The Devil Nymbus

Walking, it’s such a small basic act, but you’d be surprised how rare it seems to be the higher you climb up the seemingly endless towers of the cityscape. Still as normal as it was at the bottom, it was rare to see a single walking executive, unless they were working for some ‘retro’ corporation or something. Thus it was a strange sight indeed to see not only someone walking on one of the higher levels but wearing an exterior device to listen to something that sound like a thumping sound to those around the out of place man.

He glanced around at the glamorized beings around him, some were literally non-humans of so many different species it was hard to name one, but the bulk was made up of Neo-Humanity. Humans who’s ancestors spliced or manipulated their genetics to celebrate or exaggerate certain traits, or add those from other creatures. Then there was the far rarer but incredibly important Evo-Humans, those who are possessing the special traits of a human that had evolved to the next stage of human life, they had as little to do with the humans of the past as the Neo-Humans.

In fact ‘Pure Gene Humans’ were so rare that they were considered a commodity, an endangered species to be owned and protected from the dangerous world that surrounded them. They had none of the advantages of the Neo-Humans or their alien allies, nor the natural genetic advantages of the Evo-Human, though it was funny that Pure Genes were the most important part of the Human Econ Sphere nowadays. As the diversity between the different forms of humanity began to make products that were universally usable became harder and harder. Thus the most ‘wealthy’ people were those whose genes held high gene purity. In fact no Human on the executive level held less than five percent purity, though few had more than twelve percent purity either. The man sighed as he pulled his headset off and glanced around, he was dramatically out of place, from his clothes to his technology he looked like an old video, a technology that only existed in largest and most popular museums of the era.

Sighing he pulled out his sunglasses, another relic that no one else had or needed anymore, and placed them on before continuing on his way. Glancing up at a sign that had dragged him up here, apparently the most pure remaining human was meeting with people today, her body had sixty percent purity, and she was treated like an object by her ‘employer’, who basically owned the poor girl. Walking towards the towering building, and looked annoyed at the mirror-like entrance. It wasn’t designed to respond properly to people walking rather than using float-wear.

He took a moment to look at himself, he looked a bit too retro in some respects, a classic t-shirt and hooded sweater (called a hoodie by many back in its era), his blond hair was wild, and yet that seemed to fit him perfectly. His eyes were still hidden by the ancient glasses, then with a sneer as if he was trying to impress his own reflection, he easily jumped up to a height that the door recognized and opened letting him into the building.

The corporation was Mantronics, a massive corporation that created any number of cyberwear, and fleshwear. In this day, you could completely customize your body with damaging your precious gene coding. Mantronics produced products only for human decendants, thus the worth of their Pure Gene Sample. Pausing for a moment the retro dressed visitor wondered if she even had a real name.

It was only a few dozen stepped into the building before a wall appeared in the thin air, and a pair of security agents floated down from above.

“Business?” one asked briskly, but not sounding at all interested in him.

“I am here about the AD you displayed everywhere.” The agents looked between themselves, before chuckling.

“Did you see the part about needing at least a seven percent gene purity to do so?” They took another look at the man, and figured he might have been a no-zone, a person whose genes were so corrupted, that they had nothing in common with the rest of humanity, they were also called ‘Monsters’ as they could look as normal as anyone, but underneath hide a dangerous secret.

“I did. If you want to test me, I am fine with that.” He spoke, calm as ever.

“No, the wall will test if meet the minimum requirements, so just give us your name.”

“Trevor Nymbus.” He said before walking past them and into the wall, it was like walking through static, but it didn’t even slow him down, much to the surprise of the security agents.

“Huh, Nymbus…why does that sound familiar?” The quiet one, who had yet to speak asked as the identified Trevor Nymbus disappeared into an elevation tube. Shooting upwards towards the tower’s peak at incredible speeds. Within the man called Trevor frowned as he watched the world blur away. He had none of the advanced bio-tech and thus he had to focus on where he was going, or else the world around him could become a nearly endless fall. Still he hated the technocrats, they were worse than…

The tube opened to reveal a beautiful space, but it was constructed to look so nice by advance nano-machines, walking in he was met by a man who had obvious feline enhancements in his history. They were charismatic, and typically helped with first impressions. They were a perfect public relations executive, in many cases, and probably more if Trevor’s instincts were right.

