The Verge

Dalton Mott
Ethics in the profession
5-10-2022

Part 1
“Let’s get started, why don’t we? Would you please state your name?” She said this almost coldly. It was obvious that her tone of voice was just a show for the camera recording them. Her whole appearance showed how truly she was just here for her job, though she knew the story might be good. Semi curly mid-back length golden hair fell from her makeup-covered face. She wore a dark and professional suit, certainly tailored to be more feminine and flashy. The man who sat across from her, the one with which she spoke, wore dark clothes. He wore a black hoodie with a high collar, where you could not see his neck. The jacket itself looked smooth and had lines like circuitry that seemed as if they were giving off a light hue of light. He had on long dark pants with many pockets, they were Military-grade from the police. On his feet, he had combat boots, black like the rest of his attire. The palms of his hands were the only skin visible beside his face, but his palms had a red cover on them that looked like carbon fiber with connectors on them meant for connecting to a firearm. He was clean-shaven with buzzed black hair. His right eye was obviously mechanical, a much darker shade of blue than his other eye, while both of his eyebrows had been replaced with holo-projectors. You could see circuitry moving out from behind his hoodie, on his skin, connecting to everything.
“Ryan Lancaster.” He said bluntly, aware of the interviewer’s lack of care for him as a person. People from the city rarely like to interact with those from the waste. Scared the radiation might just shed onto them, despite the new mutagens recently found in wasters. As much as he had come to hate being in the city, New LA especially, he knew this was important. Although the view from the waiting room and the 153 floors was a sight to see, you could see into the wastes from it, although most windows will auto-filter it out to ease the eyes of the viewer.
“And I am Margaret here with 52 news, so Ryan, why don’t we get started on your background? Let’s really flesh all this out.” Her voice changed from her first question to now as she adjusted her voice to be more Intune for the camera. “You grew up in the wastes, is that correct? And your parents?”
“Yes, I lived in the outskirts of the city here around New LA, my parents both died of radiation poisoning. Like many in the waste, I was on my own from 13 on. And like most of the waste, I sold scrap I could find in the old world.” Margaret shifted in her seat at the mention of the radiation poisoning. She thought to herself, she better get a bonus for being this close to a waster.
“Mmm, really it is a shame the condition in the wastes. What precautions did you have to take when scrapping? And is that how you met Dr. Bauer?
“At the time, I was very careful, but I was around 15 when the first news of the mutagen came out. Dr. Bauer was testing people for it, for his ‘hope for the wastes’ research.
Part 1.5
“Hey Ryan, did you hear a doctor is coming in to check out if we have the mutagen? They were saying it on the radio. They were saying it’s likely anyone under 20 may have it.”
“Yea, well so what? In the end, we will still be out here, and I will still be starving, searching for scraps.”
“Yea. But at least you won’t have to wear a gas mask going deeper into the wastes. And it is free, so why not?”
“I guess you got a point there. I will be scrapping today. If you want to come, I will split what we find with you, Deren.”
“Sure, I have had a rough patch in searches recently, just feels like this type of work will only last so long before its usefulness is gone, and we’re at the back end of it. Well, pick me up at my place, I gotta get my stuff. ” Deren walked off back down the street. He didn’t live far, He lived in an old apartment building here in old LA. Deren and Ryan lived about a 30-minute walk from each other. Their parents were both a part of the rebel group that has been forming for the last twenty years. The Equalists were an extremist group to some, a way of life for others. Ultimately, they just wanted to live on equal terms with the people of the city. But there was never enough money around for them to make any moves.
A week later, Ryan reluctantly went to the place with the doctor. Ryan was thoroughly surprised that this doctor would actually exit the cities’ radiation barrier for this, it increased Ryan’s feelings about the man greatly, as it did with most wasters. They were in an old research lab in Old LA. They had spent the last week securing and de-radiating the building but it was still a lot for city-goers to be out here.
Ryan walked into the room with the doctor, a typical doctor’s room. A table for him to lay on, a machine to draw his blood and test it. A computer, definitely nicer than any he’d seen before, with a set of goggles linked up with the machine. And of course, the doctor stood with a big smile to greet him.
“Hello there Ryan, if you wouldn’t mind taking your shirt off. I am going to give you a shot first. It is a dissolvable nanobot that will help us read vitals throughout the testing. “ The free test for the mutagens came with a mental test for reactions and math and such. This test deterred many people from getting it because they knew it would just be another statistic of how dumb the wasters are for the city-goers to hold over their heads. But Ryan did not care much about his appearance to the city goers, so he complied. Ryan took off his shirt and submitted to the injection with the nanobot.
“Now if you would sit at the computer and put on the headset. The computer tests will last about 30 minutes, though it will only feel like 5 to you. I will be back in about 40 minutes, just wait on the bed after, and we can test for the mutagen.”
Ryan did as he was told and took the test, most of it was purely mental through the goggles and the senses built-in picked up his brain functions to detect his thought process. The test had a lot of quick math questions, of course, he got most of them wrong having little education for such things. But the rest of the test was questions, with quick timed answers of 15 seconds. It was a different set of situations to see how you would respond. Seemed almost like a test of your ethics. Ryan thought to himself that this might now be used in the city to show how unethical and devolved the wasters are.
Most of the questions came to situations of saving lives. Most situations were Ryan’s life or someone else’s, and he’d have to choose how to save them. Many were various groups of other people that he had to pick and choose how to save. In many of these situations, Ryan reacted quickly and in many cases found solutions to save everyone.
The doctor walked back into the room with a clipboard after the test and about 20 minutes of waiting, longer than promised. Strange, city-goers are very precise about time. “Say, Ryan, have you had any military training? Are you a part of the Equalists?”
“Well, almost everyone out here at least supports the equalists. But I can’t say I have ever associated myself with them. I just try to scrap and survive out there. Are you trying to find traitors to the city or something, what does that have to do with any test?“
“Did not mean to rile you up, I am just not allowed to operate on any terrorists from the eyes of the city. They don’t like me enough for trying to help the people out here.” Ryan almost laughed to himself at the thought that the doctor might actually care about the people in the waste. He assumed he was just here for some cash grab from the city or some fame. “If you would just lay on your back, I will plug you with an IV and it will run your blood through the machine and give our results. You’re young, so likely you have it.”
Ryan did as he said. The doctor plugged the IV into his arm. It was a special IV with two entrances. It sucked his blood into the machine, then back into his arm through the other hole it poked. “Listen, Ryan, how would you like to get out of the wastes for good? I can help you. I have been looking for a select group of people to help me with my research, I would mostly be running tests on you, while you would try my experimental Cybernetic implants, top of the line. “
“Now I don’t know about being a lab rat doc. The waste isn’t much but it’s better than being stuck in a lab and poked with holes all day.”
“Look Ryan, let me be clear with you. Those computer tests you took. You saved more lives in the simulations than anyone has ever done before. And most importantly, you did not die. I have tested this simulation on the highest-ranking military personnel, people who don’t legally exist, and not one even came close to you. You, Ryan, would only receive already tested technology. You could become one of the most powerful people alive, and you would become rich enough to leave the wastes.”
“So was this whole free test really just to find you some good lab rats for your experimental tech? You don’t really care about the wasters out here, do you? The opinion of you out here isn’t too great, same for any city-goers. But I know people who are putting hope in you just because you came out here. But you, you are just as crooked as the rest of them in the city.”
“Ryan, do not be so naive to assume I am like the rest in that city. Both of your parents were founding members of the equalists, which I doubt you even fully knew. If I was like those city folk, I would have had your head on a pike and on display outside the moment you walked in. In fact, I could have most anyone here killed for their crimes against the city, but especially you. But you see, I offer opportunities. I’m giving you a chance. I have offered multiple people the chance to be a part of my tests for the chance to be in the city as an equal citizen one day. And many of them will die testing the tech, and I told them. But the ones who accepted are okay with that virus living out here. Ryan. You are different, you will not be a test pig, you will be the culmination of my tests.”
The machine beeps and the last of the blood re-enters Ryan’s body and the set of numbers appears on the screen facing the doctor. “And like I suspected Ryan, you have the mutagen. I need you, and you need me.”

