Soulshade would handle it, and this guy would have to be terminated. So for now, he decided to give the newcomer the benefit of the doubt, and would just use the damn blindfold. Soulshade caught the fabric swiftly, and would neatly tie it around his eyes, not really caring that he couldn't see. As they were walking, Soulshade relied on his sense of hearing in order to grasp what was going on around him so he wouldn't lose the newcomer, and so he could make sure that he didn't sense any suspicious activity.

In a few moments however, the footsteps of this newcomer were at a stop, obviously there was some more info Soulshade had to obtain before they went. This newcomer would continue to ramble, "I'm going to tell you what will happen if you accept. I will call for transport, and we will get in the car, and I will explain some things to you en route to the facilities aforementioned, where if you agree, I will give you a tour of them, and you might meet my erm... Coworker." A few moments after, he would continue, "If you wish to be left alone however, then you must still come with me, but we will not talk, and you will only see as much of the facilities as necessary to get you to the anesthetics center, so that you need not remember this encounter, I'm sure you understand, we cannot have the general populous knowing we were asking arond in the meta community. That would be.. less than desirable."

Soulshade would sigh, as this man was testing his patience, he didn't take so kindly to ultimatums, however he was willing to be a little patient for now. Where Soulshade was going could be the source of an important secret, whether that secret was good, bad, or somewhere in the middle, only time would tell. Soulshade would stare at the head of the newcomer and would ask, "I will cooperate. However I have a few questions, the first of which that comes to my mind being, how in the hell did you know I was a meta-human?" He was quite curious on how this man could possibly know that, there were other ways of which Soulshade could have his powers.

Stopping on the edge of the curb, CORE pondered the odd question. "I suppose it would be the way metahumans walk, talk, breathe, and act in general. Humans lack the passion and luster in their actions. They take it all for granted. Mutants on the other hand, stick out because they're awkward with their abilities. No matter how comfortable they become with them, they feel odd in their own skin. Now, if you'll kindly wait here a moment." He pressed a button on his arm.

Far deeper in the city, in a large building that did not look too different from a hospital, but retained the feel of a military base, a light flashed and alarms rang. Apraxis Corp was notified that CORE was returning, hopefully with the metahuman Soulshade. His voice sounded over the communications wing of the building. "If you'd kindly send us the car and a small escort, that would be greatly appreciated." He turned back to Soulshade. "Now, if you'd kindly wait a moment or two, our ride will arrive. If she's paying any attention I guess."

Deep in the abraxis corp facility lafiana was hard at work. She was in her office, carefully piecing together a potential human/kemmorii DNA strand. She was trying to produce what their basic male and female gender would look like. Her entire office white white, with a single large desk in the centre and a chair for herself. All over the walls were various blueprints for different cures as well as potential weapons she could create with ease. As she worked, she stumbled when a loud beeping and flashing began to ring. It ruined the entire DNA strand. "Fuck.. Why does that damn machine always choose the worst possible moments.." Anyone who could see her would be able to tell she was under a bit of stress.

Putting her lab coat on and tying it, she made her way through the building. Various levels and security levels had to be cleared as she made her way down to the underground hanger. When the door opened to the area she quickly changed clothes into common driver's apparel. She hopped into the drivers seat of their completely blacked out limousine, and slowly drove off. Of course she drive carefully and got to their location within five minutes. Without moving as she drove up, she observed the potential new recruit. she was glad to see him wearing the blindfold already. As she stopped she put the vehicle in park and got out. Walking around professionally and opening the limo door. "Sirs?" She spoke out calmly and professionally.

As Soulshade stared questioningly at the thing taking him towards this "facility" that Soulshade was to be so interested in. His answer as to how metahumans were, and that is how he figured out Soulshade was a metahuman. Soulshade was frowning as he finished explaining, and Soulshade would reply to the machine, "Well then I suppose you got lucky that assumption panned out, even though I don't act that way at all. Guess you are a good guesser however." Soulshade then listen intently as the machine activated some kind of communication device, probably contacting someone in the organization he worked for. Soulshade's curiosity was the only reason he was going along so quietly, normally someone like this would have triggered his dangerous rage, and become a pile of parts, but the secrecy and thoroughness with which they moved, intrigued him greatly.

His ears would perk when the machine spoke, one section of dialogue in particular alerted him, "Now, if you'd kindly wait a moment or two, our ride will arrive. If she's paying any attention I guess." This alerted him for he had said "she", which implied a female would be coming, which meant danger to Soulshade. The only two females Soulshade had known besides his deceased mother, whom he didn't have much interaction with, was Patricia, his legal guardian, and Lan Fan, his sibling disciple. Both of them were quite scary, always being stern with Soulshade, and Lan Fan was a martial artist, so when she got mad at Soulshade, an altercation would immediately occur, usually with Soulshade in pain. Soulshade hoped that this female wasn't very violent, the last thing he needed at the moment was another altercation, he still obtained a few wounds from his last scrap with Dr. Gero.

Soulshade would soon be interrupted as the sound of a car came in, the kind of car was not yet determined by the blindfolded warrior. Soon two steps were heard, followed by a calm, soothing voice that spoke, "Sirs?" He heard the sound of an opened door, obviously this was where he was supposed to come in. He would go in after CORE, and once he got in, he would try to be polite to the lady driving, trying to remain on her good side to avoid an altercation. He would chuckle to himself as he made a joke, "So do you always drive blindfolded men around or do you occasionally have some men who can see where they're going?" He clearly thought he was somewhat amusing, but maybe he should have chose more intelligent conversation choice, but he was blindfolded, in a car, not knowing where he was really going, perhaps this whole situation wasn't befitting of his intelligence, so it panned out.