“Ah, greetings. You are the first visitor to make it here…” It was obvious that he hadn’t taken a look at the man in front of him before speaking, as he suddenly became more cautious. To many, Trevor was part of a faction of humanity that they preferred to ignore. “Please, may I have a blood sample?”

Trevor smiled a bit before leaning forwards. “First show me to the princess, eh?” The man seemed to be ready to object, but the glasses on Trevor’s nose had slid down, and the look in his eyes, seemed to make the cat-like man agree instantly, and begin to lead the young man towards the princess.

A wall of shimmering glass was now all that separated him from the wondrous looking jewel of a woman, to many that’s all she was, but Trevor could almost feel the melancholy, the loneliness, and the desire to at least be treated like a real person. Even she, as a treasure, was enhanced. He hair was an unnatural shade of blonde that naturally held a blue-ish sheen to it, with eyes the color of molten gold. She was what many considered to be perfect by their own standards, and he knew exactly what he was walking into once he crossed that glass.

“Blood sample?” Trevor merely waved a hand in front of the small panel the man held, and it scanned him before the glass melted away, and he stepped in surprising the girl a bit. She didn’t seem to expect anyone to really come here. The glass wall closed behind him and became opaque, matching the dull colors of the rest of the room, making his opposite stand out all the more.

“Greetings, I have wanted to meet you for some time.” He said, before taking a seat next to the maiden, causing her to immediately move to shift away, which he didn’t try to stop. Instead he smiled but it wasn’t warm at all. “Are you happy here?”

“Eh?” she was stunned for a moment by the blunt question, even if the answer was obvious, she couldn’t voice it. Her head waved from side to side instead. Trevor who’d only sat for a moment, stood again, moving towards the outer window. It too was composed of nano-machines, and gave a wondrous view of the outer void, and the earth far below. The moon seemed massive from the vantage point he now stood on.

“Excellent.” He was still smiling, even as the walls seemed to melt around them. Then more armed men than the Pure Gene girl had ever seen in her life surrounded them, including the cat-like man, who was basically her handler. They were armed to the teeth, and all of them Gene Bred to be a warrior.

“Mr. Nymbus. You…are a marvel are you not?” He snapped his fingers, and the men began to approach. “To think that there was a human being with your level of purity that still existed in this corrupted, manipulated world.” Trevor glanced at the guards and slowly raised his hands in submission. The cat-like man smiled and leaned over gripping the pure gene girl’s cheeks. “As for you, consider your loneliness at its end. For you now have a partner, in every sense of the word.”

Trevor didn’t move even as they covered his head and gave him a remote injection to cost him off to sleep. He didn’t even feel the floor hit him in the face.

When he next awoke he was in a white jump suit, all of his possessions gone, but he wasn’t surprised. The wondrous prison that he’d seen before had been a ruse for the public, this was more of what he’d expected. It was a cell, a comfortable one, but a cell nonetheless. Glancing to his right he frowned to see the girl he’d only just met resting beside him. He could tell they were trying to force a sense of closeness between them. The temperature was artic, but she was still merely resting on top of the bedding. She much like himself didn’t like the situation they were in.

He covered her quietly before slipping from the bed, the room had no obvious door, or windows, and it was sealed tight. Still he merely walked to one side and leaned against it. “Carmichael, I know you are there.” The wall became suddenly clear, as the cat-like man appeared just beyond.

“You. Know my name? Interesting.” The man stated with an appreciative statement. Trevor merely smiled but this time it was menacing, like the locked up man had some card to play. The cat-like Carmichael however, brushed it off. The security to protect the Pure Gene was impeccable, nothing could get in or out without his, or his superior’s Ident codes. “It does not matter though, you will become the most valuable subject we have ever had, and better yet you can help us continue the line of Pure Gene’s held here. That’s the entire point of the meeting with the Princess after all. Though if she is a Princess, what will that make you in the end?” then the wall became solid steel gray again, with Trevor having remained silent.

