Dreams of days past.

He woke up in a cold sweat. The dreams were coming back again. "Lights on" He said while rubbing at his face and eyes. The apartments lighting system turned on. He glanced over at his wall clock, 03:48 it read. He groaned at bit at this as he didn't actually have to be up for a few more hours. "Well, not going back to sleep now. Coffee, full pot dark roast." He told the apartments computer. Within moments the aroma of fresh brewed coffee could be smelled all throughout.

The dreams. He hadn't had one in a long time now. He thought he had moved past them. He set both his hands on the counter top and closed his eyes.

White, sterile... medical tools. Tanks of liquid notum.

He quickly snapped his eyes open. "What was that?" He thought out loud. "I've never had that happen before." He shook his head trying to clear the daze away some. He stood back up straight and took a few deep breaths. After a couple of moments, when he felt it was past, he reached for his favorite coffee cup. It had a picture of General Geers in a swimsuit on it. He looked at it and smiled, then sighed and frowned. "Geers... what the hell are you doing?" He set the cup on the counter and reached for the coffee pot. Grasping the handle he began to pour the black gold into the cup...

Tubes running from the tanks... hooked into... his arms? His legs?

He dropped the coffee pot onto the floor, shattering it. Stumbling back a few steps he brought his hands up and covered his face, pain racing all through his body.

Doctors? No... scientists... putting the tubes in... cutting openings for them...

The pain became unbearable, he let out a scream. The automated computer kicked on, "Sir, would you like me to contact Omni-Med Emergency services?" He didn't even hear it. He had become the pain, he was not part of it, he was it. A loud thud echoed as he fell to the floor.

(thumbs up. got my attention right away.)

More please!

He was floating. It was warm and soothing. He felt like he could stay here forever. But wait... he could hear voices... people talking. Shalex tried to focus on them, but the warm liquid fought him for attention. He focused harder. "Look at these brain wave readings, I think it's aware." "That's impossible, they can not be aware untill we have finished the infusion and subsequent repairs." Shalex tried to look around, to move his head, even just his eyes. Bright light flooded his vision. It was then he noticed he couldn't blink. Had his eyes been open this whole time? He caught glimpses of shadows for the edge of his vision but could not make anything out. "I think all the tubes are in place, are the tanks primed?" "Tanks are fully functional and ready to start" A soft humming can now be heard. A pressure begins to build in all his extremities. The warmth began to slip away, replaced by a cold unwelcoming feeling. Then the pain came back. He felt like his whole body was on fire on the inside. He wanted to scream out, tell them to stop, but he could not. Pain enveloped him...

His head was pounding. He slowly cracked one eye open, then fully opened it. His coffee mug had been knocked of too, and his was looking right at the picture of Cora on it. Slowly he brought his hand up to rub his face then stopped. His hand and arm were... glowing. It was faint, but it could be seen. He stared at it, and as he did it faded away.

With a slight moan he reached up and grabbed the counter, pull the rest of himself up. He quickly looked over his body, checking to make sure the glowing had stopped. He hesitated a moment then closed his eyes. Darkness, nothing more. A sigh of relief left him as he opened his eyes back up.

"What the hell is happening to me?" He said while looking around the floor at the mess he had made. He would have to buy a new coffee pot but that wasn't important right now. Never had the dreams been that intense, nor had they ever came while he was awake. He wasn't even fully sure what they meant. "My infusion... I think. But why am I remembering it then? I technically shouldn't of been alive until it was done."

He shook his head. Too many unanswered questions. He needed answers and it was time to start finding them...

Dr. Jarit Kolarr...

The Omni-Pol Medic Sat in his office in Rome blue. He absently thumbed through reports from the days training sessions of the new cadets. A broken arm here, torn muscle there, boring. He missed his work in the Omni-Med building. If only things had been different. He thought back to his final task there... only to look up and see it standing before him. He hadn't heard the door open. But there stood Captain Shalex Kolarr. He smiled a bit at the last name. Shalex was tall for a nanomage, bald like all of them and had piercing white eyes. He was also exceptionally fit and well tempered for a nanomage. But that was because of the experiment...

"Captain, what can I do..." He was cut off before he could finish. Shalex had reached over the desk and grasped him by the collar, easily lifting him out of the chair. "Hey! Shalex! Put me down!" He yelled grabbing onto Shalex's wrist. "You... you were responsible for my after care." Shalex said. Jarit saw that it was almost as if he was staring right through him, looking as something only he could see. "Shalex! Whats the matter? Put me down and talk to me!" He pleaded with him. He looked down at Shalex's arm and gasped, it was glowing.