CORE made an odd whirring noise at the question that Soulshade had posed, perhaps the machine's analogue for scoffing. "Boy, I find it surprising that she's driving at all." Then, turning to look in the rear-view mirror at Lafiana, he quickly added "I err... Expected another driver." Perhaps that was his analogue to nervousness. He the quickly made sure that the blindfold was secured tightly, and shortly thereafter he stopped moving, and shut of all external functions.

ErROR | PARsING DaTA FILEs tO REMoVE SeCTiON HeR2I...
SUcESSfULLY REMoVED

Rebooting his outer systems, his head turned back towards where Lafiana could see him directly. "My apologies, that was a bug, it will not happen again. Shall I explain the current circumstances to him, or would you like to?"

The young driver kept the window to the back down, obviously listening to every word spoken. Soulshade made a joke that Lafiana had trouble not giggling from. But she let a small smile tug at the corner of her lips. A moment later she heard some odd noises from CORE, clearly he was shocked. She was proud of that. He announced it as a bug and presented her with a question. With the most professional voice possible, she spoke clearly and quietly.

"currently you are traveling toward our facilities where you will meet Mr. CORE's boss. I will not speak about her. We work for the Abraxis corporation. It was founded by CORE as well as Lafiana. Lafiana funded it completely out of her own pocket. She paid for quite literally, everything. In a couple short months the Abraxis corp have cured neumerous infections as well as injuries. The first Was done by lafiana and a small group of medical engineers. They learned how to heal broken bones in minutes. And heal large gashes in less then two minutes. That alone put abraxis on the map. Seemingly overnight they have become one of the largest medical research centres on the planet. Lafiana has a hand in everything there." The girl paused for a moment to let the man absorb that information. then she began again.

"However she has a hand in something that Mr. CORE here brought forth to her. She started abraxis secretly for this reason. Mr. CORE was built by an advanced race of extinct extra terrestrials known as, the Kemmarii. This is why we are bringing you in. More will be explained later. We are about to arrive." She grinned to herself, satisfied by her performance. slowly she pulled into a secret entrance in an ally then went at a downward slope. The entrance silently slid shut after them. The end curved in slowly and went in a look. She parked outside the underground entrance and slowly stepped out. Walking over and opening the door to the limo. she stood by the door and waited for them to get out. When they did, she closed the door and vanished quietly, leaving to go back and change and go to her office for CORE to lead there.

Soulshade was most intrigued when the professional voice of the female spoke, for she spoke of the organization, both of them were filling him in on their motives, as well as their boss. Soulshade would take note of this organization, figuring it was wise to remember its name "Abraxis Corporation", for future use if needed. Their objective? Simple, they wanted to harness technology of a near extinct species named the Kemmarii, and something else involving the species, but by this point Soulshade was catching on to what they meant, he was no fool, despite the way he spoke and acted. Obviously they wanted to resurrect the species here, on Planet Earth, by interbreeding. Such an event could be either beneficial to the Human Race... or it could be its end. Sweat would roll along Soulshade's skin, dripping to the floor of the nice limo, this was going to be a big decision for him. Obviously they wouldn't be showing him these facilities and explaining their objectives to Soulshade... unless they wanted him to join them.

Soulshade thought to himself, "If they do offer me a deal to join them, I'll have to wait until I have seen everything and balanced out all the outcomes that this could result in... For now I must wait until I meet this Lafiana character." Soulshade was rather silent the entire time as the driver spoke, and when she finished, he responded, his voice seemingly calm and rather clear, "So this Lafiana character funded everything out of her own pocket? Such an extraordinary person with such ambitious goals... it'll be quite an interesting encounter don't you say?" Soulshade would soon step out of the vehicle, since apparently they made it to their destination... what a quick trip. Soulshade would await for CORE to get the hell out of the vehicle so they could proceed, he was taking this detour after all from his original plan to meet up with the Millennium jet, if this wasn't quick.. he could very well miss his ride.

CORE slowly rose from his seat in the back of the vehicle. He hovered near the door waiting for Lafiana to exit the room before speaking to Soulshade. "It will indeed my friend," he backed away from the vehicle, "you can remove your blindfold if you'd like, then follow me and I will prepare you as much as I can for meeting Lafiana." Turning on his heel he walked smoothly down the underground corridor. "She is young, that is the first thing you must know. Do not act surprised around her if you can, as she expects the most of all of us, we must always appear on par with her knowledge, but do not lie to her if she asks you of what you know. She will ask you a set of questions, and you will answer them. She will in turn provide you with information and answer your questions when she is done." Turning to a tall door, he spoke one last time to him alone. "Good luck, and welcome to a world unseen."

Lafiana quickly made her way back to her underground office a few hundred feet away. she passed numerous plain white doors along the way. She silently looked at them as she passed, knowing what lies beyond. After a few minutes she reached her office and quickly changed. Putting on her tight black tank top, tight black skinny jeans and her combat boots. she pulled her black hair into a pony tail and everything in the room lit up with what must have been hundreds of her opaque screens. Her mind was running on overdrive most of the days now. Her mind was processing hundreds of pieces of information on dozens of research products. but most of them were analyzing every shred of code the human DNA strand has. Slowly she stepped back and her unfinished DNA strand of a human/kemmarii popped up in a 3D projection over the table. slowly she pulled out certain chromosomes and added some. a variety of information only a handful of the people in the world would understand changes slightly with each edit she makes.

She turns towards the door and it opens on it's own. She knew they were on the other side and she prepared herself while everything else was running. The DNA strand spinning slowly as it went untouched by her.