Coeus?

Chapter 22: ~Ego.~

But not everyone left. Some stayed behind in hopes of being able to help their fellow humans.

-History Exodus II

***'Greek' Node, Revelation Wing Asteroid Base***

***Gideon***

I tap into the recorded video feed while the drones swarm all over the enemy base. Some are breaking through hatches while ensuring that the air doesn't escape. Others seek electronic warfare and try to access the station's network, taking over control bit by bit.

The first reports from inside the station are satisfying. The station's personnel is fighting a lost battle despite destroying drones in the dozens.

One of the station's security cameras shows me a mage who is enclosed in a bubble of water while commanding two whip-like appendages. He is slicing drones apart as if they are sheets of paper. But the drones are simply charging forward, not caring for their losses. I doubt that they would act like this if I had given them real sentience.

After a while the bigger picture of the fight comes to my attention. The fighters of the Revelation Wing are still holding a central complex which is close to the main fusion plant, but the station is firmly in my hands by now.

I've got the fusion reactor and the station's main computer under my control. It should be safe to take a walk at this point. The essential parts of the station seem to be under control.

After securing the Coeus in a stable position relative to the station I get up and take my battle-suit from the storage unit in my living room to put it on. It's an enhanced version of a spacesuit and has similarities to a full plate armour.

Maybe I got a little carried away while designing it. It turned out like one of those suits from the game Warframe. I'll put on my coat over it, so that I don't look completely like a comic character.

My cousin informed me that the face-mask looks rather menacing, because of the six sensors instead of eyes. But I don't get why someone would want a piece of glass between himself and the vacuum. The sensors provide me with everything I need. Normal vision, infrared and a few other electromagnetic wavelengths. Space is a dark place when the lights go out and I want to see what's going on.

After putting on the suit I head to the teleportation chamber and use it to go over to the station. The fighting is still going on, but most parts of the station are safe by now.

I take my time to stroll through a maze of corridors while encountering dead resistance fighters from time to time.

While doing so I access the station's main computer and take a look through its files. I feared that my mother lured me into a hidden trap, but what I find in the computer confirms that she indeed pointed me towards a base which belongs to the Revelation Wing.

And not just any base at that. It's their main base of operations. There are detailed financial records of their operations in the whole solar system.

With everything that's in their computer it should be no problem to hunt down all their remaining operatives. They'll have a hard time hiding their asses from now on. I just have to give the data to Ed and he'll start a witch hunt.

I order the Coeus to pull a complete image of the station's files and continue my inspection.

They had a quite big living area. After tramping the maze of corridors for a while I am quite sure that the station was in a bad shape. They were lacking people who could maintain a closed environment in space.

The camera feed from my drones alarms me to a problem and I make my way to something that can only be called a detention centre.

Behind a big blast door I find long rows of cells with people inside. Men and women in poor condition are being held behind bars in separate cells. Some of them don't even react to my presence while I am passing by. It seems like they have given up.

At the end of the corridor I find a room with a chair. It has several needles embedded in its armrests. An interrogation chamber? Or something worse?

I shake my head while walking back the way I came. The Revelation Wing seems to be the worst scum of our society.

Luckily I programmed the drones to try to capture the enemies first if they don't offer resistance. Not that I care about the people in the cells, but I'll need to interrogate some of the terrorists to find out what was going on here.

After leaving the detention centre I head directly towards the last pocket of resistance. So far my drones report that they have taken only three prisoners alive. I send the order to bring them to a place on my route, but upon arriving at the meeting place I am disappointed.

The three prisoners are two men and a woman in ragged clothing. They look frightful while being held by the drones. I shaped them similar to Crono, the crab design of my silent bodyguard influenced me a little.

I muse about the situation until the woman interrupts my thoughts. Are you here to save us?

No. My answer wipes the hope off of their faces. What were you guys doing here? Do you belong to the Revelation Wing?