Voices again, always the voices. Why can't they leave me alone? Let me float in my warm oblivion. "Doctor, it seems to be responding to the infusion, look at the brain waves and patterns." "Well of course it is. Did they not tell you this was an experimental infusion?" That last voice... he knew it, it was familiar.

He slowly faded back into the present and looked square into Dr.Kolarr's eyes. "You... you were there!" He growled lifting him up higher. "What...what are you talking about? I was where? Wait what are you...." Shalex threw him against the wall.

There was a light breeze ruffling though the leaves on the trees. It was a bright sunny day. There were two young boys running through a field, laughing. They looked at the sky in the distance and saw dark grey clouds rolling towards them. A storm was coming...

Shalex jolted upright. The sudden movement flung trash and debris around the alley. He had made it to the alley way behind the office and apparently collapsed in a pile of trash. The memory of the dream he had been having flooded back to him. "Who were those children... and why was I dreaming about them?" He thought out loud. "And how did I get here?" He scanned the area around him then stood, brushing the litter off of himself.

"I came to see Dr.Kolarr... then I don't remember what happened." He walked to the end of the alley and peek around the corner. This was the doctors office, so he was right about that. He stepped out a little further then froze. There were Omni-Pol officers everywhere. They were scanning and looking at a large hole that had been blasted through one of the walls. "Did... did I do that?" he said shuddering a bit.

His Comm Link then beeped at him and made him jump. He laughed a bit at himself for this then stepped back out of sight of the officers before looking at his Comm. It was an incoming call from Dr.Tremlette. He had met the doctor a couple weeks ago during a physical exam she had conducted. He answered the call. "Hello Officer Kolarr this is Rae Tremlett. I hope you are doing well." He paused for a moment before answering. "Yes doctor i'm doing fine, thank you. How can I help you?" She wanted to meet for coffee at Rompah and catch up. Shalex knew she was just fascinated with nanomages as he was new to Rubi-Ka, but regardless, any place would be better than here right now. "I'll meet you there Doctor."

Rompa was nearly empty. The usual people were there, the regulars. Dancing away like they had no care in the world. How he wished he could be as carefree as them. Since the dreams, or visions, or whatever they were started up Shalex had been unable to get much sleep. His nerves were on edge. He walked up to the bar area and looked around, seeing the doctor sitting in a booth. She noticed him as well and beamed a bright smile, waving to him. He stopped and turned to Tiny standing behind the bar. The big Atrox looked back at him, some what vacantly as most atrox do. "Coffee please, black and strong." Tiny nodded and turned to pour his coffee, setting it on the bar in front of Shalex who grabbed it up and walked to where the doctor was sitting.

"Good to see you again, Officer Kolarr." Rae greeted as he sat down across from her. He smiled at her and said "Thank you, you as well Doctor". She returned the smile, he felt comfortable around her. It was not something he was used to. It usually took him some time to get comfortable around others. "I thought I saw Officer Geers in here only moments ago, but perhaps my eyes were playing tricks on me." She said sipping at the coffee she held. "Oh that's right, not everyone knows she has returned yet." He thought to himself. "No it may of been her. She has returned". Rae looked genuinely surprised at this, "May I ask where she's been or was it a reclaim glitch?" Shalex frowned a bit at this, "I'm not exactly sure to be honest. She hasn't been exactly talkative since she has been back." She nodded at his answer, "Has she had counseling yet?" Shalex shook his head in response, "Not that I've heard. But then again I probably wouldn't hear of such things when it comes to General Geers."

He raised his cup and sipped at it, the images of the two boys coming back to mind. "What was that... it can't be a memory..." He thought as he sipped. Rae looked at him seeming to be a bit concerned. "And how about you, how are you doing?" She asked after a moment. "Oh i'm doing fine. Just the usual stresses of the job and all" he lied to her, trying his best to look like he hadn't. She didn't look like she bought it.

Officer Cusado then came up behind the booth. Shalex noticed the movement and turned to look at him, afraid he may be here to ask him about the explosion in Jarrit's office. "General!" He said snapping a salute then turning around and taking up a guard position. Where did he come from? He thought And why is he here? Do they suspect I did it already?

Then it happened again...

