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Rated: GC · Campfire Creative · Fiction · Action/Adventure · #2050916
An alien race needs a vaccine for their people and humanity is its only hope.
[Introduction]
So, the year of the story is in the early 90s, about a year or two before the internet was really big. The internet is just around the corner and people are starting to get the idea that the world isn't as peaceful and normal as it seems. Among the humans is an alien race that has been there sense 1937. When the first alien's attempt at a cyborg captured by humans in 1947, people blamed the unidentified flying object as an alien ship. But, it really was a human child who could fly and later was killed in the name of fear.

Now, years later the CIA has begun finding more cyborgs after trying to look for them in the last 40 years. Their second cyborg they captured was a young woman in her early twenties with the ability to produce a metallic plating on her throat that looked like a necklace or choker. That gave her voice the ability of sonic voice projection. With the capture of her and the extratration of her unique alien technology and replication of it. The CIA knows that there are cyborgs among them that could present a threat to the unsuspecting public. And to hunt them, they use sonic weapons and new technologies that are duplicated from the bodies of these cyborgnetic menace.

And soon they will find out that these cyborgs are the least of their worries. For the aliens are desperate for the genetic immunity cells that these cyborgs provide them. And with their disappearance, they may soon desire to conquer the human race for their own survival.

Three cyborg characters I've developed are the following:

Zippo- A late twenties African American with flame throwers inside his arms. With his hands folding upward and lighters coming out of his wrists, he capable of unleashing incredible flames. And the finger tips become screens that emit a chemical nanite mixture that allows the manipulation of the flames to make constructs of fire. He can even put the flames on a low flame setting making it just extreme heat that can dehydrate a person a minute to knock them out.

Colony- A young hispanic woman who is in her late teens that can emit a series of pheromones and command signals to control ants. Inside her legs are small doors that allow her to carry a whole colony of ants so that she can be armed with minions no matter where she goes. The only difference between this colony of ants in her body and the ones that aren't, are that the ants inside her body are genetically modified to execute commands faster and on a super ant level. What would take regular ants a day or two to dig through concrete in a brick wall to get inside would take her ants an hour.

Brain Box- A cocky early twenties man that is white with blue eyes and dirty blonde hair. Capable of emitting small discs from his hands onto people. These discs that then link up to his helmet. Which he produces from the back of his neck as a series of plates that unfold and encase his head. When linked Brain Box is capable of relinquishing a person's control over their nervous system. With complete control of a person's system Brain Box can control body movements, read minds and manipulate nervous system functions to produce neuron chemical reactions that make people emotional. He often points to his own head as he then says, "I'm just going to take a look into that box you call a brain."
An African American man woke up from a sleep as he yawned. His red eyes looked at the room that looked like a dentist's office. Sitting in a chair was a pale white and yellow eyed old man with gray hair. The African American man sat up from the chair as he ran his hand over his short hair cut. His left bicep had a scar on it that was healed rather nicely.

He sat up and stood up a little wobbly in his black track pants and red shirt. The old man then said looking at him, "Thank you for the donation Mr. Z."

Mr. Z then said to the old man that seemed to have a voice that sounded like a person swallowing water while talking, "I told you, Xarmi, it's Zippo. And also, stop turning off your voice settings. It's really creepy coming to a dentist every week and people at work asking if I have a mouth problem. Do you have to keep the voice settings off too?"

The old man then sounded normal as he asked Zippo, "Alright, which would you like then? A food safety inspector coming to your place of work. Or you coming to a dentist? I could also just go to your community college."

Zippo replied as he had his right hand lift up letting a lighter head extend, "I'll keep coming to you. Do these still work?"

The dial spun as a flame emitted from the wick and his finger tips gained holes. The flame grew and slithered into a snake made of fire. Smiling he said as the flame came up to his nostrils as he sniffed the fire, "Ah, nothing like a little fire."

The old man said as Zippo returned his arm to normal, "Now, I do have a request. Can you look into a cyborg's disappearance?"

Zippo turned to the old man as he said with a raised brow, "What are you talking about?"

Xarmi the old man replied to Zippo looking at a hologram that appeared from his open palm, "A fellow handler has lost his cyborg. Candidate 00592."

Zippo replied to the fact that a person was given a number, "Charming."

Xarmi continued, "A week ago, Candidate 00592 or as they preferred to go by Shadow Play, disappeared at 0800 hours. The apartment where Shadow Play resided in was ransacked and blood was found. Shadow Play's unique technology allowed her to manipulate shadows with Invis light emitters in hands. We believe it is related to the incident that happened when we lost Candidate 00421, Song. Could you look into this matter?"
"Sure," Zippo said. "What's in it for me?"

"Ah, my greedy Mr. Z. Don't worry, I will find some appropriate reward for your help. here is the key to Shadow Play's apartment. The police have not been there."

An hour later Zippo was at the apartment where Shadow Play lived. The signs of it being searched were obvious with books and papers and clothes strewn everywhere. He idly picked up a pair of silk jacket and sniffed it, then tossed them aside.

There were some photos scattered in the debris. He picked one up that seemed to be a photo of Shadow Play. She was a young, attractive woman with long straight hair pulled to either side of her face, but he could easily imagine it hanging across her eyes. Her eyes were a smoky grey and very seductive.

He didn't see much that would help, but he collected a few items that he would study later at his leisure: her cell phone, her diary, and an address book.
Zippo walked to the door when he recalled smelling something different on the silk jacket. Walking back to the purple silk jacket he picked it up and sniffed it. He said realizing the scent, "Lemon juice?"

Zippo squinted his eyes as he opened the dairy and saw that it had blank pages. Putting the diary down he had his arm open up as he emitted a low flame. He manipulated it into a heat that began to make something off the pages smell like burning paper. Writing began to appear as he said with widening eyes, "Clever girl. Writing in invisible ink."

Looking at the diary he said reading the last page, "I've avoided Hi'mai for a few days now. I haven't given my donation this week wanting to make sure that Hi'mai was not discovered. I think I'm being followed. I've seen a woman outside my classes at campus. She's followed me to the grocery store and just happens to be shopping for the same things I am. I don't know what her deal is. All I know is that I don't feel safe with what happened to Song. I never knew Song, but to think that some group of animals is hunting us with weapons made from her gift is wrong. Hi'mai has always been nice to me and I don't want to endanger him."

Zippo looked at the other pages as he said looking at blank pages, "That's the last entry. Looks like the CIA is onto us."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX At the Xarmi's Dentistry XXXXXXXXXX

Zippo walked through the door as he said carrying a bag, "Shadow Play has been compromised."

Xarmi nodded as he said with a drowning voice again, "It's just as I suspected."

Zippo then said to him with stress, "What will we do if too many Cyborgs disappear?"

Xarmi looked at Zippo as if he didn't believe Zippo would ask such a question, "The cyborgs produce vital cells that is the raw material to a medicine for my people. If matters continue in this fashion then we will have to get more donations weekly by either rewards or by force. Either way it will put strain on the body and lead to death from either over extraction or weakening of the cellar structure. And if that still doesn't solve our issues, then this operation will no longer be lax, but proactive."

Zippo said with anger pointing an accusing finger, "You're talking about planetary invasion."

Xarmi replied grimly, "Yes."

Zippo then said with a glare, "I'll do my best to find Shadow Play. And if she has been abducted, then I'll burn all evidence of her existence in the first place as I can. If she is retrievable, then I'll retrieve her."

Xarmi countered Zippo with a question, "And if she isn't in the hands of the humans?"

Zippo replied to Xarmi, "Then I'll protect her."
In a dark room was a table with Shadow Play strapped down. She woke with a start as she said gasping and straining against the straps, "Damn it, who the fuck did this to me!"

A woman's voice said as the light turned on, "That would be me."

Shadow Play's hands and eyes glowed red as the light that shined on her became blocked by a shadow. The woman stepped into the light allowing Shadow Play to see her but not the other way around. The woman had wavy red hair and wore a pair of shades. Her lips were painted in red lipstick with a pink dot on the bottom lip in the middle. She wore a black suit and her skin skin complimented her red hair's brightness.

Shadow Play's dark brown hair was messy thanks to the obvious abduction. Her black lips were smeared and her mascara messed up possibly from crying on reflex from pain that was received during the confrontation. She asked the woman with venom, "So, you going to carve me up, bitch?"

The woman replied to Shadow Play, "First, we are going to ask some questions. You are the first living and intact subject that we've captured. We have eliminated two subjects already."

Shadow Play replied with hate, "Yeah, you took Song's voice and you took Saucer's engines. Why should I help you."

The woman replied to Shadow Play who could do nothing to escape for now, "If you do not tell us, then you will after we damage you some more. And if your technology is in danger of being permanently damaged, then we'll extract it first and then heal you up. And start the questioning all over again."
"Ask your questions," Shadow Play said.

If the red haired woman was surprised by this she gave no sign of it. "What is the name of your handler?"

"Yverx," Shadow Play said. The lie sipped out easily.

"You understand we will check everything you tell us? If it isn't the truth..."

"Why would I lie?" Shadow Play said. "Don't you think I want to go on living?"

"Yes," said the red haired woman, "and I also think you are very clever and evasive. Describe your power as best you can."

"I make shadows."

"Come now, you can do better than that. Details, please. How do you make shadows? What effort is required? What do you feel when it happens? Tell me everything."
Stevestruck brought up a good point. I skipped MFredrick to make this simple chart real quick.

Shadow Play- Descent young woman that has shadow manipulation powers thanks to Invis Light Emitters in her eyes and hands. Her hands and eyes glow red with the circuitry igniting the biochemical in her body that makes a radiation that manipulates light obstruction or shadow. Her handler is Hi'Mai.

Zippo- Armed with zippo lighters in his arms and chemical ejecting finger tips, he can manipulate fire that he emits from his arms. Xarmi is Zippo's handler, and Xarmi has an annoying habit of calling Zippo, Mr. Z. Xarmi runs a low income dentistry where offers his services on humans. While he's doing his cover job, he also examines human potential for cyborghood. And informs the council of potential candidates. Xarmi is a crafty one, he prefers to reward Zippo for his services. But, if he must, he will take biological samples from Zippo by force for the survival of his people. To Xarmi, Zippo is nothing more than a special lab rat, but a lab rat still at the end of the day.

Brain Box- Brain Box has nervous system and mental manipulation of his victims that he places small discs on. A helmet forms from the back of his neck that allows him manipulation abilities. His handler is Kalman, a food closet runner that he stops by weekly for.

Vapor- Vapor has glands that emit fumes that affect others. Puts them to sleep, or makes them panic , or allows vapor to gain hypnotic control over them. Sleep vapor, fear vapor, hypno vapor. His handler is Mal'tbor, a professor at a community college where Vapor pretends to be a student. Well, he is a student, but not because he needs an educationn. It's just his cover.