All three of them shake their heads vehemently and start explaining. One of the men was an engineer on a free asteroid colony until he got a very good job offer. He accepted his new post and took a freighter which was supposed to bring him to his new workplace. Only that he ended up here upon stepping out of the air lock of his transport.

The woman has a similar story and the other man was a pilot until he was attacked and taken by the people of this station. What the Revelation Wing lacked in skilled personal, they apparently simply kidnapped or stole.

The three people in front of me had to work for them under slave-like circumstances. People who absolutely refused to do their master's bidding were reprogrammed by a combination of drugs and mental pressuring.

Okay, I think I've heard enough of this. Bring them into their cells and keep them there for the time being. I order the drones and continue on my path. Cleaning up this mess will be a fucking nightmare. Originally I simply planned to wipe out the Revelation Wing and be done with it.

Making them disappear should be easy enough, but what about their victims? Killing off a few terrorists and hiding the evidence won't get me any problems from Ed.

Ed even gave me the permission for my personal crusade in a certain way. He decided to look the other way when I confessed my illegal plan to him. But if it ever gets out that I accidentally disposed of a few innocents while doing so I could get into trouble. I don't think that Ed would keep looking the other way in that case. Being on the run for the rest of my life isn't something I desire. And it would probably send my grandmother over the edge.

I've to decide what to do later. Purging the data-core of the station and activating a beacon for the faceless is always a possibility.

If I am extra careful I can still hide my involvement and wash my hands in innocence should the truth get out after all. Though I doubt that I am able to keep the Coeus in that case.

As I close in on my target the noise of fighting gets louder. The last resistance fighters bunkered themselves up. Eight fighters are holding a choke point to a separate part of the station. According to my drones the number of killed opponents already reaches a hundred and seven men. They are fighting to the last. If the prisoner's words are true, then the least that awaits them according to law is a complete wipe of their personality.

I watch the senseless fire-fight between my drones and the last defenders from a safe corner, tapping into the stations security network.

The drones have problems advancing through a single long corridor. Every time they try, they are blasted to pieces by the fireballs of a very potent fire mage. I frown while fuming over the stupidity of my constructs. Maybe I should have given just a few of them real intelligence. There is always a next time.

To end the stalemate I tap into the stations environmental controls and slowly ramp up the gravity for the section with my opponents.

When they are all pinned to the ground I order my drones to take them and follow through the corridor.

The drones swarm over their enemies in order to detain them and I return the section's gravity to normal.

Upon arriving at my destination I find three of my enemies dead on the ground. Apparently they tried to keep standing when I ramped up the gravity and fell in the end, breaking something important.

You'll be killed if you even attempt to cast a spell. I warn them and snort, focusing on the five remaining men. By checking their faces against the data files from my ship I find three matches.

Before I left Oibras I downloaded a list of the most wanted persons in the solar system. On top of the list is Zerces Temeril, the leader of the Revelation Wing. I recognize one of the five men as him. Two others are also on the list, although with a much lower priority. The others don't have a wanted poster.

Who are you? Show your face you coward! One of the men who are wanted barks at me.

I reach for the seals on my helmet and take off the mask. Gideon Alvar. I've some questions regarding this station and your prisoners. Then it would be nice if you could tell me some stories about my mother. She is a nuisance, so I want to pay her a visit to settle some family matters.

Like we would bow to a monstrosity like- One of the men without a wanted poster raises his voice against me. I suppose he isn't that important if he isn't known to the public.

So I decide to use him as an example for the others and point my finger at him. With a flick of my fingers a pulsating lump of flesh appears in my hand. It's a spell which I learned from my grandmother and I had to train like a maniac to master it to this degree.

-you. A genetic experiment shouldn't... I throw the heart into the stunned man's face. The stubborn man keeps talking and doesn't realize that he is already dead. But finally the strength leaves his voice and he falls backwards, lying still.

I hate when I am ignored. You should realize that I am not bound by any social norms in this place. Currently your lifes belong to me. So talk and don't annoy me with your pitiful worldviews. My eyes wander to Zerces.

