《Enhanced》 Prologue - The Experiment -------------------------------------- Location: N/A Time: 02:46 Date: 22/11/?? Error: ¡­...Time Stamp Corrupted¡­... -------------------------------------- The pale moonlight shone down upon the facility. The shadows swallowing up any details of what it may contain. It was a government funded building, the drab grey concrete walls and stubby block design gave away that small detail and nothing more. To the west lay the beginning of a long drop off cliff face, it was a little ways off from the facility on a slight incline, the sea¡¯s waves crashing against its side with a violence only the ocean could possess. The facility was on a island, far away from civilisation, hidden away both in location and in record. It was a black site, one of the best. Since it''s conception many years ago there had been no security incidents or problems, the number of people not residing on the island who knew of its existence could be counted on one hand. Even some of its inhabitants did not know the full extent of what went on in other parts of the facility. It was a quiet night, the sound of the waves crashing against the cliff too far away to be heard, the the wind carrying away what little sound the crosses the vast distance. Two scientist sat in a monitoring room observing a few screens. On the screens were a series of rooms. The layout of these rooms was identical, a small 5 x 5 meter area with a steel frame bed and an occupant. Not all of the rooms had an occupant, and not all of the rooms were so tidy. The two sat side by side in bored silence, all conversation exhausted in the previous few hours of their shift. All they could do was tiredly watch the screens and wait. Wait it seemed, for nothing. They were on duty to specifically watch the occupants for any changes in behaviour, no matter how small. They were part of a team enlisted to see if it was possible to enhance, power, mutate or change their subjects in a effort to produce super soldiers. This wasn''t the fist attempt, by their government or any others. Ever since the invention of the concept it has never truly been let go. They exposed their subjects to lethal doses of radiation to force a mutation, manually genetically engineering subjects to see of the gene modifications would take, physical augmentations such as replacing bones with stronger metals or replacing limbs out right. In many cases such drastic procedures resulted in death, disfigurement or disability. They were all still in trial stages and were not yet ready for military testing of military personnel. To work around this problem the facility was give the green-light for civilian testing. Illegally of course. To keep suspicions low only small groups of people were abducted from all over the world, to spread the trail so far and wide it would be almost impossible to trace or connect. This newest batch was an amalgamation of abductees from across the southern hemisphere. They had taken wide range of subjects, old to young, healthy to ill and unfit to fit. They had ticked all the criteria boxes. The initial criteria set by the research team had included race and ethnicity as tick boxes but command had come back and removed those options in the name of avoiding appearing racist. The research team had laughed, that was where command drew the line.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. They had done a set of procedures upon the most recent selection but in random orders to see which had the best rate of assimilation. Candidate 46 had been chosen for one of the random set procedures but his had a twist. They were inserting Nanotech into his roster. This would have powerful and unforeseen consequences. Candidate 46 lay unconscious on an operating table whilst members of the facilities research team took notes on his physical health and the rate of assimilation of the procedures. First they had replaced most of the bones in his body with artificial ones, much stronger and more durable they would be able to stand up to the punishment they would soon endure. Next they enhance what was left of his skeletal system with genetic enhancements to shore up any failings. They used the same genetic enhancements on his musculatory system and nervous system to boost both his physical speed and strength and the rate at which he reacted to outside stimuli. They used the genetic enhancement method the most as it had the most successful rate of assimilation with the candidates. They also enhanced secondary attributes such as eyesight, he could now see father and in more detail than a base human ever could. The toughness of his skin was altered, while not visibly different it was now denser and more durable, it couldn¡¯t stop a bullet but a glancing blow would be handled with ease. They accelerated his healing to the best that they could, healing 5 times faster than a base human. Now that his body had been enhanced they needed a way to monitor and self regulate it. A small neural processer was inserted in to the base of Candidate 46¡¯s cerebral cortex. It was an advanced version of the standard unit that current soldier use in the field save for a few major upgrades. The processing power had been boosted, it ran far more efficiently using the bodies electrical discharge to power itself and a rudimentary A.I. that could follow the orders of both the user and the chain of command installed into the A.I.