Glancing back to the sleeping girl he frowned, it wasn’t a good look on him. Smacking his cheeks a couple of times he decided that he would make the best of it, he got himself into this after all. “Oi, Princess. I know you probably were awake the whole time, so I wanna talk to you a bit more.”

Sitting straight up, the beauty was definitely more mischievous than he captors knew. Knelling down beside the bed, he looked her over again, she too was in a similar skin tight jump suit which was really something he had to ignore for now. Glancing into her golden eyes, with his own sea green eyes he was sure that she was trying to read him.
“Why did you come? If you were…so pure…that they reacted like that?” She asked softly, she obviously knew they were monitored, and created some other noises to cover her quiet words.

“Because, you looked so lonesome,” Trevor responded with a gentle smile before standing again and stretching.  “So, do you have a name, or do they just call you by a number, or a code name?” he asked bluntly not bothering to look back to her as he worked the stiffness out, he hated those stupid sleep drugs, they always left him feeling like he’d placed cement on his shoulders.

“Amara. I don’t have a family, so I didn’t give myself a family name.” Trevor frowned at that, before smacking his face again. He really didn’t like to frown as much as he did, but man the world just seemed to be trying to make him. “You know what they are going to do to us now, don’t you?”

Trevor laughed out loud, throwing his head back giving himself a moment, before turning his head towards her and the look on his face was not one many would call sane. “Oh yes. I do. Experimentation, laceration, procreation, they will pull out every stop to find out what they want from us. It’s like a game to them, and they want to win.” Trevor calmed down, turning with a sudden serious look, snatching her hand from her lap and pulled it up to near his mouth and whispered against her skin. “I won’t let them. Believe in me.”

Amara blushed a bright red, at the action. Having had little physical contact with others and the sudden nearly intimate contact as she looked at the close figure of the man before her caused her to literally faint. Blinking a few times as she slowly released the limp hand of the young woman. “Did I overdo it?”

Time would pass quickly for the pair, as time seemed to be dictated by the corporation, day and night held no meaning to them. They merely had each other, and Amara’s impressive book collection (though of course most it was digital, she did have a rare few hard copies). Trevor meanwhile walked on eggshells, not wanting to spook her. He was vastly more comfortable with being around her than her with him. Thus he decided to tell her stories of the world outside of her shell.

Trevor’s stories were never too personal, as he didn’t want the corporation to learn anything more about him, but he left clues in there too. After all, what was life without a bit of fun, and even more so without risk? Still the pair grew closer and closer, or rather Amara grew more comfortable to be around Trevor. It was probably a couple of weeks before she was comfortable enough to when she slept cuddle up to him when she thought he was asleep.

Trevor of course was always playing the part of the gentleman, and letting her move at her own pace. Still, it was not long until he caught her in mid-change one ‘morning’. She had been quite careful to not let him see beneath her jumpsuit the entire time they’d been together, and since they only needed to be replaced every few days to let the machines in the clothing recharge (since the corporation apparently decided that they could use two cheap models rather than one more expensive one, in the end showing the kind of people they were.)

Trevor, was out of the bed in an instant causing the girl to scream in surprise at the sudden contact. He hands had quickly began to explore her naked flesh, but not because he was trying to provoke her sexually, but his eyes had caught sight of what she’d been really hiding from him. In systematically places locations, terrible circular scars appeared around small metal circles. Trevor only fingered a few of them before looking at the girl in his arms and pulling her into a hug. He whispered into her ear words of comfort, and a promise. He held her tightly as she cried into his chest, no longer caring about her state of undress. Trevor for his part glared at the exact spot the observers were watching, and they became uncomfortable, for reasons none of them could understand.
It would only be a day or two after Trevor saw exactly what it meant to be a Pure Gene Princess, for the poor girl. They only cared to make her into a doll, and they presented her as a model for the world, meanwhile they tore her apart, body and soul. She just wanted to be able to live a real life, but she was a novelty to them, and Trevor finally understood her. He remained a bit distant still, not wanting her to make a decision that she’d regret just because he was making her feel better about her situation.

After all, he had a promise to keep.