The public leader of the Revelation Wing raises his head and sits up as straight as he can. I don't understand what you want to know. Your mother betrayed us when she created you. We couldn't let that stand, so we tried to get our hands on you to lure her out of her hideout. Unfortunately the faceless tightened their lock-down on Earth, so there was no chance of getting there after our last attempt.

Created me? I ask.

None of them answers, instead they look at me with frightened expressions. I raise my hand and gesture at the second worthless terrorist. The drones which are holding him clamp down their pincers and both his arms drop to the ground. His screams end as one of the drones crushes his head with a leg.

You are a genetically engineered abomination. Zerces starts talking. Your mother promised us a tool which is able to break the information barrier around earth and announce our presence to humanity.

We found out too late that she was using our funds to engineer you from several different gene-codes.

Something inside me snaps. What is he talking about? I feel like I am floating freely, but intellectually I know that I am still standing on both legs. Proof!

Before they can answer I kick one of the terrorists, breaking his jaw. Doing so feels right.

The sealed door behind you. Zerces eyes wander to the ground. Sadina condemned us all when she committed that crime. The laws are quite clear on genetic manipulation.

I turn around and leave them where they are, guarded by the drones. The door actually resists my first commands to open and I have to override the security measures to get inside.

What I find inside is close to a biological research laboratory. There are various machines like gene-sequencers and other laboratory equipment.

On the wall to my left is a set of incubation tanks with... failed versions of myself in various stages of development. Some are children, some grown men. But all of them are definitely related to me. Were those things ever meant to be human? Most of them are horribly disfigured. Am I not human after all? But the doctors said that Melan is my grandmother. I have a family.

I step to one of the computers and switch it on. Then I start searching the files until I find the Coeus folder. Coeus?

Somehow I don't feel anything while reading the whole process of my creation. It feels like the world doesn't affect me any more.

That's until I get to the part where the four main providers for my genetic code are mentioned. Sadina Alvar, Jenny Hast, Eduard Klein and Zerces Temeril. I tap their names and their personal files appear in front of me. My mother, with a heavy tendency towards a techno-magic. Jenny Hast, a former elder of the techno-mages, deceased. Eduard Klein, an electro-mage. Zerces Temeril, also electro-mage.

My legs feel wobbly when I return to my prisoners. All of them look horrified when looking at me, except for Zerces. He actually seems to be relatively confident in himself. Don't ever think of me as a father. I've my pride.

Pride. My voice breaks and I decide that any more words on this subject are wasted. I turn away and wander to the next air lock, the drones dragging the four prisoners after me.

The air lock opens and the screaming trash is shoved inside. Zerces is the only one who takes his fate with dignity. When they are inside I watch them through the window of the air lock. The fire-mage attempts to melt the door with a spell, but I command the station to blow the seals of the outer lock.

All three men are sucked out into space and I watch their bodies disappearing in the darkness. Maybe I should have done something more satisfying. This method was definitely too fast.

You simply killed your father! How could you? And I thought you two would have a father and son moment! Sadina's voice echoes out of a speaker next to the air lock and her avatar appears right next to me. Oh, if you could see your face right now. I guess that I achieved my goal in causing an emotional reaction. Let's call it even from now on. You caused me some emotional pain by being heartless towards me and I returned the favour. What do you think of my experiment? Not only did you get your wish, I also sent you on a mission to answer the question why you exist.

I never asked that question. I answer.

Yes, that's exactly why I had to answer it for you. Don't you think that it's important to know your own roots before you can truly choose your future? She tilts her head. Though killing your provider was a little excessive. I hope that I won't share the same fate as him.

I don't want to talk to you. I start searching the station's network until I find the back-door which Sadina left behind. It's obvious and simple. The Revelation Wing really lacked qualified personnel.

Don't lock me out yet! We have so much to catch up to! Act- A thought closes the back-door and Sadina's avatar disappears.

I head back to the laboratory where I step in front of the incubation chambers to stare at my other selves.

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