The two boys ran through the field, chasing one another. They looked alike and acted as though the were brothers. "Ten or twelve years old... and who are they?" One of the brothers had dark almost black hair, short and spikey. The other had a lighter brown hair that was a bit longer. "The dark haired boy... is that... Doctor Jarrit? I didn't know he had a brother." They boys stopped suddenly looking off into the distance. The sky was dark and streaks of lightning could be seen from time to time. A Storm was coming...

He shook his head, trying to clear the images away. Why... why do they seem so familiar?, he thought. He saw Dr. Tremlett looking at him, concern on her face. He flashed a quick smile to her to let her know he was okay. He started to turn to ask Officer Woods what he was doing here but stopped mid turn. General Geers stood there, at the end of the table, her cold expressionless face looking at him.

"General Geers, when did you get here?" He asked fully turning himself to look directly at her. She cocked her head slightly and raised an eyebrow. "I've been here at least five minutes now. You vitals just spiked, are you feeling okay?" He looked at her for a moment before answering. "Yes i'm fine, just having an off day I guess." She nodded once at him. "Good I don't need any of my officers on down time right now, make sure it doesn't be come a problem." He held his hand out offering her a seat. "No, I need you to come with me to my office, now." She responded to the gesture.

"Why! Why are you doing this to me brother?" A man in his early twenties, light brown hair that was about shoulder length. "It's for your own good! Just come with me peacefully and it will be easier on you! A second man, also early twenties. This one had short black hair, spiked up. "Hah..hahahaha! You fool! Idiot! How can you turn on me like this? The brown haired man responded. Pain... searing pain...

"No! I won't come with you!" Shalex suddenly snapped out at Cora. She raised an eyebrow again. "That was not a request." She responded coolly. "No! I've had enough of your secrecy. You've changed Geers! Your not the same person that brought me into Pol and mentored me!" She tilted her head slightly, tapping a foot on the floor. "Cusado, take General Kolarr into custody for insubordination." She said smiling slightly. "Yes ma'am!" Cusado snapped in response. "I'm.. i'm sorry general, your going to have to come with me." He said slowly reaching behind himself and bringing forth a pair of cuffs. "I think not..." Shalex growled in response raising his left arm.

He pressed an almost hidden button on his left forearm, causing a thick riot shield to fold out. He raised it slightly in front of himself, in the familiar stance his training had given him with it. He flexed the fingers on his right hand, the cyberdeck connection causing it to come to life and glow. General Geers smiled at him still. "Resisting arrest now too are we? Keep it up Kolarr and you'll end up stripped of a job and tossed into the desert." He turned his eyes towards her, a feral grin appearing on his face. A soft glow began to encompass him, he raised his right hand slightly. "Protection nano protocol two and seven." He clenched his right hand and then opened it, a swirl of nanobots seeming to rise from thin air began to surround him. "You can try Geers, I don't know what has happened to you but i'm not afraid of you." He sneered at her. "You come and try to take me in yourself."

You fool! All of you! Fools! I will make you all pay!

Cusado took another small step towards him. "Cus... don't do it. You'll regret it I promise." Shalex said turning his attention back to the approaching officer. "I am sorry sir, but I have orders." He responded. Shalex noted the slight movement from Cora out of the corner of his eye. A rifle extended out and into her hands. "You just making this worse on yourself." Cora said, the smile still on her face. Shalex looked at her and then around him. Close quarters, the Doctor was behind him. This was not a good place to be for him right now. Not with out taking down the whole building with him at least.

"This isn't over Geers... evac alpha two." Shalex said looking straight at Cora. The last thing he saw before the transfer happened, was the snarl on Cora's face. He was then gone in cloud of nano's.

The man walked down one of the many side streets in the harbor section of Jobe. It was night, the sky was clear and the moon shone down with an eerie light. He stuck to the shadows, moving swiftly from one cove to the next. The man peered out from the shadows, reaching up and pulling the black hood down lower over his face, a stand of brown hair falling forward out of it. His movements seemed more akin to that of a predator stalking prey than of any humanoid. Up the street aways at a cross section, a lone woman walked past the entrance of the alley. She sensed movement and stopped, straining her eyes and leaning forward a bit trying to pierce the darkness. "Lovely night for a walk, wouldn't you say?" a voice suddenly came out of one of the shadows. She froze in terror, then let out a scream as a figure black as the shadow emerged and sprang towards her. The scream echoed, bouncing off the white structures. It soon turned into a raspy gurgle... then silence.