Soon enough, the corporation had prepared to take a real good look at Trevor. They needed to be sure of his blood’s purity, although rare some people could cause a false positive, and it was hard to notice the difference without specific equipment. Now that it was ready they were going to do to him things that would even make Amara’s torture seem tame, if only because they wanted to be cruel, if only because they would still have a backup. If only because Carmichael didn’t like the look he gave him.

It was an amazing laboratory, with devices that Trevor could only guess at. They laid him down on the table and locked him down with a power energy field that would press him to the table so he couldn’t move his limbs but was still able to respond to inquiry. They weren’t going to waste a thing, after all. Carmichael himself, was watching in his fine suit. The worry of contamination in a laboratory would exist if they still performed open surgery. Instead several cruel looking tubes slammed into him, instantly Trevor knew exactly what gave her those scars as a single moment of pained screams exited him, before he closed it in.

Carmichael was pleased to watch Trevor struggle; something about the man bothered him. “While we install the basic implants, I want to ask you a few questions Bio-Doll 2. We have searched you for implants, found none. We have searched the entire net for a scrap of data about you, we found none. Just who are you Bio-Doll 2, or rather who were you?”
Trevor began to struggle in agony as the devices finished their work, installing the nodes that would allow them to test him further, as well as preform compatibility tests.

“I…” Trevor gasped out, as he tried to close his eyes to shut out the pain, but the devices forced his eyes open as a pair of scanners descended from the ceiling to begin looking into his eyes. Trevor’s mouth wrenched itself shut as he had to force himself to ignore the pain.

“Mr. Lions? We have some strange data here for you.” One of the scientists called the cat-like man over, to look at. Carmichael, walked over and looked at the data, but obviously had trouble grasping what he saw, as the scientist began to elaborate. “As you know, Pure Genes normally still have genetic defects and other such inherent problems, as well as several other key things that we’d call imperfections. That’s why Bio-Doll 1’s orginal gene pattern dropped from a seventy one percent to a sixty four percent. We had to fix dangerous anomalies. This man…despite having over ninety percent compatibility has none of those traits…in fact.” The scientist broke off, astounded as he scrolled back through the data.

“I would say that he has a better set of Genes than those we edited, his body…its amazing. The purity is one thing, but his cells show no signs of degradations or mutations, his eyes have natural perfect vision, and his body is already tuned for optimal performance. In fact…there are things here that I haven’t ever seen before, perhaps a layover from old Humanity? He could be the road map to a whole new Humanity!” the scientist was so excited, that even the cat-like Carmichael had gotten caught up in it.

“You hear that?” Carmichael walked over and smirked down at the bound man, not willing to back off now, as he whispered to the bound figure. “You will be the heart of a whole new project. You will remake humanity! Mantronics will thank you for your sacrifice, maybe.” Carmichael taunted with a laugh at the bound man, as a soft feminine voice called out that the neural computer connection was completed and that the live data would be coming in at 100% accuracy now. Carmichael looked away just a moment before Trevor’s lips curled into a sneer.

Moments later every panel, every screen, and every implant that was connected to the network of the Corporation began to read a massive error. Everything was coming up as an error. The scientists were now scrambling, to figure out what was going on, as a red hazard light filled the room, as the walls themselves began to have the word ‘error’ scrawl across them every few moments now, as even the little nano-machines too began to suffer.

“What is going on!?” Carmichael demanded.

“The system’s been compromised! Something is downloading everything on the database, and wiping it out as it goes!” Carmichael wasn’t too worried about that in the end, only the most recent data would be lost, and that was recoverable as long as they had the sample. Still, this was unprecedented.

“Do we have a trace on the signal? Who is attacking us?” Carmichael would have to report it to his superiors, the time was too good. There had to be a leak somewhere.

“Got it! It’s coming from…this room!” Carmichael wheeled around to look at the other scientists, who all were just as shocked as he was, but he knew that they could fake such a feeling with ease. “Wait, I have some nano-machines moving to highlight the source.”

Everyone was looking around to see who would glow as the small machines caught them in the act.