Colony- Has the power to emit pheromones to control the behavior of ants. She has super ants in her leg compartments. Her handler is Leger, the 'medical advisor' at the night club that she works at as a bartender.

Tress- A young cyborg who has a unique metallic hair that feels completely smooth. Thanks to the nanites she can make the metallic hair seem soft and smooth being harmless to those she likes. But, she can also make her metallic hair sharper than a knife and more precise than a needle, making her hair possibly the ultimate weapon. No, denser metal has been discovered that can match her hair and the upper heat emissions have been tested against her hair proving that the chances of it being melted are slim. Her hair seems impervious to harm.

Cyborg Court of Combat- A group of individuals that are Cyborgs that consider themselves to be the protectors of cyborgs from the CIA and also humanity's only defense against alien ownership. They feel that humans should be happy they protect them from the evil aliens. Two of the members have unique powers. One has an upstoppable sword (http://powerlisting.wikia.com/wiki/Sword_Manipulation) and the other has a generator on their chest that allows them to suck people into their boundless inner world (http://powerlisting.wikia.com/wiki/Boundless_Inner_World)

Scimitar- Brain Box's loyal champion and body guard that also happens to be his lover. She is a brave woman who carries on her a Scimitar. Inside her arms are small robots that are called nanites that manipulate her sword for different uses and battle modes.

Rage- The second of Brain Box's right and left hands, his closest comrades. He is a tall brown spikey haired man that has a red glass on his chest. The red glass on his chest is capable of sealing away the emotions of anger. By opening a vortex he can steal a person's anger thus disarming them with the primary emotion for combat. Or in more extreme cases can absorb some who is so controlled by anger, that the emotion and the person are tied together. And thus the person will be sealed inside the vortex in a boundless inner world full of anger. Thanks to his absorbing of anger, Rage is capable of using it like a fuel source for his own use by having incredible endurance serving as the perfect shield for his master and crush, Brain Box.

Auto Eye- A cyborg with multiple types of vision thanks to his robotic eyes. He is capable of seeing in any spectrum and through any obstacle. Capable of keeping target of established enemies. And capalbe of seeing in any hindering condititions.

Machine X- A cyborg that gains an arsenal of powers thanks to walking. The critical weaknesses are plasmas such as fire and lasers that can get past his forcefield. If he is stopped long enough then he will be defensless to attacks. The idea is to get him to stop walking. He is also weak to EMPS like all cyborgs.
Zippo couldn't say that he didn't feel for Xarmi, if it was his people who were suffering then he would do desperate things too. But, this was like he was a fly and the aliens were spiders taking the flies from the frogs if the frogs got too greedy. As if they were above him and greater than him. Zippo stopped in his tracks as he came upon a realization, people that are above him, "Brain Box. He'd know."

Zippo began to book it to a bus stop as he pulled from his pocket a bus card. Climbing onto the bus he swiped his card as he sat down. Three buses later and he'd be at Brain Box's place.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Brain Box's Luxury Suite XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Zippo walked up to a tall as the sky apartment building that was super luxurious, only for the richest people in the world. Most of them scammers and blood taking businessmen or lawyers. But, he only needed and wanted to see one scammer.

Zippo pushed the summon button for apartment D 16. The intercom came on as a male voice responded to Zippo, "Who is this? And this better be worth my time."

Zippo replied to the male voice, "I need to talk to you, Brain Box."

Brain Box replied as the red light turned on, "Make it quick Zippo."

Zippo got out of the elevator as he went into a very luxurious hallway. Walking up to door D 16 he heard it unlock as it opened of it's own accord. Zippo walked inside as he felt the need to go pee and asked inside the rather roomy pent house, "Mind if I use your bathroom?"

Brain Box's voice replied to him from an intercom, "Go ahead, just don't get any lighter fluid on my toilet."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX A bathroom visit later XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Zippo walked out drying his hands on the back of his shirt as he saw a blonde haired white man walk out. He was rather thin, but still have a bit of chub on him. His blue eyes had rings around them showing his evidence of insomnia. His face was grizzled with hair showing that he was growing a beard.

His body was dressed in a pair of blue dress slacks and a white button up shirt. The sleeves were rolled up to his elbows and the pants went nicely with the suit vest. Gold buttons adorned the vest and a pentagram was visible on his gold necklace.

Zippo addressed the young man, "Brain Box, I need your help in finding Shadow Play."

Brain Box's only reply was, "And why should I help you find a donor for the aliens?"
Zippo looked sideways at Brain Box. "And I suppose you don't jump when Kalman says jump?"

Brain Box shrugged. "I've got my handler trained not to annoy me."

"Bullshit! You know as well as me that these alien shitheads could twist earth into knots like a pretzel."

Brain Box pointed a finger at Zippo. "They need us, man! They need those immunity cells we make. They aren't going to kill the goose that's laying the golden eggs."

Zippo shook his head sadly. "You just don't get it, do you? To use your goose analogy, right now the geese are free range, but the aliens could lock them in cages if they wanted to. Or if they HAD to. Now quit thinking cyborgs are the bosses and help me find out what happened to Shadow Play."

"Maybe she ran away."

"No, she didn't run away. Her apartment was ransacked and she left her cell phone and diary and address book behind. That reminds me. Some of the writing in the diary is in invisible ink and some of it is in code. You can break a code, can't you?"

Brain Box snorted. "When I was a kid I broke codes just for the fun of it. Did I ever tell you about the time I hacked into-"

"Brain Box!" Zippo said. "Just stay focused. See what you can do with this code."

Brain Box took the flash drive Zippo handed him and plugged it into his computer. He studied the lines of symbols on his monitor. "Hmmm, yeah, I think we can break this. Let me call up some software I use. Hey, why don't you make us a pot of coffee. I don't know how long this will take."

An hour and two cups of coffee later, Brain Box said, "Code broken. This page is notes she made about Song. Apparently she was investigating what happened to Song."

"Geez, these handlers!" Zippo said. "I'll bet she got the same instructions I got. Find out what happened to so and so, except in her case it was Song."

"And now Shadow Play has disappeared. Better watch out for your own ass, my brother."

"But who got Shadow Play?"

"The CIA obviously and according to this, that's who she thinks took Song. In fact, she says here she thinks Song was interrogated at a CIA safe house and she gives the address."

Zippo's eyes widened. "You don't suppose the CIA would take Shadow Play to the same house?"

"I not only suppose, I believe!"

Zippo finished off his coffee and slammed the cup down. "What are we waiting for then? Let's go there and check it out."
The pair arrived by Jaguar XJ220 that was a sleek silver car. The doors opened as Zippo got out in a hurry and turned to Brain Box, "Come on, we got to hurry."

Locking his car and putting coins into the meter Brain Box said to him not caring, "I'm not letting my most expensive car be towed. Go on ahead. I'll catch up."

Growling Zippo went through an alleyway to get to the docks. Grumbling he said angrily, "They just had to choose the docks. I hate water."

Zippo walked onto the dock to see a few people that were workers. Zippo could almost smell freshly showered people and knew they were really fishermen. The boats probably didn't even work right. Zippo had been made as one of the 'workers' reached for his waist pulling up a gun. The man pulled the trigger as Zippo had his right hand fold up and light up.

Flames poured out of his right arm melting the bullet. The undercover agent said with astonishment, "Fire, he is a walking blowtorch."

Zippo then let the flames of his right wrist began to form around the boat putting three agent's lives in jeopardy. Two other agents ran from the boat house and one still on the dock pulled out their side arms. Zippo said clearly and calmly, "You have a cyborg in there. You will release her into my custody. Or you will all be burned."

Unknown to Zippo a seventh agent stood almost in plain sight. With the sonic generator on his belt he seemed silent to all those around him. His brown hair was combed over and his eyes behind a pair of shades. He wore a suit like the agent that was currently interrogating Shadow Play, underneath the boat house inside of a secret underwater cabin. That could only be accessed by a trap door.

The agent aimed his side arm at Zippo's head mere feet away from him. Just as he was about to pull the trigger a disc flew onto his hand. The disc was a light inside of a silver ring disc with the light turning green. A second disc hit his hand and he felt the third one land on his neck.

He turned naturally as if of his own accord to see Brain Box. Brain Box's hair was under his helmet which he sported. The helmet was silver and had lines showing that it was made of a series of plates. A clear film was over his eyes as he tapped his helmet and mouthed, "Got the old box on lock down."
Zippo finally noticed what was going on behind him and said, "Thanks!" to Brain Box.

Brain Box walked the sonic agent like an emerald wasp walking a zombie cockroach ▼ . "Come on, big boy," Brain Box said. "Show us the hide out."

Zippo followed Brain Box and the helpless agent into the boathouse where they located the hidden entrance to the room below. "Quiet!" Zippo said. "There might be more agents."

"We'll send this one in ahead of us," Brain Box said. He pushed the agent through the door and he tumbled down the ladder into the room. Hearing nothing below but Shadow Play's yells, Zippo leaped in behind the fallen agent, gun ready.

The room was clear and he rushed to Shadow Play's side. "You're Shadow Play, right?"

"Yes. Who are you?"

"Another cyborg, Zippo's the name, flame's the game."

She tried to laugh at his little joke but couldn't really do it.

"Take it easy," Zippo said. "We're going to get you out of here."
With the controlled agent holding a gun at the female agent Brain Box examined Shadow Play's condition. She was badly bruised and a dark spot on her leg was visible as he said to Zippo, "She's got internal bleeding. I know surgery, but I don't have the means to put her out."

Zippo replied to him as he burned the restrains off, "Can you just control her thoughts to resist the pain?"

Brain Box replied as he moved back having the controlled agent walk with him, "It doesn't work like that, pain receptors need to be numbed. They are linked to the nervous system, not part of it. Now let's just go."

The pair climbed the ladder with the agent doing the heavy lifting carrying Shadow Play on his shoulder. Zippo climbed out first as he right arm lit up and aimed fire at the still remaining agents. He said as he covered the exit of Brain Box and Shadow Play, "Beware our power. The more you hunt us, the more you will get scorched. Don't make us come after you again."

The agent was walking with the pair as he put Shadow Play into the back seat after the front seats were pulled up. Brain Box then said to the man, "Sorry, we don't have any more room. Forget and sleep."

Falling the man hit the ground as agents began to surround them. Brain Box swung his arms as discs flew at all the agents. He then said establishing links with them, "Forget and sleep."

The pair of male cyborgs got into the car as they began to drive off. Brain Box said to Zippo who was still looking for possible CIA vechicles, "We have to get her to a cyborg I know. Vapor. He'll be able to put her out while I operate."

Zippo asked him, "How do you plan to operate on her?"

Brain Box replied as they drove, "Simple, take control of a doctor and have him operate on my behalf. He'll have the knowledge, experience and the steady hands to do it. I'll just be telling him to do it."
Vapor lived in a high rise apartment high above the city where any accidental release of his fumes would not harm anyone. Vapor had good control of his gases, but sometimes when he was asleep he might dream he released some vapor and what do you know, he really did. Also, whenever he farted there was the chance a little vapor might be added to the methane of the fart.