He awoke. He pushed himself up to a sitting position and looked around. Another alley... but where at this time? He began to raise his hands to rub his face but stopped mid motion. Blood, lots of blood. His hands were covered in it. He looked down at himself and saw more blood. He quickly pulled him self up to his feet, looking around to make sure no one was watching him. He slowly began to make his way down to the end of the alley.

He peeked out of the mouth of the alley and saw the slums. He was in the slum section of Omni-1 Entertainment district. He looked down at himself again, at all of the blood. What had happened? He quickly checked himself over, finding no cuts or scabs. Did I... that last dream... He thought with a shudder recalling the mad man making his way through the Jobe alley ways. He carefully peeled the gloves off, then removed his armored shirting. He looked around and found what he was looking for, a pile of garbage. He walked over to it and lifted the edge with a boot, shoving the armor under it. "Guess i'd rather be seen half naked than blood soaked." He said to himself, chuckling a bit.

Bare from the waist up he stepped out of the alley and began a fast walk for the nearest grid terminal. His mind was racing with everything going on. Did he kill some one? Is he truly loosing his mind? Was his career in Omni-Pol at an end? He almost walked into the grid terminal he was so distracted. No, I can't do this... I need help. Doctor Tremlett... yes. He thought. He nodded to himself and entered the grid.

The familiar sensation came over him as he digitized into the grid feed. He began to move towards Rome but stopped. I can't go back to my apartment there... He thought, I'm sure Geers will be looking for me there. Then it dawned upon him. He had an apartment in Jobe. Why didn't he use it more? It was a nice apartment after all, a luxury apartment. There was just something about Jobe the made him feel unsettled. Regardless, that was where he was going. He decided to take the Jobe Whompa in Borealis to avoid Rome all together, and made his way there connecting with the exit node for it.

He materialized in Borealis. He glanced around quickly noticing more than a few stares. He ignored the people and set off at a fast pace towards the Whompa. He made it there with out any major incidents, save a few mocking whistles directed at him. He stepped through and out onto the Jobe Plaza. Again ignoring the odd looks he got he quickly walked to the teleporter pad. He made his way down the street to the apartment entrance and pushed in through the door way. Once he was inside he leaned back against the closed door, breathing a sigh of relief.

He walked down to his bedroom, opening a drawer on the dresser and pulling out a set of civilian clothes. He stripped off the armored pants and boots, tossing them to floor. He quickly pulled on the soft comfortable pants and shirt. Having completed that he walked out to the kitchen, "Computer Coffee, black." As he smelled the aroma of coffee brewing he sat down at the table and took his com link out, and began his message: Doctor, I need your help...

Dr Rae Tremlett never had the opportunity to study the xenomorphic nanomage breed personally, having never been on Rubi-Ka before making planetfall a few months prior. They were a fascinating breed, so perfectly tuned to the unique atmosphere of the red planet that they could live nowhere else.

She'd been happy to make friends with the mild-mannered General Kolarr, so different from the stereotypical coldness many of the nanomage displayed. But there was more. She saw the symptoms of what she thought was early onset stress-induced anxiety and had offered him counseling. It was important to all of them that the police force were kept motivated, healthy and content. So when the General called her and asked for help, she dropped everything else and headed for Jobe.

He was nervous. The usual pale complexion was even paler. He was scared too. What had happened? He hesitated at first. Perhaps unsure how to proceed in clinical therapy, but she did her best to soothe his worries, which he seemed to be overcome by. Paranoia? He told her about recurring dreams and nightmares, about memories that he couldn't place in his own past. Repressed memories? He told her he had gone through the notum sequencing as an adult. Hm. Curious. That was out of the ordinary, nanomages were usually infused as foetuses.

Then he started telling her about the blackouts. Dissociative amnesia? He would wake up in a different place than he was just a moment ago and there would be signs that he had done things he couldn't remember doing. Fugue state?

And then he changed. First, with a sweat on his brow. Anxiety attack? Then complaining about head ache and pain. Migraine? The immediate air around him was glowing, a tell-tale sign of his unusual notum spikes rising to dangerous levels. Difficulty breathing, disruptive speech patterns. Panic attack? Then it was over and the eyes who looked at her and the voice that spoke was no longer General Kolarr's. Fugue state!

- Who are you?
- My name is Dr Rae Tremlett. I'm working with Officer Kolarr. Who are you, Sir?
- Why, I'm Shalex of course.