¡¯s sub-routines. The A.I. had just been installed and they were monitoring it''s progress. It did not have all the necessary programs installed yet, such as the obedience program but as the subject was under heavy sedation so it had not yet been deemed as a priority. The A.I. had to be installed prior to the introduction of the Nanites. Self-replicating machines designed for this specific purpose. They followed the commands given to them by the host which are relayed by the A.I. to give a smooth transition between order and execution. The gathered scientists were very excited to see the results of such an experiment. Candidate 46 had so far shown promising results. He was the last subject of the pool, number 46 of 46 - Designation: Omega ?? 24753Alpha1 He had taken extremely well to the genetic enhancements to his genome with almost zero signs of rejection from the procedure. His body had recovered in record time from the skeletal enhancements and seemed in almost peak physical condition. Candidate 46 was a 6ft 3¡± caucasian male. They were not given his nationality but from his ramblings they had gathered he was a native english speaker. The researchers were particularly delighted with the physical condition of Candidate 46, well defined muscles adorned his body in near perfect proportions. There were no vitamin or nutrient deficiencies and no allergies of any kind. Physically speaking Candidate 46 was as near a perfect specimen as the could get. They had a good feeling about this. The operating room was kept at at a few degrees below room temperature, the harsh white lights of the room showing a sterile environment. The scientist stood in a corner of the room, clipboards in hand whilst they observed their subject of study on the operating table, their eyes catching every movement of both surgeons and their patient. The lead surgeon moved towards the table with a large syringe in hand, this was the first of 5 such injections, one for each limb and the final one for the base of the neck. Each syringe contained a mass of metallic black, the Nanites. They were inactive at the moment as they would need to be inside the host body before they could come alive. Then the real magic began. The surgeon was methodical in his actions. First he started with the legs, stopping after each injection to make sure that the host was stable and that the Nanites were active. He did that same for the arms, maintaining his speed and a steady hand. The neck injection came last, there was a bead of sweat on the surgeons forehead as he removed the last of the syringe needle from the patient. They waited for the Nanites to activate and sync with each other and the A.I. enhanced neural processor. Candidate 46 was strapped to the table and heavily sedated so the occupants of the room felt relaxed as the watched the readouts of the assimilation and the figures displayed on their data pads. Suddenly there was a spike in brain activity, they had expected this and readied a second dose of sedative just in case, the spike went down and after 5 minutes of stability the sedative was put away unused. Then Candidate 46¡¯s eyes opened and everything stopped. Chapter 1 - Breach ...Synchronisation complete¡­ ¡­A.I. 100% Online¡­ ...All Nanites 87% Charged¡­ ...Nanites Detecting Foreign Contaminants In Blood Stream... ...Removing Foreign Contaminants¡­ ...Waking Host¡­ -Hello James, I am your A.I. what would you like me to do? What? My head hurts. Where am I? -You are in a secure military facility, I do not know more than that. Please remain calm, the pain in your head will abate in approx. 15 seconds. Ok, ok, calm, calm. Think it through James, think it through. Do you have a name? -My designation is A.I. Unit 5569w76jc80.9 Bit of a mouthful, I¡¯ll call you system for the moment. -A.I. Unit 5569w76jc80.9 is now designated as ¡®System¡¯ Ok, system what is going on? -You have been enhanced, would you like to see a list of your enhancements and their effects? Yes please! -Pulling up enhancements file¡­¡­. ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ Enhancements: Tungsten Carbide alloy bone replacements - 32% organic bone mass remaining Effect: Stronger more durable bone structure Genetic Alterations - Muscular and Nervous system enhanced, Eyesight enhanced, Skin enhanced and Healing enhanced Effect: Muscles are 12x denser than before leading to an exponential increase in explosive physical strength and speed. *synergy with nanites detected* - strength has now been further enhanced and will need to be re-evaluated. Effect: Nervous system reacts faster than before, synergy with stronger, faster muscles further boosts this to resulting reaction time of Approx. 