Zippo stayed with Shadow Play in the car while Brain Box took the elevator up to Vapor's apartment. "Just hold on, Shadow Play, it will not be long now. We'll get you the help you need."

But she had lapsed into unconsciousness and didn't hear him.

Brain Box was back in a few minutes with Vapor.

"Come on!" Zippo said. "Let's hurry! I think she went into shock."

"Hold your breath for a minute!" Vapor said and released a small amount of sleep vapor right into Shadow Play's nostrils. "Maybe that will help her rest easier."

"Vapor knows a doctor near here," said Brain Box.

Soon they were all in the doctor's office and he was telling them what to do. "Don't you have a nurse?" asked Zippo.

"Sure," replied the doctor, "during my regular hours. Don't worry, you'll be a good nurse. Hand me that towel."
Zippo looked as the doctor made an incision and said as he turned around barfing in the hallway as he ran out the door, "Bye."

Brain Box shook his head with a sigh. The doctor was operating as Vapor was both the nurse and the anesthetist. The surgery went well as the doctor was released from Brain Box's control.

Shadow Play was put into the back seat along with Vapor. Zippo said as he sat down in the passenger seat, "Finally, that was disgusting."

Shadow Play replied to him a bit upset, "I wasn't aware that I was ugly to look at. I think I'm rather curvaceous and appealing to the eye."

Brain Box now with his helmet dismissed into his neck drove the car to Xarmi's dentistry, "You are, don't let Zippo perverse fetishes mistake your beauty. He has very high standards."

Zippo replied back with some bite, "I do not. I just don't like looking at blood and muscle tissue. That stuff is in the human body where it belong for a reason."

Vapor said with a laugh, "This coming from a donor."

Zippo barked back, "A donor who is put to sleep each time."

A few days later

In the desert outside of Las Vegas was a tanned woman of Latin descent. Her long black hair was in a pony tail with two side burn tails that were binded into short braids. Her green eyes looked at the desert as she sweated from the sun above her head. She panted as she reached for her locket held between her bosom. The tank top she wore was black with red triangles on it and holes in it and a particular hole over her left breast exposing it to the heat.

She opened the locket with her non hurt hand to show a picture of two children. They looked exactly the same as she cried a tear onto the locket she closed it saying with a whimper, "Earlina."

She tucked the locket back between her bigger than double d breasts. Her legs dressed in shorts walked on the hot sand. Lines were visible on her calves and ankles. Small ants crawled in and out of them as they brought water droplets and biological bits and pieces of other insects into her body. Supplying both her and the colony with nutrients although very little.

Sand flew up as a scream was heard that caused the woman to look back. She saw the sand fall as some shouted to her as they were hot on her trail, "You won't escape us, Noemi!"

Noemi said with venom in her voice as her wrist lines opened to show small compartments letting out a clear spray, "You will not get me, sisters, protect your queen."

Zippo sat in his lazyboy while he typed on his computer. The site he was one was writing.com and he was currently typing a campfire entry with fellow writer Stevestruck. He was writing a addition in a story about magical pistol cowboys. He clicked the save this addition button on the site. The black screen with green letters read his story as he smiled at the first few sites of the internet. The internet was basically brand new with it being in civilian use for about six months. Before the internet he'd have to send letters with all his updates to the campfire via printed paper and retype whatever his penpal wrote. It was a bit of a hassle, but totally worth it in the end.

Zippo heard a knock as he got up and turned off the computer. Walking to the door he looked through the peephole to see it was Shadow Play. Unlocking the door and turning the knob, Zippo pulled the door open. Shadow Play said to him with a smile wearing a purple silk jacket over a gray linen tank top, "Mind if I come in?"

Zippo moved out of the way as he swung his arm open to show the woman his room. Walking in with a knee length skirt that was purple and purple medium heel shoes that clacked with the tile floor, Shadow Play made her way into his room. She noticed that the apartment room was rather 'small' to say the least. It was a one room apartment that didn't have much of any thing. It had a bed, a desk area and a table. There was also a stand up closet, but that was it.

Shadow Play then sat down at the table with a smile as she crossed her left left over her right. She then asked him with a small smile, "So, where is your kitchen and bathroom?"

Zippo replied as he closed the door, "We each get our own food pantry where canned foods can be stored down in the basement. There are three stoves down there along with a really wide sink. This is a low income apartment building in the projects. Not exactly a nice neighborhood. Also, the bathroom is across the street. The bathrooms here are almost always broken with bad plumbing."

Seething from the terrible conditions Shadow Play said to him with her black lips smiling, "So, uh, how would you like to go on a date with this girl?"

Zippo asked confused, "For what?"

Shadow Play replied to him, "Well, you did a lot of the work to save my life."

Zippo then asked her curious, "Speaking of which, why were you investigating Song?"

Shadow Play looked down a little sad, "Well, to tell you the truth, I'm going to school to be a journalist. And I needed practice, so I thought I'd research something close to my heart. Plus, we all know of Song and Saucer. What really happened to them? That's why I asked my handler for as much info as I could. One day I was investigating Song's disappearance where her body was last seen before its disappearance. And a red haired woman started tailing me soon after. I guess, curiosity got the vest of this cat."

Zippo rose a brow as he listened to her explain having a shadow change on the wall into the shadow of a cat, "They are my favorite shadow to make. My parents thought because of my allergies that a cat was too dangerous to have in the household. So, after I got my emitters, I just made my own black cats."

Zippo grinned as he replied, "Remind me to never cross your path."

Shadow Play then said as her eyes stopped glowing along with her hands, "So, what about that date?"

Zippo replied to her with a grin, "How does Chinese sound to you?"
An hour later they were sitting at a table near the back of the main room of China Garden, Zippo's favorite Chinese restaurant. They both ordered bland chicken dishes, neither one of them having a taste for the spicier offerings. Zippo liked a lot of vegetables and Shadow Play was a big fan of noodles and sauces.

After looking around to make sure there was no one listening to them, Shadow Play leaned toward Zippo and said, "The CIA is starting to play really rough. Kidnappings. Severe interrogations. It's getting very dangerous to be a cyborg."

"It's always been dangerous," Zippo said.

"Yes, but somehow before I always trusted that the handlers would protect us. Now I'm not so sure anymore."

"They do what they can but they're hampered by always having to wear a human disguise. Besides, they aren't super beings. I suspect that a handler out of disguise in his natural alien state is weaker and not as smart as a human being. They just have more advanced technology. That's all."

"Well, they are definitely weaker," Shadow said, "if they have to depend on us for immunity cells so they can keep on living."

"That's how it is. Let's try to keep everything like it is, because if the aliens feel like they are in danger, they are going to come down hard on earth."

Shadow tapped her chin. "But maybe it would be better just to revolt against them and let earth battle to survive. Maybe we would win."

"Are you crazy? These aliens have weapons we can't even imagine. There is no doubt in my mind they could crush earth anytime they wanted."
Stevestruck walked back to his apartment thinking he might have liked some Chinese food, too, but what the hell, if it was a date he would be a third wheel. When he got home Vapor was sitting at his doorstep waiting for him.

"What are you doing here?" Steve said.

"I was curious about whether Shadow Play was feeling OK or not."

"Oh yeah, she feels great, I think, since she's on a date with Zippo right now."

"Oh. Then she already has a boyfriend."

"What? You're interested in her? No, I don't think she's seeing anyone. It was just a date with Zippo. They aren't a couple as far as I know."

Vapor's face brightened. "Oh, l that's good!"

Steve looked at him. "Something I'm curious about. In that collection of vapors of yours, do you have an aphrodisiac vapor?"

"You got erectile dysfunction, bro?"

"No!" Steve said. "I'm just curious."

"I have to keep a few secrets," Vapor said.

Steve noticed for the first time that there was a blue tinge to Vapor's skin. Even his fingernails looked blue... and his hair!

"Dude," Steve said. "Are you blue?"

"A little. It's a blood thing. But I never look pink. Always kind of bluish. Does it bother you?"

"No, just never noticed it. Hey, come on inside. We don't need to stand out here yapping."

It was a couple of hours later before Vapor finally left. Steve found out a few things about him. He liked his handler. He hated the CIA. But that was typical for a cyborg. And it was obvious Vapor had some compassion the way he was so concerned about Shadow.

Outside of Steve's apartment standing on a roof top was a young woman that looked 18. Her short blue hair was navy blue with a bang or two sky blue hair. A few of her hairs were surrounding her eyes like binoculars as they moved of their own accord and returned to being just hair. Her brown eyes matched well with her Asian descent.

She wore a black leather jacket that stopped at the midriff that made her light blue crop top stand out. A pair of blue skinny jeans with cargo pockets was worn by her very shapely legs. The small snaps pockets lined her legs rather nicely with bedazzled 'A's on them. The girl said with a bit of admiration, "Vapor."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Where Shadow and Zippo are XXXXXXXXXXXX

Zippo stood at Shadow Play's new apartment. She said looking up at him, "So, you going to kiss me good night?"

Zippo replied to her, "It's only our first date."

Looking down and a little disappointed Shadow Play then said to him, "You are a real gentleman."

She then kissed his cheek as she went inside. Zippo touched his cheek as he said once the door was closed, "Cool."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX In the desert XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Noemi was running as her leg then stepped into a snake's nest. Screaming she pulled her leg back, but it was too late. The snake bit her leg, damaging the metal components of her ankle. She looked at it as she felt pain, but no venom inside. Ants fell out of her leg that were infected with the venom instead.

One of the ants seemed to talk to her with a telepathic link, "Colony must live, for us to live."
Brain Box sat in his room as he placed a disc onto his computer tower. The back of his neck had a pair of panels that opened let plates of silver metal climb out of his body. The plates morphed into a helmet as he had a film fall before his eyes and be bordered by silver metal. The film glowed a tad with all sorts of colors like looking at a bubble in the ring before it is given air to fly.

Appearing on the computers were files and documents that opened showing names, locations and much more data of cyborgs. Standing in the dark behind him was a pale old man with gray hair that was spikey instead of the combover Xarmi sported. And his eyes were like a pale yellow paint that was barely visible in the dark. He stepped forward into the light that the computer gave off giving him more definition. A small disk was on his chest as he put on a jacket and zipped it up, "What do you plan to do with this information, master?"

Brain Box replied to him with a subtle smile, "Well, Kalman, I plan on recruiting loyal brothers and sisters. In my soon to be cyborg freedom, from your kind."

"I think you will be stopped in that attempt," said Kalman without much enthusiasm.

"Is that what you think?" Brain Box said, and chuckled. "I'll bet you wish you could tell your fellow aliens all about it, don't you?"

"I do desire that, master."

Now Brain Box laughed out loud at how pathetic his handler Kalman had become. It was like the mouse controlling the cat now.