This new person in the same body as the General's, was someone else entirely. He snapped at her, accused her of working with "them", threatened to send her to reclaim because of it. Damnit! She couldn't risk it, she needed time. The nanomage started displaying precursory signs of violence and Rae left the apartment, tapping in an urgent message to Dr Jarit Kolarr requesting a meeting. This was not as simple as a diagnosis of DID. This was something else.

He smiled slightly as he watched the lady walk out the door. He would have fun with her soon, but not now. For now though, he would go out and hunt. He looked down at himself and frowned. This white armor just won't do.

"Let's see how good this guy is with nano's." He flexed his right hand, the cyberdeck lighting up. It was a familiar motion to him oddly, but he supposed it was due to the other in his head. He closed his eyes and concentrated. it started out faint but grew slowly, a blueish purple glow starting from his feet and raising up his body. He fully opened his right hand palm up. The glow flared turning a bright orange, flooding the room with the color.

The glow faded, he slowly opened his eyes and looked down. A smile crossed his face. He reached over and picked up a pair of black shades from the shelf putting them on. He stalked out the door, armor now all black.

[Bump to bring back up, will edit more in later]

He stalked, and watched. The bubbling sounds of the flowing sewer waters in the background, smoke from burning trash barrels filling the air. He enjoyed this part almost as much as the kill. He felt alive during the hunt. The predator on top of the food chain. He smiled as he glowed softly, watching the woman make her way up the road.

He smiles as he watches the woman make her way down the alleyway in Jobe. So what if his brother didn't understand, he would show them all.

"Major Kolarr? Can you hear me?" A womans voice... the doctor? "Major we have everything prepped and will begin the brain surgery soon. You will be okay, we have our best neurosurgeons here." Surgery? Oh thats right... the Doc wants to merge us.

Closer and closer he came. He could almost taste the blood. She had no idea what was just mere feet behind her, lurking through the shadows.

He crept closer to her, she was just mere feet away. He smiled to himself and readied his blade. He would take this ones heart, make it part of himself.

"The anesthesia is only partially working, what should we do?" A male voice, I don't know this one. "Do it anyways, I suspected we might run into this with his condition." Oh the Doctor, so much for not causing pain. Didn't they takes oaths for that? Heh...

The warmth, red. Red was power. He held the warm heart up smiling in triumph. He was not alone, but he did not care. Others were surrounding him, watching. He bit into it...

A heart is harder to remove than he first thought, but he managed it. He held it up in triumph. He looked down at him self, covered in red. He bit into it, then looked up. He was surrounded by officers, and his brother, that bastard sold him out.

"Hold him down! It comes and goes... grab the straps!" Ah the pain... it seems familiar for some reason. "Just hurry up and do it!" "We can't just hurry through this, it is a delicate procedure!" No... not again... they are doing it again...

"He's flat lining! Damn it were loosing him! Start the medical nanos now! Prep the nano shock for heart failure!" Just let me go... why won't they just leave me be and let me slide into nothing? Why won't they...

He looked into his brothers eyes, the one who betrayed him. "Why brother? We could of had more power than you could of ever imagined!" Shalex yelled. "Because what your doing is wrong! How can you not see that?!" Jarit responded in kind. Slowly, he stood to his feet, the heart still grasped in his right hand. "Hold it right there! We have your insurance pattern locked and will send you to the reclaim in our processing center!" One of the faceless officer barked at him. Shalex grinned widely at him, raising his left hand and running it through his hair, smearing some blood through it in the process. With a sudden quickness no one expected he threw the heart at the officer that just spoke, every head there turning to watch it fly and smack onto the visor of the officer, making a sicking splatting sound.

In that split second distraction, Shalex was moving. He zig zagged running at Jarit, leaping when he was just a few feet from him. "Your coming with me then, brother!" He yelled through a feral grin sailing through the air. They impacted, the force taking Jarit off his feet and the two tumbled entangled backwards bowling over some of the officers that happened to be behind. When they stopped rolling Shalex sat perched onto of his brother, looking down at him with what looked like a mix of pity and amusement. "I know you wont die forever, brother. But I will make you suffer and beg for reclaim!" He growled. "Don't! Shalex stop now! I don't want to do this!" Jarit pleaded through clenched teeth while trying to fight his brother off the top of him. He managed to push Shalex up far enough with his left hand to be able to maneuver his right hand under him. POP! POP! Blood squirted into the air above them. Time seemed to slow down as Jarit watched the stream of crimson squirt into the air and hang there. The look on Shalex's face no longer looked amused, but shocked...