35 ms. Effect: Eyesight is now 4 to 8x stronger than before. Effect: Skin is now denser and more durable, the extent of it''s damage mitigation is still unknown. Effect: Healing now occurs at a faster rate. *synergy with nanites detected* - Nanites assist in the healing process, full regeneration now achievable, speed of regeneration further increased. A.I. Enhanced Neural Processor - Communication between Host and A.I. occurs at near instantaneous speeds, thoughts of host now occur at a faster rate, image and data processing now also occurs at a faster rate. .... ¡­ ¡­ Suggested Modifications: Replace remaining organic bone mass with Tungsten Carbide alloy Method: Nanites self-replication and building ability Time till completion: 5 minutes Woah, they really fucked with my body, thank fuck they kept me out cold for most of it. Bastards. Ok, System, I want you to perform the modification, but keep my vitals and readouts stable. No doubt those cock-suckers are watching for any signs of abnormal change. Give full body control to me when it is done. -Affirmative James. 5 minutes later James opened his eyes. There was a stillness in the room at first as everyone took in the situation. Nobody moved. Everything was still. Until it wasn¡¯t. James regarded the restraints that held him to the operating table. Leather with metal bindings. He snorted, from what he understood these would do little to hold him. The dumbfounded scientists watched in fascinated horror as James casually ripped free from his bindings. The various tubes and injected needles being pushed out of his body as the Nanites contained within him rejected their presence. James moved over to the still scientists as they just continued to watch, their minds numb. Some of the surgeons backed away from James as he approached the researchers on the other side of the room. He stopped in front of the tallest researcher and uttered one word. ¡°Pants¡± ¡°Wh..What?¡± ¡°Give me your pants, I won¡¯t ask again¡± James practically growled at the man. His pants were halfway off when the alarm sounded, James spun and saw the head surgeon, standing by a broken glass case that had housed the alarm. He grunted as he turned back and grabbed another scientist and thew him at the surgeon, sending both men tumbling to the ground as they collided. Loud cracks of bones breaking a testament to the force behind the throw. James quickly grabbed the pants and threw them on as he marched towards the reinforced door. A swift strong front kick caused the door to fly off its hinges and crash into the hallway behind it. James barely felt the impact affect him, his new bones absorbing the impact and the added weight effortlessly removing the door. System, do you know the quickest route out of here? -I¡¯m sorry James, but I do not. I would need to access the local network before i could do that. Are you unable to do that? -No Then why can¡¯t you? -You have not given me permission James, would you like to do so now? Oh for fucks sa - YES! I would like to give you permission.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. -Accessing now¡­ System, ignore any orders that do not come from me. Make that a priority. -Affirmative James. -Network access acquired. -38 commands for self-termination, restraint, paralysis and various other states of harm. Would you like me to follow the commands James? No, only take orders from me, recognise me as the highest authority you can. Any and all orders that do not come from me are to be forwarded to me for consideration. Is that clear? -Affirmative James. Designation changed from ¡®Omega ?? 24753Alpha1¡¯ to ¡®Monarch Omega¡¯. Monarch Omega? I like the sound of that. Get me the fastest route out of here now. -Affirmative. Overlaying directions over visual cortex. Stand by. James paused for the briefest of moments outside the door before turning and racing down a corridor to the left. He ran through the complex, each hallway looking identical to the next. The Alarms blaring the whole time. He came to a door that had a retinal and palm-print scanner system on the side. He slid to a stop as he came closer to the behemoth of a door. -James, there are multiple hostiles on the other side of the door. Thank you system, how many? And what is the terrain? -There is approximately 22 hostiles, this door leads to the outside of the facility. You need to reach the building center left of the direction you are facing as you open the door. That is your way out. The terrain is flat grass, I am accessing the facility cameras and can see that they are split into 2 groups. The first group is knelt down on one knee with tranquiliser guns, the second is standing behind them with assault rifles. Well shit. System give me your analysis before I make my move. -Estimate that they will attempt to capture you alive first, deadly force will be applied if the attempt is unsuccessful. Personal defenses are estimated to stop the tranquiliser darts from penetrating the skin, bullets are estimated to penetrate and cause damage. -Recommended course of