"But maybe I better not get so cocky and tell him everything I'm doing," Brain Box muttered to himself. Who knew what abilities the aliens might have? Maybe they could read each other's minds if they had to?

Brain Box slapped himself for being so self-confident. Always that was the way he screwed up. By thinking he had everything lined up just right and then some little thing was off and spoiled his plan. No, this time he would be very careful and think everything through as many times as it took to make it perfect. No more blabbing anything to Kalman!
Brain Box accessed his CIA operative as he then said looking at the files of the different cyborgs, "Agent Riddlesdale, you are to begin convincing the CIA on approaching Subject 0007. A cyborg with the ability to absorb anger, is very viable to the CIA. Suggest tactics as negotiation and when he is alone with you in negotiations. You will report to me that he is in your custody. And I will retrieve him from you."

XXXXXXXXXXXXX Out in Maryland XXXXXXXXXXXX

The agent under Brain Box's control stood up rigid from the diner table with two of his coworkers. He then said to the red haired woman with the red lipstick and pink dot on her bottom lip, "Agent Clap, I wish to seek out Subject 0007."

Agent Clap then said taken by Riddlesdale's ambition, "Very well, I will submit the request to head quarters. In the mean time you can begin shadowing the subject. Having its technology under our control will allow us an edge over the toasters."

XXXXXXXXXXXX Inside Brain Box's Room XXXXXXXXXX

Brain smiled as he said in reply, "So, we're toasters to them. Just pieces of junk. Well, alright. Begin shadowing subject 0007 and contact me when you have approval."

Brain Box had the locator turned off as he said to Kalman, "When I put away my helmet you will still follow me and think me your superior. No reporting back to your pathetic brethen. You will behave as if I never had control over you in the first place. Just treat me like any other donor."

"I will do that," said Kalman.

Brain Box nodded with satisfaction. He could picture himself controlling an entire army of aliens, but his power had its limits.


In the desert outside of Las Vegas, Noemi the ant cyborg had crawled into a hole in the rocks, a space not really big enough to be a cave, but at least it got her out of the sun. Her leg was throbbing now. She hoped the ants would be able to deal with it, because she could feel herself growing faint.

She shrunk as far back into her hole as she could and let herself relax. There was nothing to do now but sleep and hope her followers did not find her.


Vapor called Shadow on the phone. "Hi! This is Vapor. I just wanted to see how you were doing."

I'm fully recovered now. Thank you so much for helping me.

"I was glad to do it. You are very pretty."

Are you saying you only helped me because I'm pretty?

Vapor laughed. "No! I would have helped you anyway. Zippo is a good friend of mine. I hear you went on a date with him tonight."

Yes. Zippo is my friend, too. And I guess now you are also my friend. The Three Amigos!

He laughed at her little joke. "Sounds good to me. Say, would you like to see a movie tomorrow night?"

Sure! Do you know where I live?

"Yes. About 7pm?"

That's good for me. See you then.

Zippo stopped by the dentistry as said to Xarmi who turned the sign to close, "So, how's it going?"

Xarmi pulled out his needle with a fluid inside, "It is going good. I was worried you weren't coming today."

Zippo replied as he felt a twinge in his arm, "I thought about it like always, still creeps me out that you take my blood. You know I have an unusual fear of blood and all."

Xarmi said as he tied up Zippo's arm, "It is not that unusual among you humans."

Zippo got tired as he said about to sleep, "Alright, get it over with."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX In the Desert XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Colony woke as she said groggily, "What is coming this way?"

One of the ants outside of leg replied to her, "Colony, an intruder approaches from the North."

Colony cursed as she stood up with a pain in her ankle still. She would not be able to repair herself until she got to a handler. They could repair her for sure. Jumping down into the cave was a person.

The person stood up to show a deep tanned flesh. She had brown eyes and stood up with a silver hijab. A single tress of black hair was visible by her left eye. She wore a black long shirt and silver long sleeve shirt. On her lower back was a scimitar sheathed into it's sheath. The woman said to Colony, "My name is Scimitar, if you want to make it to a handler. Then you will come with me."
Brain Box was outside his building as he said having his helmet unfold from his neck and form around his head, "Connecting with Agent Riddlesdale, have you gotten permission to retrieve the cyborg target?"

Agent Riddlesdale replied as letters appeared on the screen as his reply, "Yes, Brain Box. The operation will happen after operation Sand Trap is over."

Brain Box rose a brow, "What's taking Operation Sand Trap so long? That subject should have been captured already for my extraction plan to work. She should already be captured by now so I can go to the safe house she is held in and rescue her for recruitment into my organization."

Agent Riddlesdale replied to Brain Box, "She has alluded the CIA and more agents are being sent to the Nevada desert to comb it thoroughly. There has been a complication reported in. Two agents were found dead with their bodies being decapitated."

Brain Box was intrigued as he replied to Agent Riddlesdale, "Interesting. Very well, notify me via email of your next operations progress."

Brain Box then said as he located Kalman, "Kalman, we are going to need to help Colony. The handler you killed so that we could keep this in the dark for a while, do you still have access to his info card?"

Kalman replied to Brain Box from the food closet inside of a private room, "Yes, do you wish for me to impersonate him and report that Colony is missing?"

Brain Box replied to him with a small grin, "No, say that you were raided for Colony who has escaped and you are badly damaged. Then when the aliens arrive they find Colony's handler's body. There dead and then we will have what we want. The aliens will begin to challenge our authority and watch us more closely. But, they won't know what hit them when we begin to eliminate their operatives here on Earth. All while framing the CIA."

Kalman replied to his master, "Yes, Master. It shall be done."

XXXXXXXXXXXX Xarmi's Dentistry XXXXXXXXXXX

Zippo woke up as Xarmi said to him in a emotion that was still mainly neutral only it was more angry for some reason, "The CIA is after Donor 00873. And her handler has been killed by the CIA. Evidence seems that Donor 00873 is currently in the Nevada desert. Can you go there and find her?"

Zippo replied with fear, "What has the CIA done?"

Zippo knew with the slaying of one of the handlers, that all hell could break loose soon. And that would lead to nothing good.
"That's what you are going to find out," Xarmi said. "I want a full report on everything. Repeat back your mission to me."

Zippo spoke like a private to a general. "Go to the desert, find Colony, investigate everything the CIA did, bring back a full report to you."

"Perfect!" Xarmi said. "I wish all cyborgs were as alert as you."


In the desert, Scimitar had helped Colony walk to Scimitar's vehicle, a desert ATV. "This might be a bumpy ride," Scimitar said.

Colony grimaced with pain as the ATV roared across the desert. At least she had a chance to survive now.


Vapor and Shadow were watching a movie about a guy who fell in love with a girl and then they broke up and then they got back together again... He was thinking he never should have let Shadow choose the movie, but she seemed to love it and maybe that's what was important.

When the movie was over they walked out arm in arm and he tried to keep up his half of the conversation (she wanted to talk about the movie) but that was difficult since he slept through most of the film.

The ATV drove hard through the sand as the pair finally got out of the desert. However their troubles were not gone as they got over the hill they saw all on the north side of the desert CIA operatives who were road blocking the desert with saw horses and cars. Guns are the ready and a pair of sonic canons aimed right at Scimitar and Colony. Colony then said to Scimitar with some mysterious authority, "What are you waiting for, drive past them."

Scimitar looked over her shoulder at Colony as she replied to her, "Settle down there princess."

Pulling out her blade Scimitar had small robots exit her arm. They lined the blade and the hilt, forming at the pummel what looked like a plug hole. From her wrist came a cable that she plugged in with her free hand. The small needle head sized robots began to glow as the sword began to 'grow' holes that let out air. The air was rather noisy as she said to the CIA, "YOU WILL NOT HAVE MY HEAD TODAY! CIA!"

Driving in she saw the first sonic canon deploy a burst of sound. Swinging her blade down Scimitar cut the sound burst and the blade seemed to absorb it through the holes. Scimitar said with a smile, "My Silencer Mode will cut all your sonic weapons."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Shadow Play and Vapor got out of the movie theater to see that Shadow Play's tires were slashed. The blue haired girl in a leather jacket appeared behind them as she said with worry, "Oh, my goodness. What happened here?"

Shadow Play turned to the girl, "It seems someone slashed my tires. And I just got the car fully paid off."

The girl introduced herself, "The name is Tress, do you need a ride? I think I got room on my hog."

Vapor said grinning, "Well, the car can't go anywhere so why not?"

The pair walked over to the girl's motorcycle with a side car. Tress said to Vapor, "You get on the back, cute stuff."

Vapor blushed a little as he climbed onto the back. Shadow Play got into the side car comfortably and Tress got into the driver's seat. She then said to Vapor with a grin, "Better hold onto me tight."
Tress drove like a maniac through the streets of the city. Vapor thought she was lucky they didn't pass any cops. At a stoplight, Tress turned around and said "I guess I better ask you where you want to go."

"I was wondering about that," Vapor said. "I was beginning to think you were a kidnapper. He gave Tress Shadow Play's address and shortly they arrived there.

"You two come up for some coffee," Shadow said.

When they were settled down with their cups, Shadow Play asked Tress, "You're a cyborg, aren't you?"

"Like you guys, you mean? Yeah. Cyborgs have a knack for spotting each other, don't they?"

"I wasn't sure at first."

"I can usually spot another cyborg a mile away," Tress said. "I always talk to them. Some of them aren't friendly."

"Are we friendly?" Vapor asked.

Tress held up her coffee cup. "You served me good brewed coffee so you've got a new friend!"
Vapor held up his cup. "To friendship!" All three of them clinked their cups together.

"I suppose I better be running along," Tress said. "You two were on a date, weren't you? You don't need me tagging along."

"Thanks for the ride," Vapor said.

After Tress left he told Shadow Play. "We can go get your car tomorrow. Do you have anything planned? No? Then I'll be here early in the morning, say about eight?"

"That's fine," Shadow said. "I had a good time Vapor. You're good company."

"Thanks!" he said. "See you tomorrow."


In the desert, Scimitar and Colony were plowing through the CIA blockade. Scimitar's Silencer Mode made the CIA's sonic weapons practically useless, but it couldn't stop bullets. One of them grazed her arm and she almost lost control of the ATV.

"Are you alright?" Colony gasped. She felt pretty weak herself.

"We'll make it," Scimitar said, gritting her teeth against the pain and pushing the throttle of the ATV up to max.
Scimitar knew that no mere ATV could out run the CIA SUVs. As she drove between two of them switching her sword from Silencer Mode to Gale Mode. When the transformation was complete she swung her blade across the front of her ATV sending a shock wave that knocked people back into their vehicles or onto the ground.

Scimitar put the brakes on the ATV as she leaped off and prepared for battle. She then said almost under her breath, "Arrive my brothers."

From the abandoned train that lay on the state lines being disused for so long came a noise. A box car's door slid open as a pair of boots from two people stepped one foot each onto the ledge. The pair leaped out of the box car as they landed on the arid ground that lead away from the desert.

