Kairos Trigger Chapter 1
Lab 32
By Dark Magus
2400 AD
1 year later…
Kairo looked strait into the eyes of his attacker. The deep yellow in them showed that it indeed was not human. He didn't dare move, as the beast would surely kill him. So he just stared into the monster's eyes, not even flinching.
After a while the beast got bored and left. Kairo continued trekking through the woods. He was able to walk about forty feet before he encountered another obstacle. There was a wall of brush and shrubs higher than his head, and longer than he could see through the trees.
Kairo grabbed for a sword hilt on his belt. He took it out and flipped a switch. A stream of laser came out. It had the strength of a sword, but the power of a beam.
That was one of the many gadgets on Kairo. After losing his arms and one leg a year ago in warfare, he decided to make the best of his position. The army supplied him with armor that was specially made for him. It was black and silver, the army colors, from head to toe, with the exception of the red breastplate. It covered his lower arms, torso, right leg (the mechanical one), and his belt area. He just plugged it in to his mechanical extensions and it was powered up. His chest and leg were covered with a metal alloy that was strong, but when it came down to it didn't protect him from the high tech dangers at all. He had a slot on his belt where he could insert his favorite weapon, the concentrated blade. His belt also carried necessities, detonators, and oil for his armor. On the rest of his body he wore baggy denim pants. He wore no shirt because he was covered in that area already. He had a black headband on though, to keep the hair out of his eyes.
Kairo was made into a human war machine, used for his abilities. He agreed with it, because he didn't think his life was worth much anymore, now that he wasn't completely human. No one could look past his robotic limbs, and see the person he was. Kairo was empty and hardened inside, and it all traced back to Xeno and that one tiny little detonator.
Filled with rage at the recalling of that day, Kairo began hacking at the wall of shrubs. He cleared a path just big enough for himself to fit through. He trudged along through the forest. At the other side of these trees was a laboratory. He believed they called it Lab 32. Because of his advantages in his armor, he was selected as the perfect spy to investigate this place.
Kairo stepped in to an opening. Right in front of him, though he could barely see in the dim twilight, was a building about five stories tall, and wider than his eyes allowed him to see through the fog. So this was Lab 32.
Kairo carefully snuck along the ground, finding occasional rocks for shelter from the watchtower. He made it with difficulty to a particularly large rock, about fifty feet from the door, when he heard voices.
He watched two men walk by, chatting with each other too much to notice him. It was probably staff, going home after their shift. Good, that meant that the new person at the watchtower was just settling in.
With a quick dash the rest of the way, Kairo made it to the wall of the building, where he hid in the shadows until he could be sure the coast was clear. He then inspected the wall for a way to get in.
After a quick look, he found an air vent. He searched for a way to get it off. It seemed to be held in by a couple of bolts. Using all his mechanical strength, Kairo clamped his fingers down on the bolt and twisted. It came off easily. He did this until all of the bolts were off. Then he carefully lifted the vent off without a sound.
There was about two feet on each side of him, as it was the main exhaust pipe for the whole building. There was a foul reek inside of it, sulfuric in origin. Kairo grimaced at the smell, then crawled on. He found a break off in the vent about twenty feet from the opening. There was a grate that opened up to a large room. Fortunately for Kairo, the room was abandoned.
Kairo kicked the vent a couple of times, and it finally fell, clattering to the floor. Then he jumped out of the vent and landed hard on the floor ten feet below him. His robotic leg absorbed most of the impact. He searched for the door. It was harder than it looked, being that the room was so dark. He finally located it and half walked- half ran to it. He was stopped short before he got there.
A sort of mutant jumped out. It had a head shaped like a watermelon, a body shaped like a pear, and a tentacle hanging out of its back. It gave out a roar of challenge.
Kairo instinctively reached for his hilt and flipped the switch. The laser streamed out, its blue shining brightly in the dark. Kairo took a battle ready position.
The mutant made the first move, wrapping its tentacle around Kairo's neck and squeezing. Kairo's eyes went wide in pain. He reached up to the tentacle and sliced it with his blade. The creature shrieked and turned a deathly shade of white. Kairo slashed again at the creature's stomach and it fell. 'That was easy enough' Kairo thought.
Kairo then made for the door and was out into the well-lit hallway before any more attacks could be made. He glanced at his surroundings once again. There in the corner of the room, was a video camera, following his steps by sensor. 'So there's going to be a little trouble' thought Kairo with a grin. He took out his blade once more and flicked it on. He carried it in a battle ready stance as he ran down the hallway.
He came to an intersection of hallways. Which way was he supposed to go? He looked to his left and saw a group of men talking. He quickly ducked his head back behind the wall. He checked to his right and saw a clear hallway, free of bodies. In front of his was a room that was labeled security. Kairo made a quick decision and sliced the lock on the door with his blade. He quickly jumped inside.
There was a man at a computer console, fast asleep. Above the man was a com-unit, and a lot of screens that showed various parts of the building.
Kairo found it in his best interests to check out what was going on in the screens. He scanned the screens quickly. He saw the group of men outside the room chatting, a whole bunch of hallways, and then the god stuff. He saw many scientists performing experiments, some having to do with chemicals, some having to do with mechanics. None looked important, until he found screen 4-B. There, standing right in front of the camera, was…
…Xeno! The very sight of the man filled Kairo with so much rage that he lifted up his arms and smashed them through the nearest screen.
"Huh? Bubb…. Ba?" came the unintelligent murmuring of the guard sitting on the chair beside Kairo. "Oh my gosh!" was the next and last thing he said for that day. Kairo's fist connected with the man's forehead to send him unconscious to the floor.