action: Command nanites to form a sub-dermal layer of light armour, this will supplement your defense. It will not make you bullet proof but will reduce damage to acceptable levels. Erratic movements advised to decrease hostile accuracy. High chance of hand-to-hand combat engagement. Do you know any combat and anti-personnel techniques James? Ok, thanks for the advise and modifications suggested system. I did a little bit of kickboxing when I was 18, but that was a few years ago. -That is insufficient. Would you like me to upload a martial art(s)? You can do that?! -Yes, would you like me to upload a martial art(s)? Hell yes I would! Is there just one or¡­ -There maximum number of combats styles that can be learned is the maximum I have access to. How...how many do you have access to? -All of them Sweet! -Caution advised, learning multiple at once can cause mental strain and/or damage. ¡­...you just had to ruin my dreams. Can you repair the damage? If so how long would it take? -Yes the damage can be repaired, estimated time of recovery and integration: 5 minutes. Will my chances of survival increase or decrease if I wait the 5 minutes? -They will increase. Do it! --------------------- The facility guards lined up outside the door to the facility building. It was separated from the main complex incase of breakouts or disruptions. It was specifically built for operations with high degrees of risk to reduce the chance of spread to the rest of the complex. They faced the door in an attentive but relaxed manner, they¡¯d sun thousands of simulations in the time that they¡¯d been stationed here. Although they had never had a real incident they were more than confident in their ability to deal with any threats. *Bang* A dent appeared in the face of the door. *Bang* The dent deepened. The guards faces paled beneath their visors. They all knew just how thick that door was. 6 inches of metal deformed in an instant. Each and ever guard wondering just what kind of monster had they cooked up in there. *Boom* The door blasted off of its frame, bowling over several guards in the process before finally resting on top of several crushed guards. James moved like lightning. The guns trained on the doorway hadn''t expected him to move so fast that he had already long vacated the now bullet filled space behind him. They were all positioned 30 feet away from the door, a distance James covered in seemingly an instant. Before they knew it he was among them. They had unconsciously crowded together after the door had blasted off its hinges and now they were paying for their mistake. James was like a whirlwind of fists and feet, each movement, each strike smoothly finding their target and removing them from the fight. There was no intrinsic malice to the violence he inflicted, the moves he used flowed from brutal and sharp to long and flowing almost of their own will. Less than 30 seconds later James stood surrounded by a pile of broken and damaged bodies, some alive but most were not. He didn''t even try to hold back, they wouldn¡¯t so why should he. The devastation around him showcased just how powerful he had become. His eyes focused on a particular building system was highlighting. He took off. Time was of the essence and James would be damned if he didn¡¯t escape. He didn''t even try to use the door this time. He just smashed into the concrete wall facing him. Shoulder down, back straight, legs pumping. Years of impact sports showing their worth even now. Moments later he was inside the building. There was no one to see. They had all made their way to safe houses and bunkers. James followed Systems blinking indicators through the corridors until he came to what he was told was the final door. The door was nondescript. It was tall and wide with red warning labels and tape all along its sides and top. James didn''t even have to smash this door down. It had shutter style door, he just reached down and jammed his fingers under it and lifted. He grunted. It was the heaviest thing he''d encountered so far but it was still well within his limits. The inside of the room was blank save for a control panel and a gate. It looked like the Gate from an old TV show he watched as a kid. He quickly made his way over to the control panel under Systems advisement. He was sure he didn''t have much time. System, what do I do? -I am not sure. What?! -This is your best chance of escape. The facility has been experimenting with creating a teleportation network. They have been shallowly diving into alternative realities to shorten the distance. They have had limited success. They have been able to teleport stuff but the can not locate or recover what they send across. Do you know where things go? -I know what they know. So no....Fuck! What am I supposed to do?! -You could divert all the power to instead look for an alternate reality rather than this one. It would work more like a dimensional portal rather than a teleportation portal. We can do that? -It is possible. Then lets try. Anything is better than this place. -Affirmative. James began adjusting values on the panel and rerouting power to different sub-routines. System was guiding him the whole time, adjusting his movements to make them more fluid and reducing the chance of mistakes to zero. Minutes later the portal was ready. James hesitated before he entered. He was sure there should have been a response to his actions by now. -Detecting hostile approaching. Only one? -Affirmative. Oh. Fuck. Around the corner and into the room Lumbered a behemoth. 