One was tall with black hair pulled back wearing a pair of bronze frame glasses. His green eyes looked at the CIA as he gripped his fists. He wore gloves that were long and black. His elbows had wires showing just below his short sleeve shirt. His knees were visible as well under the shorts, showing that they were exposed. Missing tissue that was meant to disguise his cyborg upgrade. The pumps beside his metal knees pumped with each step sending up red liquid into his body. A field of electricity formed around him as if a force field was now layering his body.

The second man was an African American man with a bald head that shined from the sun light. His eyes were robot eyes obviously with red glass. He wore an arsenal of weaponry, a bow with quiver on his waist. On his right hip a hand gun. Strapped to his calf a sniper rifle with the unscrewed barrel on the other leg. On his shoulders a pair of knives. His chest belt full of boomerangs and on his lower back was a pack with inside throwing sphere.

The white man with a force field said to the black man, "I'll take on the cars the sonic canons, handling the big stuff Auto Eye. Cover me."

Auto Eye replied as his eyes then saw right through a car showing a target being lined up from his scanners, "I'll be more precise and cover you at the same time. Ten bucks says I get more ties than you Machine X."
Machine X kept up a steady run as he pumped lightning bolts from his eyes into the CIA cars which obligingly exploded in spectacular ways.

"To your right!" Auto Eye yelled and Machine X whirled just in time to blow up a Hummer headed right at him.

"Damn!" Machine X said. "Are they doing suicide runs now? Kamikaze CIA!"

A group of CIA agents were huddled around something in the distance. A puff of smoke arose and then they heard a WHOMP noise and a whistling sound. "Mortar attack!" Machine X yelled. He and Auto Eye ran for cover. The mortar shell exploded behind them scattering rocks and dust everywhere.

Auto Eye stood up and took aim with an arrow tipped with a grenade. It arced up and out and fell on target. The mortar would WHOMP no more.

Machine X was up and running again. He was always conscious of his weakness, the loss of power if he stopped moving.
Auto fired arrows very precisely as one of them stabbed an agent in the arm as he was about to smack Scimitar with a car piece. Scimitar turned around and smacked him with the flat end of her sword, "Coward."

Scimitar then saw Machine X run up beside her as he ran in place saying while he blasted with his eyes, "Happy to see us?"

Scimitar deflected bullets as she replied to him, "Not if you don't take out them sonics."

Machine X rolled his eyes as he punched a guy, "Geez, no appreciation."

Machine X ran to the first Sonic Canon as he punched it three times demolishing it. Pounding it as if it was wet clay. The second one blasted him into the air as he hit a car. He kept kicking his legs the entire flight and as he landed kept moving his legs. He grounded himself holding onto the dirt as the canon kept firing burst after burst at him getting stronger each time. The agent behind the canon was crazed as he screamed at the cyborgs, "DIE!"

Machine X then pounded his legs into the dirt doing a mountain climber as the ground was being dug into by his feet. By the time he he made a pit with his feet he had been blasted off the surface to fall in the hole he dug. Jogging in place Machine X kept building speed and more energy as he turned his eyes on pure blast firing a beam that was as tall or taller than himself. Walking until he was under the turrent he aimed up as he jogged in place.

Scimitar sliced an agent's arm off as she saw the ground around the Sonic Canon explode with a beam of blue light. She saw the beam become a tower in the sky.

A tower that was seen by Zippo who was in the car with Brain Box. Brain Box looked at the beam as he said to Zippo, "Why do you always drag me into these?"

Zippo replied back to him, "Cause its good for your health. Now come on."
By the time Zippo and Brain Box reached the scene, the fight was over.

"We've got to get help for Colony," Scimitar said.

"Who's her handler?" asked Zippo.

"Leger, and he's a medical advisor at her night club, the Shagri-La."

"I know the place," Zippo said. "Are you coming with us?"

Scimitar looked around at all the devastation. "I guess there's nothing more to do here. Yeah, let's go."

At the Shangri-La, Leger kept to his cover and pretended to be human. Zippo didn't care. He knew why the handlers were cautious. "So you can fix her up, doc?"

"He's not a real doctor," Colony managed to mumble before she passed out again.

"Yes," said Leger. "Don't worry. You're friend will be as good as new quicker than you would expect."
Colony's leg was repaired as she then said looking at all the people that helped her, "This queen thanks you."

Machine X was sitting while thumping his right leg as he said to Auto Eye, "Dude, did he say he was a queen?"

Auto Eye said after he looked with his eyes, "I think she has a royalty complex. She is a complete girl."

Zippo then said to Colony with a smile, "Sorry that we didn't get there in time to help. But, we're glad you are okay."

Colony then said to him after looking him over, "You are my boyfriend. I will move in with you and you will like it."

Zippo just raised his brow, "Huh?"

Ledger stuck a cylinder to Colony's leg making her wince in pain, "Sorry."

Brain Box was enjoying the plan so far. No one had noticed that Kalman had taken Ledger's place and assimilated his human skin suit. The aliens were hiding delicate information from the cyborgs, such as the real body of Ledger. And used Kalman to disguise himself to make Colony more relaxed. Brain Box's plan was working the aliens had selected a handler that was known to have the least uncooperative cyborg, making him logical to be the disguised handler of Colony. What the aliens didn't know was that Kalman had no choice but to relay that he had a behaving cyborg to the aliens because he had no control over his body. All was going to plan.

Brain Box then said to Scimitar as he noticed something about her as she coiled at the handler's presence, "Don't like 'em do you?"

Scimitar replied to him, "I be with them as much as I have too. No more, less if possible."

Brain Box then said to her while everyone was distracted, "How would you like to get rid of them?"

Scimitar replied to him, "I'm listening."

"Can I trust you to keep everything I tell you secret?" Brain Box said.

"Yes, I am good at keeping secrets. No problem."

"I have a plan to free us from the handlers."

"No shit?" Scimitar said. "And why would little old you be able to do that."

"Because I'm Brain Box," he said. "I agree no other cyborg could do it, but they made a big mistake giving me this brain. I'm way smarter than any of the handlers and I see the flaw in their system."

"You're very cocky and self-confident," Scimitar said. "I like that if it's justified."

"Ask some cyborgs that know me. They will tell you I can do it if anyone can."

"I'll throw in with you guys," Scimitar said. "But if I smell a problem with your scheme, I'll jump right back out of it."

"At least discuss it with me first if you think it's not going to work."
Brain Box had Scimitar follow him to a closet inside the building. He opened it and had her come inside with him. He had his helmet come up as the door was closed. She said to him with glaring eyes, "You try anything and I'll punch you."

Brain Box then said as his helmet made a projection onto the door, "I'm a gentleman."

The image was 'footage' of Ledger being beheaded by a a laser weapon on a tentacle. Looking at the 'footage' Scimitar saw that tentacles popped out of the body where the head used to be. The body leaked out purple blood as the silent 'film' ended Brain Box said to her, "And, the aliens think that the CIA did it."

Scimitar smiled as she said to him, "So, your plan is to take out handlers so the CIA is attacked by the Aliens. And when they get weak enough from the virus that they use us for. We'll attack them after they've received some battle damage."

Brain Box replied to her with a smile, "Partially. With Kalman's knowledge, I have found a way to make the raw materials for the medicine only work short term while they have another additive that slows the process of cell reproduction and saps the mitochondria of energy. Thus, making them weak and slow. It'll take months, but we will get there. Kalman also on my orders will suggest to the Aliens that we find the Cyborgs farms for 'corralling' the cyborgs. That way we can make people want to join our side and rebel."

Scimitar smiled as she said to him, "I'm in."

No one was the wiser as they went out in time to see that Colony was fully functional.
A few days later

Shadow Play drove her Ford Probe 1989 on a dirt road and survived the trip thanks to her putting on more durable tires. Funded by the handlers, but she hated the fact that she now had to drop out of college and relocate out of her nice two bedroom apartment. The only plus was that Zippo was in her passenger seat with his shirt off. Besides the lines on his arms that were evidence of his cyborg components, he was more than pleasing to look at. More than pleasing.

Brain Box's car was behind her and had her new found friend Vapor inside. Vapor was a little upset that he had to leave Steve behind. Driving up beside them was Tress on her bike with Colony and Auto Eye on board. Running beside them all was Machine X who carried Scimitar on his shoulder. Like some kind of kid on her parent.

The group arrived at the farm where there were three buildings already there. The handlers bought the land from mysterious funds that the cyborgs did not know about. There were two houses and a barn/shed for storage. A pen that was already filled with pigs and a chicken coop was available. There was a town a few miles away called Hopkinsville where they could go get some factory jobs if they were short on cash. And they could buy some things, but the handlers made a new rule. Cyborgs that go into town were to have a handler of their choice with them.

Colony got off the bike as Zippo asked getting out, "So, how are we going to get some veggies? I can't live without some veggies."

Colony then said as she heard what he said, "If veggies is what my boyfriend wants, then veggies he shall have."

She rose her arms dramatically as ants came out of her legs with vapors following them. They began to dig and go to the outer edges of the property. Digging and digging up the ground into farmable land.

Shadow Play said poking Zippo's chest, "What's this about being her boyfriend?"

Zippo put up his hands as he replied to her, "It just sort of happened. She just sort of claimed me."

Shadow Play then said to him just as Vapor was getting out, "Well, we're going on a date tonight."
"We just got here," Vapor said, "and we have dating already?"

"You can come with us," Shadow Play said.

"I think I will," agreed Vapor.

There wasn't much around Hopkinsville in the way of entertainment. They ended up at a small restaurant that was recommended to them.

"This fried fish is pretty good," said Shadow Play.

Zippo had a big plate of vegetables.

Suddenly the door of the restaurant burst open and three masked men with shotguns stomped in.

"Everybody be cool and no one gets hurt!" said the biggest of the three. "Toss your wallets, rings, watches, and jewelry into the middle of the room!"

People scrambled to comply while one of the masked men scooped everything into a sack.

Vapor and Zippo exchanged glances with each other. Their looks seemed to say Shall we put an end to this farce?

Zippo said to Vapor who was about to do something, "Hold it, we aren't the police."

Vapor replied back to him, "What are you saying?"

Zippo replied back to him, "We can do this without all the flashy stuff. We are cyborgs we shouldn't be involved directly. Plus, the CIA knows our faces. If we are in the news we'll be discovered. If we handle this, we do it quietly."

Vapor nodded understanding but still thinking Zippo was a coward. Zippo then said to Shadow Play, "Please make the room dark."

Shadow Play smiled as her eyes and hands glowed red making any and all available shadows block the light. The robbers tried turning on a flash light that they happened to be carrying. But, it too was out and permitted no light. With fear running through their minds, Zippo had made his move. Folding his hands up he let his lighters extend and light up a flame that was covered by shadow. His finger tips let out a frequency that manipulated the flame into a heatwave. The heatwave deplenished the thieves of water in their bodies making them dehydrated.