No one, more than Carmichael was surprised when it was their unmodified Pure Gene, who had not net wear what so ever, that the nano-machines highlighted. “Impossible! He has no netwear, and the mods we implanted are not meant to be able to used for incoming traffic, only outgoing…right?” Carmichael looked to the head scientist who quickly nodded as he tried to regain control.

“Oh ye of little faith,” the calm voice of Trevor, said from the table as he was now sitting, having torn every burrowing tube from his flesh. He was sitting casually as if the energy field wasn’t crushing him against the table. Trevor smiled, but it wasn’t something someone did when they were happy, this was a smile that held only agony for those who saw it. Carmichael with his cat reflexes was able to slip beyond the door, and have the machines seal it. Leaving the scientists behind screaming for him to come back.

“Now, now. Don’t fear the reaper, I merely come to give you peace…”

Carmichael was fleeing to a security checkpoint, but still flinched as the screams reached his sensitive ears. He wondered if somehow that monster could attack their neural backups, if so…Carmichael just lost several long term, and very skilled colleagues.

For his part Trevor began to walk through the tower, as he went the building was already coming to listen to his commands as his body continued to break through the security blocks, he already had Carmichael’s security Ident, and was quickly breaking through to even higher levels. As he walked the devices they’d placed into him were thrown from his body, as he rejected them. Coming to a stop he waved a hand and the seemingly normal wall gave way to reveal the room he’d shared for the last few weeks.

“Come with me if you want to live.” Trevor had always wanted to say that, and every time he did, he loved that moment. He watched Amara’s eyes light up, as she looked for the security she was sure would be there, but finding none she moved to join him quickly. She didn’t know it, but her devices had security measures to keep her from running, but
Trevor had already disabled them.

They traveled through the halls, Trevor leading her on. They just needed to reach an outer wall, but the live security was now active, and he had to avoid them as much as possible, not wanting to risk Amara. They reached the same place they had met after a long run from the heavily armed security agents, only to find one person had intercepted them.

Carmichael was standing before them, with a pair of deadly metal claws equipped, they were nano-weapons and very dangerous. They also as weapons, only accepted local signals, and thus Trevor’s controls of the building couldn’t help him with the claws. “End of the line, little mice.” Carmichael sneered, ready to cut them into ribbons. Trevor for his part was unbothered.

“Run for the window.”

“What?”

“Just do it.” Trevor said in a low rumble, and with only another moment’s pause she did so. Surprising Carmichael, he had expected them to go for the express tube behind him. Trevor held a hand out towards her back, all the while facing Carmichael. In an instant a full sized sword appeared in Trevor’s hand, before he spun in a lightning quick motion and the blade slammed into the outer window, designed to withstand impacts from space debris, and even starship weapons, shattered like normal glass against the assault from a single sword.

Carmichael was in a panic as he watched the girl he’d help raise get sucked out into the vaccum of space, with no mods to help her survive she would die in seconds. “You! What have you done!?” He scream of the violent sound of the vacuum sucking all of the air out, but was just as shocked a small frigate scoped the girl up and connected to the broken window. A woman with several exterior implants called out.

“Nicolas! Let’s go!” Carmichael looked to the man who he knew as Trevor and frowned, as the man snapped the sword back as if he’d caught it like a high speed boomerang. Glancing to the man, the now identified Nicolas smiled.

“Nicolas Thomas Aldridge, if you were curious.”

Carmichael growled and lunged for the man, dashing past him with sneer as he looked at his blood covered claws. He glanced over to hear the scream of his Bio-Doll 1 having just recovered from the shock of the Vacuum. Look back he looked at the man who’d ruined his day cut into fine bits looking like he’d been cut into tenths. He began to walk towards the frigate, though he expected them to flee at this point. The dark haired woman with the exterior modifications didn’t even move to escape.

“No. Trevor…we almost made it out…no. no.” the girl whined out, having her knees give out covering her face, trying not to cry to loudly as her relief became fear. The sounds of the security agents beginning to show up. Carmichael wondered if there were any other Pure Gene’s on that frigate.