Ok, 4-B, where was that? Kairo found a computer terminal and sat down at it. He typed for a while until he was able to bring up a map of the building. He studied it until he found 4-B. Then he planned his attack. He found an air conditioning vent that led from the hallway outside to floor four, which was where Xeno was.
Kairo picked up the receiver for the com-system beside him. "All men standing around," he said in his best monotone voice, "report to room 3-G, there has been a break in, and your help in stopping it would be appreciated."
'Well THAT sounded corny' Kairo thought to himself, 'but I think it did the trick.' He noticed the men in the hallway make for the elevators. When he was sure they were all clear, he opened the door.
He walked into an empty hallway. He then searched for the vent he was supposed to take. He located it about fifty feet from where he was standing.
Kairo strolled over the wall. He took the vent plate by the edges and tore it off recklessly. It clattered to the floor beside him. He then began to crawl in. He got his arms in, and then he got stuck. His armor made him too bulky to fit into the vent.
Almost crying with frustration, he began to think of alternatives. 'Hmmm… go up the elevator? No, there might be people on that. Take the stairs? No, I would still have a problem getting into the room'. Kairo rattled off a whole list in his mind, and finally came up with a solution.
Reluctantly, Kairo began to take off his armor. When he was in only a pair of denim pants and shoes, he looked for a place to stow away his armor. He decided to drop it off in the security room. The guy in there would be gone for a while anyways.
After depositing the metal thing, Kairo went back to the vent. He crawled inside. It was a tight fit, but he was able to make it.
Kairo crawled about ten feet before the cold started to set in. Why had he picked an air conditioning vent anyways? He finally made it to the main vent, and he was colder than ever. The cool air slapped against his bare chest with a bite. He ignored the shivering and continued with his mission.
He found an opening in the ceiling where the air was coming from. He jumped and quickly braced himself on all sides of the vent. He sort of clung there. Kairo then performed a tricky vertical climb, keeping his back against the wall at all times so he wouldn't fall.
When he was sure he was at the fourth level, Kairo crawled out of the vertical shaft into another duct. If he remembered right, he should go left. He started crawling once again.
Kairo passed about four vents with nothing in them, when he came to his room. He stared between the grates to see what was going on. Voices flooded to him and sort of echoed in his vent.
"Mister Xeno sir… I think I might have rediscovered the technology of time travel!" exclaimed the scientist in a squeaky voice.
"Demonstrate it to me," dared Xeno in a menacing tone.
"Well, you see sir, by examining an old archive we stole from the Guardia museum, I was able to construct a scepter. When you are near a time portal, the scepter will start beeping. Then all you have to do is press this button and you will be at another time. Now I have not harnessed the power of time portals yet and I don't know where this one goes…"
"Do you never shut up?"
"Sorry Mister Xeno sir, but that is the reason why I am going to run a test run. You see, if you go to a time and you can't get back, you're screwed, excuse my language. But as soon as I perfect this technology, you should be able to go anywhere…"
"Just shut up and press the $@&% button!"
"Yes sir." The scientist walked over to a computer console. It looked as if he was going to use that instead of the scepter. He turned the machine on, and it gave a whirring noise form the amount of power that was going through it. The scientist raised his arm, and dramatically brought it down to the button.
There was an electrical noise, and sparks started flying from a pole at the top of the machine. The sparks turned to beams of electricity, and finally, the beams shot out throughout the room and condensed in a sphere about 3 cubic meters large.
Then something unexpected happened. A man fell out of the sphere. He had long green hair, and was wearing spotted animal skins. He had a belt around his waist that carried to menacing looking daggers. His eyes wandered until they fixed on Xeno. A snarl spread across his face. It looked as if the man had been pulled from something important.
"Very good Smith," was Xeno's reply, "take this man down to the prison cells though, I don't trust him."
"Sir…"
"JUST DO IT! Wait though," Xeno said in an all different tone, "Does this scepter work?"
"Yes sir, I used the same technology in that as I did on the machine."
"Very good, now leave!"
The man left, escorting the now-banded prisoner somewhere. Then Kairo watched as Xeno held the scepter up. He presses a button on the scepter and the blue orb formed again. It swallowed Xeno up, and then disappeared.
'First thing's first' though Kairo. He had to go rescue that man that had fallen out of the sphere. Kairo punched the grate with mechanical strength and watched it clatter to the tile floor. He hoisted himself out, and then walked over to the computer console. He found a sort of artifact there. It was about a foot long and had a jewel embedded in the end of it. Could this be the time traveling device that the scientist had been talking about? He quickly pocketed the item and rushed out the door.
He caught the man just as he was rounding the corner with the prisoner. Kairo broke into a sprint. He rounded the same corner and looked down the next hallway. The scientist was waiting for an elevator. He had the prisoner in front of him in a controlled position.
"STOP!!" roared Kairo.
The scientist turned and saw him standing there. He began reaching for a gun. In a couple seconds he had the gun pointed at Kairo. Kairo stopped dead in his tracks. He had forgotten he didn't have his armor anymore. The man continued to aim, and put his finger on the trigger.
Soon the man was on the floor. Kairo looked over and saw the prisoner, knife in hand. The guy had knocked the scientist over the head with the hilt of his blade.
"Thanks man," Kairo said gratefully.
"My names Amox," the man said, "what's yours?"
"No time for that, now come with me!"
Kairo grabbed Amox by the arm and dragged him down the hallway. Soon Amox caught on and started running alongside Kairo.
They made their way to the room 4-B. Kairo shoved the door open and they ducked inside. He whipped out the artifact and held it up.
"Where did you get the gate…" Amox's sentence was cut short as the gate swallowed them both.
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TO BE CONTINUED
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