Vapor had slits open on his hands and neck as he moved at the thieves. He swung his arms letting his vents hit the thieves with a gas. The gas made them more susceptible to sleep. Falling into the slumber that would allow them to be escorted out by the police. Shadow Play tied them up being the only one to really being able to see until her two male comrades who used their best guess and memory to get at the criminals.
By this time there was pandemonium in the restaurant with people yelling, "I can't see! I can't see!" so Zippo suggested they slip out and eat supper somewhere else.

They settled on a little diner that looked interesting.

"Let's hope it doesn't get robbed," said Shadow Play.

But the food was awful. "What an evening!" Zippo said. "It's a disaster!" And they all laughed about it.


The next morning the farm was in full swing with everyone sorting out jobs and rooms. More cyborgs were arriving. Brain Box had stayed up all night calling them. He never needed much sleep anyway. And it was easier to avoid the scrutiny of the handlers at night. They seemed to need a lot sleep and usually chose night time to do it.

It was difficult to keep the handlers convinced that the farm was for one purpose when it was really for an entirely different purpose as far as Brain Box was concerned.

The female cyborgs were assigned to one house while male cyborgs were assigned to another house. And because the chanced of cyborg offspring having better chances of being a candidate, the aliens let cyborgs have sexual passes. Where one cyborg went to the other cyborg room or vice versa. In the aliens hopes reproducing an offspring capable of producing immunity cells.

Brain Box had met with a cyborg named Rage who decided to work with him. Rage was on Brain Box's plans to recruit via the CIA. But, the handlers had silently brought him to the farm in the dawn. Rage had a similar feeling that was shared by many of the other cyborgs. That they were moved to the farm purely for the fact of being kept in their place.

Auto Eye and Machine X needed little convincing from Scimitar to join Brain Box's efforts. By now Brain Box had control over three aliens thanks to Kalman's help. He kept using Agents Riddlesdale to put more and more pressure on the aliens by attacking cyborgs. The only two people that knew about this plan were Rage and Scimitar. They understood that for Cyborgs to have total autonomy that the inevitable rebel of the cyborgs would have to happen when they wanted it to happen. Cause if it happened of its own accord there would be no organization and it would be chaos. With this, there would be organization and it would strengthen their chances of total autonomy.

Colony saw Zippo burning at a cement laid path as he walked beside it. His shirt was off and she licked her lips while he worked. He currently wore a pair of shades at how bright his flames were. As he turned off his flames Shadow Play brought him a glass of water. Feeling jealousy the queen of the ants walked over and pulled Zippo's face into a kiss after his drink was done.

Shadow Play then said to Colony after Colony was done, "You know it's not a contest."

Colony then looked at her and asked, "Really?"

Shadow Play shrugged her shoulders, "No, I'm cool with multiple partners."
"Well, maybe I'm not," Colony said.

Shadow Play was silent for a moment, looking at Colony and wondering how she thought. "Maybe you're not , but Zippo is and I am. Don't you think it's better if you are, too?"

"I'll have to talk to Zippo first," Colony said. "Maybe you know how he thinks or maybe you don't."

"Go ahead and talk," Shadow Play said. "He likes to talk."

"You know, I'm standing right here," Zippo said. "Shadow Play is right, Colony. I have never been the kind of person that wants to depend on just one other person. I like a lot of freedom in my life. There is no point in you being jealous of Shadow Play because she is my friend and always will be."

Colony didn't say anything. She just turned and walked away. It was a lot to digest and she would have to think about it and reorganize her thoughts.

"She'll come around," Zippo said as he and Shadow gazed at the retreating back of Colony.
Colony sat on a tree branch as her ants worked on it and one of them stopped. It then said to her via telepathy, "Colony, does the queen not have multiple men for breeding the colony?"

Colony nodded as she replied to the ant, "Dear sister, I just thought that perhaps, I could be like someone and not the other way around. To always be liked and never feel that sexual attraction. And now I do. I have seen thousands of men, but none were attractive."

The ant replied to her, "Yes, but he will come to you and like you. Trust me, your sister."

Interupting their converstation unknowingly Zippo came and asked Colony seeing the ants on the log, "Can I sit here?"

Colony looked at him and released a pheromone from her legs and hands. Moments later the ants gave Zippo enough room to sit. She said with a smile, "I like how you consider the ants as a living creature. Like I do."

Shrugging his shoulders he said putting his hands on the log, "It's hard not to notice. When you can burn anything around you, destroying life. You kinda take in the feeling of appreciation for all the little creatures in life. If you noticed I try not to hurt people. I will if I have to. But, I'd rather have a threat and my flame ward people off. It just making life more simple and more peaceful. Colony, I like you physically. You are very attractive."

Colony blushed as she heard him say more, "But, I don't know you except that you were willing to start the field for fruits and veggies. I like fruits and veggies for two reasons. They taste good and as far as I know they don't feel pain upon being picked. I do eat meat, but I don't order it that often. I do enjoy a fish. But, that's not the point. The point is, you are considerate of my feelings. And I may have not been considerate of yours. So, if you will allow me to cook for you. I will ask you onto a date with me by the river. We can go fishing and have a nice day for ourselves. And if you are okay with a polyamorous life style. We can invite Shadow Play as well."

Colony widen her eyes in realization, "Wait, so you are not just toying with my feelings? You are polyamorous? As in you can love multiple people?"

Zippo shrugged his shoulders, "Yeah, and honestly, if Brain Box wasn't so arrogant. I could try dating him, but he's just eye candy because of that arrogance."

Colony smiled as she said to him, "Then, invite Shadow Play. She will be your girlfriend. And I, your queen."

Zippo feeling just the tadest bit uncomfortable about that title for her replied, "Sure."
Colony noticed his discomfort. "I do not mean I will try to rule you or boss you around. It's like with the ants. To them I am their queen because I am their mother and care for them, not because I tell them what to do."

"You don't ever tell them what to do?" Zippo asked.

"OK, yes, I do tell them sometimes, although I try to make it more like requesting than commanding, you know?" Colony replied to Zippo.

"I think I understand what you mean. Well, if by queen you mean care about me then I am happy you are my queen." Zippo smiled as he commented to Colony.

"Good!" she said. "Now tell me what you think about this plan of Brain Box. Will it succeed? Does it have a chance? Or is it just some hopeless dream?"

Zippo rose a brow as he asked, "What plan?"
Zippo listened to the entire plan that Colony explained to him. He then said to her with squinted eyes, "He has to be stopped."

Colony lifted a brow, "Why?"

Zippo replied to her gravely, "The aliens gave us our cyborg parts. I bet they could neutralize us like turning off and on a tv. Plus, they provide protection, they provide powers and dreams to come true. They don't try to kill us. We aren't inside cages or anything getting foods. Sure we are all gathered here and being watched after. But, it's better than being on your own. If you are alone in this world, then no one has your back. And we are still human and besides the CIA. There are people out there that don't deserve to die from alien invasion because of a few's desire to over throw the current monarchy."

Colony nodded seeing his points. She then said to him with agreement, "Then let us go stop him before he destroys us."

The pair stood up as they went to Kalman's room. They opened the door as Zippo said to Kalman, "Kalman, where is Xarmi?"

Kalman replied to him in a monotone like most the aliens, "He is in town with Vapor and Tress who are shopping for some more exotic foods."

Zippo then said to Kalman, "Well, I have to tell you something. Brain Box is planning an attack."

Kalman replied to him shocking Colony and Zippo, "I am aware of this. Zemel, do not make me do something to hurt you."

Zippo's eyes widen as he said with realization, "I'm talking to you now, aren't I? Brain Box."

Kalman replied to Zippo, "Yes, it is I."

Zippo turned to Colony. "This is bad. Brain Box has control of Kalman and now he knows how I feel."

Kalman made a move and said, "That's right. Now I know." There was a gun in Kalman's hand.

Zippo instinctively jumped aside, activating his flame hands as he did, so that there was a sudden burst of heat and flame filling the room and throwing off Kalman/Brain Box's aim. Colony screamed.

Zippo kicked open the door and yanked her through it. "Come on! We've got to get out of here! Now that Brain Box knows about me, it's not safe here."

"What about Shadow Play?" Colony asked.

"Do you think you could go get her from the female dorm while I go through the fence? You and she can leave the farm the normal way."

"Why don't you try that?"

"No, Brain Box is too smart and quick. By now he has almost certainly warned everyone to stop me. I'll meet up with you in Hopkinsville at that crummy diner we ate at the other night."
Zippo burned the fence as he ducked past it and looked around. Ahead of him was Brain Box who stood in the woods waiting for him. Beside him was Scimitar and had her wires connect to the blade. The nanites produced a mirrored side of the scimitar as Scimitar said with a serious face, "Dual Mode."

Brain Box said to Zippo with his helmet on, "Please, don't make me do this. You are my friend. You rescued me from CIA. You told the aliens that just because I had insomnia that I could still produce immunity cells. That I wasn't damaged goods. You helped me when not even my own parents would accept or help me. Don't do this."

Zippo replied to him as a tear fell down his cheek, "You are more than just a friend. You are my greatest friend. We do not get along sometimes, but we've always had each other's backs. And if you ever need help, I will come to your aide dear friend. But, you are risking the destruction of the Earth as we know it. I can not be apart of that. I'm afraid I have to make a stand against you."

Brain Box said sadly as he closed his eyes lifting his hand shaking it towards Zippo, "Scimitar, please."

Scimitar moved in swinging her dual sword at Zippo. Zippo let his fire come out and form into a sword and shield. Blocking the blade with his shield he concentrated the flame at the blade impact so much that the flame seemed almost like a solid. Scimitar pulled the sword back as she spun it in her hands and went down again.

Zippo swung his flame sword through a branch making it fall down with a flame. The flame began to catch on the pine needle covered path. The dry needles began to catch fire making the perfect kindling. Zippo said behind the flames' protection as Brain Box and Scimitar backed off, "Good bye, brother."

Zippo ran off as Brain Box replied under his breath with a tear himself, "Good bye, brother."
As Zippo ran through the woods he had no idea what to do next. He saw now that telling the aliens would not be enough because Brain Box already controlled too many of them. Brain Box would prejudice the aliens against believing anything Zippo might say. The irony was that Zippo was on the aliens' side, but they wouldn't believe it. It seemed like Zippo's only hope now was to organize enough cyborgs to foil Brain Box's plans.

Later, at the diner, he was glad to see that Colony had found Shadow Play and brought her.

"What are we going to do?" Shadow Play asked.

"I'm not sure," Zippo said. "It might be that you and Colony can go on as if nothing has changed, but as for me, I know I can't be around Brain Box. Should I hide out somewhere? I don't know if my handler Xarmi will believe my story or not."

"I thought the handlers had ways to detect if we are lying or not?" Colony said.

"I've heard that rumor but I don't know if it's true."