“Go on, I’ll catch up.” The confident voice of the man who introduced himself as Nicolas Thomas Aldridge just a moment ago said, causing Carmichael to look back to the sliced man. Where a moment ago was pile of meat stood a man undamaged, but even his clothes were different now. Where there was once a white jumpsuit was now black.

“How! No regeneration implant could repair that much damage, especially from a nano-weapon!” Carmichael was in shock, this was impossible!

“Regeneration…is that what you think this is?” he asked as the frigate pulled away, and he smiled to the white clad Pure Gene girl who looked at him with both appreciation and fear for him.

“W-what?” Carmichael seemed in shock, as he looked down to his chest. Somehow without him noticing, the sword that the man had shattered the window with had ended up in his chest.

“What are you?”

“I am a man who merely desires. Sometimes that means doing things like this. Other times it means fighting a war single handed. I travel the stars, and leave behind rumors, and scared men of so-called power like you. I am a specter, and only a few think I am real.” Nicolas said as he retrieved his sword, as the sound of high impact nano-shells began to tear past him as the heavily armed security agents opened fire. “I am…”

Then with a snap of his fingers fire filled the blurring vision of Carmichael, like a torrent from the sun itself, nothing seemed able to stop the flames as they burned the agents into crisps. It was then that he remembered a rumor he had heard, it was easily dismissed as the foolish mistakes of other powerful corporations. The fiery demon who called himself Nymbus, a being that tore down the mighty, and killed those who got in his way no matter their power.

“You…you’re…”

“Ah! Finally, you are brought down to our level, even using contractions now. How quant, don’t worry…I know you have a backup. I left it intact for you, I even made sure it was updating by the second just for you.” This didn’t make Carmichael feel any better as he was barely alive at this point, but his implants were keeping him alive. “I know you can even survive vacuum for a significant amount of time…” Carmichael was easily lifted from the ground by one hand of the seemingly insignificant man.

“You…devil…Nymbus,” Nicolas chuckled at the name that the mighty had given him, to make him seem more than he was, so they might ease their egos. He might make a case of being something worse if he wanted to.

“Oh I am no devil, Carmichael. I am just a very, very powerful man who does as he pleases.” Then the last bit of air had left the room they were in, and thus no more words could be traded. Carmichael watched as Nicolas mouthed the words the slowly bled true terror into his heart.

‘I. Wonder. If. You. Can. Survive. Reentry.’ Then Carmichael was thrown out into the void, rocketing towards the earth below at incredible speeds. Already he could feel the heat surrounding him and he did all he could. He screamed.

Nicolas smiled as he quietly floated out into the void, before producing some flames to push him out into the void toward the frigate that now seemed like a small dot on the horizon. Behind him the tower was in chaos, but at the very highest peak a single man watched as Nicolas escaped into the void.

Landing on the hull, he opened the airlock and was happy to feel his lungs fill with oxygen again. “Welcome back, Captain.” The voice of the ships computer chirped happily as he stepped out into the corridor. Only to get punched back into the airlock by a metal fist attached to a dark haired beauty who looked ready to tear him apart.

“You-You…psychopath! Do you know how worried we were? ‘I’ was?” she demanded of the fallen man, the woman who had caught Amara at the main airlock, demanded her cybernetic limb shaking at her side.

“Sorry ‘Mari. I didn’t really think it all through, but it worked out in the end.” The girl whose full name was Namari, shook her head and gathered him into a tight hug.

“We need you captain. Don’t leave us out here.”

“So far nothing’s stopped me, and nothing ever will.” A soft sound interrupted the moment, between the two as Amara made herself known.

“Oh yeah, you. The Captain’s latest rescue.” Namari grumbled to herself, before pulled herself from the Captain and helping him to stand. “Welcome to the Ultamus, and to the Captain here’s ever growing Harem.” Amara’s shock at the statement was only punctuated by the sound of Nicolas smacking himself in the face palm first.

“I can already see, this is the beginning of a wonderful adventure,” Nicolas begrudged, as he began to walk towards the bridge of his ship only to flinch when the scream of

‘what do you mean ‘pirates’’ followed from behind him and he sighed again, before smirking.

“It’s good to be the king.” He muttered before the door to bridge shut behind him.