7 foot tall and 4 feet wide. Candidate 17 Gamma was infamous. He was the facilities first real success. A mass of twisted flesh and bone and metal built solely for destruction and obedience. He was the true Guard of the facility. Before James could even move Candidate 17 Gamma, AKA Juggernaut, smashed through the control panel and tackled James through the now destabilised portal. Chapter 2 - New World Juggernaut and James tumbled through space, grappling with one another, each trying their damnedest to gain the advantage over the other. Despite their difference in size and weight James held his own. Due to them both being in free fall neither could fully leverage their full power against the other. They fell through a tunnel of multicoloured light. In the middle of this impossibility they fought. James grunted as he smashed his forehead against Juggernauts head, his grip on James loosening. It was enough. James brought his knees to his chest and kicked out, smashing against Juggernauts abdomen and breaking free of his grasp. Instead of James launching away from Juggernaut, the reverse happened. James had gone through the destabilised portal first and must of been the focal point of the anomaly. Juggernaut went careening away from him with a grunt, smashing into the side of the tunnel and careening through it, disappearing in a shower of sparks. James continued to plummet, his speed increasing, the light brightening until he was almost blinded. And then it stopped. He was on the ground, grass beneath his feet. Silence. He was kneeling on grass, one knee raised the other on the ground, hands either side of them. His clothing had changed. Gone were leather belt and chinos. He now wore plain cloth pants. His chest was still bare. James looked up in confusion, surprise and wonder not far behind. He was in the center of a circle. Around him knelt figures in white robes, clearly exhausted in the was some of them slumped against each other and the ground. In front of him stood a man in armour. He was clearly of a high standing by the look of it. Brightly polished and highly detailed in its decorations. The man barked something unintelligible at him. James merely looked at him, his expression speaking of his inability to understand the man. He tried to stand but instead just keeled over. Lying face first on the ground James wondered what was going on. He felt so drained. It was at this point that Systeminformed him of aproblem. ...Warning... ...Portal has drained significant energy reserves and has left the host weakened... ...All Nanites 7% Charged¡­ After this James passed out.
James awoke in a cell. It was dark and damp. He groggily tried to move but found himself fastened to the wall behind him with thick black metal chains. He felt a dull throb from the center of his upper back. "You''re awake I see", a voice from the darkness spoke. James'' eyes snapped in its direction. His eyes making out the shape of a man in leather armour, his hood up casting a shadow over his face that James'' enhanced eyes could not pierce. "Who are you? How can I understand you?" he answered. "Who I am is not important. What is, is what your doing here...and what your going to do for me." silence reigned as James tried to figure out what was going on. System, what is going on? What is the state of my nanites? Have they recharged? why does my back hurt? -James you have been captured and restrained. Nanites are back to full capacity charge and are functioning at peak efficiency. The region of your spine between your shoulder blades has a foreign element installed. Would you like me to analyse it? Yes please, analyse its purpose and see if it can be removed and/or assimilated. -Affirmative. -Analysing.....Analysis complete. -It is a control and translation module. It was implanted and released Nanobots of its own into your brain stem and system. Should you resist or behave in a way the controller deems uncooperative it will administer a shock to you central nervous system. These Nanobots also serve as a translation network. These Nanobots are Much more advanced than your current ones. -Would you like to upgrade your nanites? All functions will be upgraded to peak efficiency and previous commands and programming will remain constant. Hell yes! -Upgrading now. -Upgrade complete. Foreign nanites may now be assimilatedandreprogrammed. -Would you like to do so?Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. Yes but do not remove the implant until I say so. Lets not give away all my cards just yet. -Error. The foreign Nanites complexity will slow the rate of assimilation. -Estimated time til completion: 3-6 weeks. Fuck. Do it. Give me a list of options to beef up defenses when he leaves. "What do you want from me?" James asked after a pregnant pause. "I want to see you fight. You see, you are worth a fortune to me, when you arrived here I bought you before anyone could get a read on you. Call it a hunch, I paid more than I normally would because of it. I mean, look at you. Your so small compared to the other fighters. When I had you safely secured here I hired a Magus to read you, find out who and what you were. And what a pleasant surprise you were. You have no magical aura, a rarity, but you stink of power nonetheless....And your title! The Last Monarch. My my my, you are an enigma. We don''t even know how old you are! Your body is in a state of constant repair and regeneration. I tried to take control of your nanites, tenacious little bastards aren''t they? But their core programming - "Obey the Last Monarch" - is so integral to their function that I couldn''t even turn them off. I''m not worried though, yours are very under-powered in comparison to my control chips''. Even if you could resist, you cant break through the Dark Steel chains your wrapped in." James rolled his eyes, it was so cliche it hurt. "Ok, so what now, ''Mr. Nobody''" James asked derisively. "Now? Nothing. Tomorrow you fight in the Great Arena. And we''ll see how powerful you really are. Goodnight, Last Monarch." said the man, before getting up from the bench on the other side of the cell and quietly moving away. James felt unease. This was so far off base he was left almost reeling. System, give me a list of all augmentations. Lets see if maybe we can change a few. -Affirmative. -Pulling up enhancements file¡­¡­. Enhancements: Tungsten Carbide alloy bones. Effect: Stronger more durable bone structure Genetic Alterations - Muscular and Nervous system enhanced, Eyesight enhanced, Skin enhanced and Healing enhanced Effect: Muscles are 12x denser than before leading to an exponential increase in explosive physical strength and speed. *synergy with nanites detected* - strength has now been further enhanced and will need to be re-evaluated. Effect: Nervous system reacts faster than before, synergy with stronger, faster muscles further boosts this to resulting reaction time of Approx. 35 ms. Effect: Eyesight is now 4 to 8x stronger than before. Effect: Skin is now denser and more durable, the extent of it''s damage mitigation is still unknown. *Nanites have built a durable sub-dermal layer of Armour plating.* Composition - built with defense in mind, this sub-dermal light armour is constructed in plates that cover most vital organs. It is semi-flexible and has been placed over most muscles. Joints have been avoided due to the flexibility requirements not being met Effect: Healing now occurs at a faster rate. *synergy with nanites detected* - Nanites assist in the healing process, full regenerationnow achievable, speed of regeneration further increased. A.I. Enhanced Neural Processor - Communication between Host and A.I. occurs at near instantaneous speeds, thoughts of host now occur at a faster rate, image and data processing now also occurs at a faster rate. *Update* - Nanites have been upgraded. All physical effects boosted. All commands executed at a faster rate. Ok, analyse the make-up and effects of the Dark steel, see if it is superior to the current alloy I have for my bones. -Affirmative. -Analysing. ... ... -Dark Steel is far superior to the current bone alloy. Would you like to replace your current bones with Dark Steel? Estimated time till completion: 4 hours. 4 hours? Last time it only took 5 minutes for my current bones. - Last time you only had 32% organic bone massremaining. This time I will be replacing 100% of your skeletal system. -The Dark Steel also has a far stronger bond between molecules. It will take time to over come it, Even with the upgraded Nanites. I estimate this level of assimilation would have been impossible with the previously inferior Nanites under your command. Fine. Do it. But unobtrusively.What about the light sub-dermal armour? Can that also be replaced? -Affirmative. Weight would be increasedexponentially.Maneuverabilitywould be reduced and so would reaction time. Stress on joints would be increased exponentially. Right, don''t do that until I can enhance or upgrade those functions....Wait.... System. -Yes James Can you upgrade my genetic enhancements as well? -Yes. But only if a different genetic sample can beacquiredto analyse and built from. I see, so what your saying is, you need a piece from a different person or animal to make a sufficient scan and replication of the trait. Correct? -Affirmative James. Awesome. Put me to sleep until Augmentations are complete or if someone approaches. I want an advanced warning to any hostiles. Designate everyone as a hostile or neutral depending on their approach or mannerisms. I will designate friendlies as and when I see fit. -Affirmative. Sleep well James.