"Why don't you just talk to Xarmi?"

Zippo sighed. "Problem with that is if he has already been biased against me then he might kill me on the spot as soon as I show up."
Zippo sighed as he thought about it and said blowing his lips, "I think I need to go to one of the other farms. If I can convince the cyborgs at another farm that I are on their side, before Brain Box makes his move. Then I be good."

Shadow Play then asked Zippo, "What is this with 'I' as far as I know, there is no I in 'us' as in saving us all. And by us I my us cyborgs, what you are suggesting could save the good ones, while punishing the bad ones."

Zippo looked at her as he asked her, "Do you know what you are saying?"

Colony said to him with a smile to Shadow Play, "We are saying. You and us, we are a team."

Zippo sighed as he relied to them, "Fine. We'll do this."
The closest alternate farm was many miles away, but they set out for it trusting that their cyborg stamina would help them on their journey.

"You know as soon as we get there our handlers are going to want to know what's going on?" Colony said.

"I know," Zippo replied. "That's why it's important we come up with a good story that explains everything."

"Why not just tell the truth?"

"What IS the truth? I'm not sure I know anymore. Things have gotten so complicated."

They walked steadily for many hours, stopping only to eat and drink and relieve themselves.

"I'll be so glad to get a hot shower," Shadow Play said. The other two heartily agreed.
Zippo said finally answering Colony, "Perhaps, you are right. We should just tell them the truth. So, we'll do that. We'll tell the new farm's aliens about Brain Box. And our handlers will be informed by those aliens on the next farm. I mean that's all we can do. Brain Box shouldn't be ready with his plan yet. But, he might be in a couple of weeks. It'll take us five days to get to destination. Mind sending out some more ants to find us some edible food?"

Colony nodded as she had her leg compartments let out a pheromone to notify her ants of their task. Shadow Play heard a branch break as she turned around and had her eyes glow along with her hands. The shadows that the wood's trees cast flew up and darkened the area around them.

Shadow Play then said to Zippo with a tad bit of fear, "CIA.."

Zippo replied with surprise, "In the woods? What are they wearing?"

Shadow Play replied sarcastically, "Overalls and tank tops. SUITS! YOU GENIUS!"

"Do they see us?" Zippo asked.

"Probably," Shadow Play said. "They have nighttime visual devices."

"Alright, listen up. We're going to run through the thickest part of the forest and I am going to set it on fire. That will slow them down and also screw up their infra-red night viewers. They can't see our body heat if the woods are on fire. You two make sure you stay well ahead of me so you don't get burnt."

"Wait until I get my ants back," Colony said.

"Forget the ants! You can make more ants."

"But they are almost here.," Colony pleaded.

"So is the CIA!"

"OK. I'm good."

"Zheesh!" Zippo said. "Run!" He activated his flame hands and ran behind Colony and Shadow Play setting the forest on fire as he ran.

The CIA agents soon realized what was happening and fired shots into the flames, but none of them connected with the three cyborgs.
Zippo leaped above a log as he let his hands go down. The flames burst out not only setting the log on fire, but also launching Zippo into the air. He landed in the trees as his hands folded down and he grabbed onto the branches. He pulled himself up as he saw ants on the branch and lifted a brow. He then noticed that he had a few ants on his sleeve. He smiled as he thought that he was lucky for having someone who cared so much about him.

The CIA extinguished all the flames as they then began to motion for their agents to split up. Agent Riddlesdale then said looking around then squinting, "Come out, Zippo."

Zippo had shock come to his face as he then said climbing down, "So, you even retain an agent on the inside, Brain Box?"

Brain Box spoke through Agent Riddlesdale, "Yes, I do. He has been useful. Now, we don't have to do this. I'm still willing to let you in on my plans. What do you say?"

Zippo had his left hand fold up as the flame turned on. Zippo swung his arm up as the flame cut and burned off Agent Riddlesdale's chest. The disc that controlled him was burned off his chest as he screamed and hit the ground. He was unconscious from so much pain. Zippo then picked up the disc to see that it's circuitry was burnt out and the thing had no power. He put it in his pocket for evidence to the aliens at the next farm.

Reunited with Colony and Shadow Play, Zippo showed them the controller disc. "This is what Brain Box uses."

"He must be very smart to build that," Shadow Play said.

"He is," Zippo said. "I hope the aliens realize that. They have a tendency to underestimate humans and cyborgs. Brain Box was always telling me he was twice as smart as any handler. I guess he proved he was when he started controlling them."

"Are we ever going to sleep?" Colony asked.

"Not right now," Zippo said. "Not when the CIA have us located. We need to do something drastic to lose them. I'm thinking maybe we should steal a car and put some distance between us and them."

"Are we near a highway?"

"I don't know," Zippo said. "Can you ask some of your ants to head out left and right and report back if they encounter pavement."

I can do that," Colony said, "but do you have any idea how slow an ant travels?"
Zippo, Shadow Play and Colony reached a small town by foot as the man with the torches burned the car door handle off. He then burned off the henges as he laid the car door on the ground. He made his flame more controled as he cut the key insert off and pulled out some wires. He began to spark them until the car started and put the wires inside the car wheel. His car door was the only one missing, and he didn't exactly care.

He fastened his seat belt and let the girls pile on in. Driving the car out of the home owners drive way as their door opened made Zippo kinda feel bad. But, they had to do this for the safety of the Earth. Cause even if Brain Box's plan succeeded, it would still bring near dooms day to the planet from the alien's attack. Win or lose, at least a billion lives would be lost. And Zippo was not going to let that happen.

They pulled into another town as they got a hotel room. Zippo was in the block buster as he grabbed a couple of movies. Taking the vhs tapes to the register, he paid for their rent and went out of the store. He got a movie for the girls to enjoy, so tear jerker and a nice cartoon for himself to watch in the other room. Little did he know that the girls had other plans.
"Oh Zippo..." Shadow Play called in a girlish voice from the other room.

"What?" he said in a gruff voice.

"Come see what we have for you?"

"Unless it's cake and ice cream I'm not interested," Zippo said.

"It's even better than cake and ice cream."

Zippo got up and walked into the other room where he saw Shadow Play and Colony completely naked lying on the bed.

"Hi, Zippo..." Shadow Play said in that same girlish voice she used before. "See anything you like?"

Zippo grinned. "Mmmmmm! Cake and ice cream!"

Colony laughed. "Dip in your spoon and have a bite. Oh my, you do have a big spoon, don't you?"

Zippo was already in the process of stripping off his clothes and it was obvious he was very interested in having some cake and ice cream.
Zippo moved his spoon to Colony's waiting mouth as she decided to lick it of it's sugary cream. Zippo moaned as she licked and placed his spoon in her mouth moving her head up and down taking all of it's delicious flavor.

Shadow Play moved up to Zippo as she kissed his lips. She stuck her tongue into his mouth as she pulled his head to her face. She felt his moans and giggled at his almost submissive nature.

Colony worked the spoon until it broke letting a sugar gush in her mouth. She moaned with a bit of a gurgle at it's flavor. She pulled out her mouth off as she licked her lips from the white sugar paste leak from her mouth. Colony then said to Zippo with a lustful smile, "Time to dig in."

Colony laid back as Zippo pulled away from Shadow Play's mouth with her hands letting go of his head. He took his spoon now repaired and dug into her bowl of ice cream. Her ice cream was warmer and more melted than Zippo thought it was. It was like a bowl of hot fudge instead and he decided he liked the taste of it.
"Oooo," Colony moaned. "Banana, my favorite flavor."

"With chocolate sprinkles on it," Zippo said as he kept up a rhythm that soon had Colony tossing her head.

"Now, baby! Now!" she gasped as she climaxed and Zippo grunted like a hog as he came too.

Shadow Play had not sat back disinterested. She had been hugging Zippo's back and she thrilled to feel the muscles there flex and shudder.

All three of them froze when there was a knock on the door.

"Is everything alright in there?" came the voice of an elderly woman through the door.

Colony laughed. "Go away, Grandma! Nothing happening in here! And quit putting your old ear against the door and listening or I'll report you to the manager!"

"I was just trying to help," protested the voice on the other side of the door.

"Go away!" Shadow Played yelled. "You can't help with this or we would invite you in!" Then she looked at Zippo and Colony. "Can you believe that? This hotel must have thin walls."
Zippo stretched as he stood up from the bed. He got into the shower as he rested off his body. He heard a knock on the shower door as he said to the female shaped silhouette, "Come on in."

Opening the door was Shadow Play as she said to him with a smile, "Hope there is room for one more."

Zippo replied to her as he backed up giving her room, "Barely."

Shadow Play then said to him as she massaged his lower half, "Mind if I get some soap?"

Stroking his spigot she summoned some liquid soap making her smile. She then rubbed it on her body and felt the water wash it away. The sight was very arousing. Zippo said to her as he barely recovered, "After this we got to get on the road again. One day's travel until we get to the farm."

Shadow Play nodded as she said placing Zippo's soap spigot into her pussy. She smiled at him as she said pumping him with her womanly velvet trap, "This is so good."

Colony knocked on the bathroom door, "Hey, I need to use the restroom."

Shadow Play screamed to her as she finished, "Be out in a minute."
The next day they were up early and on the way. It was a beautiful day and all three of them felt more confident about the future. In the late afternoon they found themselves looking down from a hill at the farm that was their destination.

"How should we handle this?" Colony said. "If all three of us walk in they are going to be wondering what's going on, aren't they?"

"I don't know," Zippo said. "But it's probably best that just one of us check the place out first and see if they are on the alert looking for us or anything. Shadow Play, you're the logical choice to sneak in."

"Right," Shadow said. "I'll go now and slip out after nightfall and report back here. Does that sound okay?"

"Yes," Zippo said, "except we won't have any way of knowing if you are in trouble or not."

"I've got a way," Colony said. "Take some ants with you. I'll give you two groups of them. If everything is okay when you get inside, release one group. If you are in trouble then release both groups."

"How am I going to carry them and release them?" Shadow Play asked.

"Don't worry," Colony said. "The ants know what to do. I'll just put them in these little paper envelopes I use and you can slip the envelopes in your pockets. Just drop the envelope on the ground to release them."
Shadow Play stalked to grounds with her hands and eyes aglow. Exaggerating the shadows concealment as she went. She looked at the grounds as she saw one of the cyborgs. He was an African American man with mixed ethnicity from the giant continent of Asia, Shadow Play guessed. His squinting eyes looked around as he stood guard. His legs were too stiff and bore lines suggesting that they were metal with false flesh making Shadow Play think they were his cyborg parts. The arms were the same and the fingers moved too rigidly, like Zippo's fingers moved.

The guard wore a blue tank top with blue lower half mask. The design on his lower half mask reminded Shadow Play of shark teeth. The man also wore a blue kama over his tanned shorts. The kama was layered by a belt with large pouches and a sheath that had a sword in it. His hand aimed towards Shadow Play as she moved back with fear.

The man then said with a low laugh, "CIA agents capable of hiding in the shadows? Hahaha, well, we'll see if you can really hide from Ventriloquist!"

Ventriloquist's left arm opened as it folded towards his bicep. Falling out of his arm was the mechanical body of a dummy. The dummy had dreadlocks like Ventriloquist. The eyes were red and emitted a light that was hitting the shadows. Shadow Play thickened the darkness to not be seen, but sadly. That was his plan, for the shadows that did not surround her could be shined on. A gasp came from Shadow Play as she ran out of the shadows to dodge a small fist launched like a missile. The fist was on a chord and was pulled back into the dummy's arm as the dummy laughed, "Ventriloquist, let's take care of this broad."

Ventrilloquist replied to the dummy, "I swear, it's like you can read my mind Lefty. Say your prays CIA."
"I'm not CIA!" Shadow Play said. "I'm cyborg!"

"Then why are you sneaking into our farm?" Ventriloquist asked. "You could have walked through the gate."

"Have you ever heard of Zippo?" Shadow said.

"The renegade cyborg? Sure, we've got his picture on a poster in the guardhouse."

"He's not a renegade! He's the victim of a renegade! He discovered a cyborg who is plotting against the handlers, but when he tried to expose that cyborg, it backfired onto him and now he is the one suspected of being a renegade."

"Huh? That's too complicated for me. But I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. Come with me and we'll talk with my handler and we'll get his opinion."

"Alright," Shadow said. She released one packet of ants and hoped she was right that she wasn't in trouble, but she could always release the second packet later if things turned nasty.
Shadow Play sat with a handler by the name of Zern, it was the first female handler she ever met. The handler had a feminine build with long white hair in a pony tail and yellow eyes. The skin was pale and the lips applied with pink lipstick. The handler wore a black pair of jeans and a white button up shirt.

She listened to all of Shadow Play's story as she said to the cyborg, "I believe you are under false information, but are unaware of it. The fact is a cyborg could never take us over even with our own technology that we bestow upon you humans. We are not stupid enough."

Shadow Play replied to her, "What about sympathetic? Our thinking is that Kalman dropped his guard and in that time, Brain Box attached to him a disc."

Zern nodded as she replied, "Possible, unlikely, but possible. I give my word to protect your friend, Zippo, until a final decision is made about him. Until then I wish for him to be in our custody. Can he be?"

Shadow Play nodded her head, "He'll be delighted."
"Can you communicate with him?" Zern asked.

"I'll have to go get him," Shadow said. "He's hiding outside the base with another cyborg."

"Alright," Zern said. "Go get your friends, but I am going to have to ask you to wear a tracking device. Just for our own security, you understand, in case you don't come back."

"I'm fine with it."


Shadow Play made her way through the woods and found Zippo and Colony and explained the situation.

"What do you think about this Zern handler?" Zippo asked.

"She seems trustworthy," Shadow said. "I think she is open-minded and wants to hear your story."

"That's the best we can hope for, I guess," Zippo said. "Let's go then."
Zippo sat in a cell as he said complaining, "Why's a cat got to be in a cell?"

Zern replied to him, "You agreed to be in custody, not how it should be carried out. Now, you will remain there under my watchful eye until I decide otherwise. You do have my word that you will not be informed of to the others, until I have all the information. In the mean time, I have sent Ventriloquist, Jackie Frost and Tap to your previous farm to investigate this Brain Box."

Zippo nodded as he said lifting up his hands, "Cool, but can a cat at least get a tasty meal?"

Zern nodded as she said to a small floating robot, "Go and get Zippo a meal."

Shadow Play and Colony sat outside the cell unrestrained. Colony didn't feel easy about Zippo's restraint, but she trusted him. If he was okay with being in a cell, then she was okay too.
"Are you okay in there?" Colony asked.

"I guess so," Zippo said. "You can't expect them just to automatically trust three strangers who come stumbling through the woods."

"I'm worried," Shadow Play said.

"Why?" asked Zippo.

"Suppose when Ventriloquist and Jackie Frost and Tap get to Brain Box, he takes control of them!"

"I don't think that will happen," Zippo said. "They've been warned about him and there are three of them. Brain Box is strong and smart but he is not a super powerful genius."

"I hope you are right," Shadow said.


Meanwhile, Brain Box was having troubles of his own. The CIA agents had surrounded his farm but they hadn't made any other moves. He knew they were out there but he didn't know why. Were they planning an all-out assault to try to capture some cyborgs?

Worst of all, none of Brain Box's normal methods of finding out what the CIA were up to seemed to be working. He suspected maybe they knew all about him. Maybe it was just him they were after. The CIA would love to get their hands on a method for controlling the alien handlers.

Brain Box paced up and down, fretting and worrying. If only he knew exactly what was going on.

Brain Box called in Scimitar and Vapor to come to him. In walked the two as he then said to them, "We're surrounded by the enemy. I want you to bring one of them back alive. They can or can't be harmed, I don't care, just alive. And stable enough to not die in the near future."

The pair nodded as they went out. Brain Box then said to Kalman and Xarmi who were under his control, "I want your ships to target them with stunners."

The pair nodded as they went outside. Upon arriving outside they nodded as their ships decloaked and appeared before the very CIA shocking them. The handlers got inside their personal ships about twice the size of a fighter jet. The ships took off as they fired missiles that broke and let out several thousand needles. The needles hit several targets as they had holes on them open and let out a yellow gas. Every CIA member that breathed it in fell and were stunned, not knocked out. They could see and hear everything, but couldn't move.

Scimitar and Vapor ran up to one as they brought him to Brain Box. The pair wore gas masks as they tossed down the agent. Brain Box opened his hand as a disc built itself inside his hand. He placed the disc on the agent's upper back under the shirt as he said having his helmet deploy, "You are my new eyes and hears in the CIA. You should feel honored. Now, let's see what your orders are."
The CIA agent spoke like a robot as he repeated his orders for Brainbox, but Brainbox was to be disappointed. "That's it? You were just to surround the farm, be on the alert, and await further instructions?"

"That is it," said the agent.

"Alright, return to your post. When everyone wakes up from the stun gas you are to say nothing of your visit here. In fact, you will forget all about it, but if I need you again, you will tell me everything I want to know. Do you understand and obey?"

"I understand and obey."

"Take him back," Brainbox said to Scimitar and Vapor. "I don't know much more than I knew before. At least I know these guys don't know anything either."
Outside of Brain Box's base of operations were three cyborgs. Ventriloquist looked at all the paralyzed and knocked out CIA agents. He turned to a girl who leaned against a tree that was frozen in ice. She had on a pair of black shades with a bob hair cut of platinum blonde hair and died bangs of blue. She black skin and had a tattoo on her cheek of a heart that was frozen in ice, in blue ink. The heart was red and had a black crack line drawn on it, showing that it was a broken heart only held together by the coldness of revenge or suffering.

Her pants were blue jeans with fur lining the ends of the legs. Her black leather jacket had fur at the end of the sleeves. She was rather skinny and had the collar pulled out. The front of her neck had a circular vent that was sucking air and her hands had holes on the palms. She looked up and said to a man in the shadows, "Tap, you going to just keep standing there?"

Walking out of the shadows was a Indian young man. He had deep tanned skin and thick bushy black eye brows like the long side burns he wore. With pride above his unibrow was a silver jewel with a black dot around it, showing it to be some personal variation of bindi. His brown eyes were behind a pair of regular round lenses glasses with a silver frame. His hair was covered by a gray ski hat that covered the top of his ears. He wore a pair of black jeans with a red a-shirt showing his metallic forearms. His forearms had missing plates exposing to the air gears and chains that were inside his arms. He had buttons on the top of his hands that were different colors.

The young man said to the girl who was just leaning against the frozen tree, "Yeah, I'm ready Jackie Frost. Let's get this going."

Ventriloquist had his left arm open as a dummy came out. The dummy reached for Ventriloquist's belt pulling out a long dagger. The dummy laughed as he said with wide eyes, "Time for this party to get started!"

Jackie Frost ran toward's the fence as her hands let a liquid flow from her hands. The liquid froze the fence as she crossed her arms to shield herself as she smashed through the frozen fence. Tap and Ventriloquist followed after her as the three were ignorant to the fact that Auto Eye and Tress were on top of a building. Looking down at the intruders as the girl took her walkie talkie and said, "We have intruders, what do you want us to do?"

Brain Box replied to Tress, "Take them out."
"Will do," Tress replied.

She activated her metallic hair and leapt off the roof into the middle of the three intruders. Tress whirled around with her hair fanned out slicing the air. If she made contact she would slice through Cyborg flesh and bones or even metal because her hair was super hard.

The three intruders were quick enough to duck and Jackie Frost froze Tress's hair making it brittle so that strands started snapping off. Tress groaned. This was the first time anyone had ever mounted a credible defense against her. She collapsed on the ground looking like she told the barber to give her a crew cut.

Meanwhile Autro Eye was sending laser blasts at the three intruders, but Tap activated mirrors in his arms so that Auto Eye soon found himself dancing around trying to avoid his own reflected laser beams.
Tress growled as her hair grew out once more and said with gritted teeth, "Get over here."

Coming from around the corner was Machine X with a few other cyborgs. One of the cyborgs lifted up his bandanna to show his cybernetic part on the temple of his head. As it had green lights light up three javelins behind him flew with his swinging arms. It was as if he had three invisible warriors fight for him.

Jackie frost froze two of the javelins as Tap tapped his foreams summoning swords. Stabbing the cyborg in the chest he saw blood and fluids pour from his body. The javelin controlling cyborg hit the ground as he ceased to live.

Another cyborg pulled down their mouth mask to let out a fog. The fog made the ground soft causing people's shoes to get stuck in the mud. Tress used this to her advantage as she hit Jackie Frost through the wall of the girl's dormitory, "Bitch!"

Jackie Frost wiped her lip as she said having her hands blast out liquid nitrogen, "Freeze!"
That stopped Tress again. Jackie Frost called to Tap and Ventriloquist: "Kill this one if she moves again!"

Tap was still busy with Auto Eye who was trying out different strategies to try to defeat Tap's mirror tactics. Instead of standing in one place Auto Eye ran as fast as he could in a big circle around Tap, constantly shooting laser beams. Tap was forced to keep changing the angle of the mirrors and eventually he slipped up and a laser beam got through and singed him. Then another one burned a hole through his forehand and messed up his sword mechanism.

Ventriloquist positioned himself where Auto Eye would run by him. Auto Eye didn't see him because his attention was focused on Tap. The dummy popped out of Ventriloquist's arm and tripped Auto Eye. He tumbled to the ground and the dummy pounced on him.

© Copyright 2015 FlashWally22, Steev the Friction Wizurd, (known as GROUP).
All rights reserved. GROUP has granted Writing.Com, its affiliates and its syndicates non-exclusive rights to display this work.
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