Part 2

“So, you weren’t forced into this experiment? You went willing, and so did the rest of the doctor’s test subjects?” The woman said. Her fake smile and voice had turned genuine when she realized the extent of the story she was not hearing. She thought of the fame she would receive for all of this groundbreaking news that she had the opportunity to find. She could afford the three hundredth-floor penthouse she has always wanted for herself.
“Yes. The doctor gave me a new home in the wastes. All of it with cutting-edge tech none had seen before. However, it was all kept private in a secret basement of a fairly crappy house. He knew I would have a target if the rest of the wasters knew what I had. But I had to stay in the wastes, to test the tech out in the field. I would come into the city through a secret passage, and there in his lab, he would upgrade me.”
“So what all upgrades were you given?” She was trying to know about the extent of the illegal upgrades implanted so that Ryan would end up in a cell. She was told to find this out by her higher-ups for this interview. Ryan knew this already, and he did not care.
“Firstly I was implanted with a non-mental AI built for computations. The AI had no conscious but it would do any and all math before I even knew I had a math problem to solve. Next was a neural cortex, the groundworks were already laid with the AI, but now I could connect to any network in the world. Next was the holo-lenses on my eyes. These went primarily with the cortex, I was able to truly see the networks I found. With that, I was given much homework to practice moving on the web. I spent almost two years as just a net crawler, learning. I also had exercise I had to do daily to keep myself in shape. Next, he upgraded my knees. Turns out, no mechanical muscle can replace the natural, but an upgraded joint can over double the strength of that limb when designed correctly. Next, he replaced my shoulders too. I had stimulants placed into my muscles and supports put in so that my muscles could support the strength of the joints. Then I had connectors placed into my palms to increase weapons precision without me having to even process the change. After that, I had a new liver and stomach, My body can utilize nearly 100% of food intake, no matter how purely nutritious. And lastly, my right eye.”
Part 2.5
“There you go Ryan, this may be your last upgrade for a while. You know the drill though, back to the waste and go about some scrapping. Ride around and test it out. Hit up the gun range and see what it can do there. The Holo-Lens for that eye is removed but built directly in. However, the features of the eye may take a day or two to kick in.”
“Alright doc, I will be back in a week with a diag for the eye. Certainly feel like I can see better already.”
And three days went by and the eye felt generally the same. Ryan was at the gun range when it began to operate as intended. Holding a rifle, he could see through the scope via the connectors in his hands and he didn’t have to physically aim down the sites. He thought his eye was malfunctioning as the world in his right eye felt delayed from his left. His right eye moved almost as if it was independent of him. It would look one way, then he would look that way to try and control it. To no avail. He rushed to get back into the city to see the doctor. He almost crashed in multiple locations on the way. Eventually, he covered his eye so it couldn’t see.
Ryan busted into the doctor’s office, by this point he had a throbbing headache burning throughout his whole head, beginning in his right eye. “Say doc, what’s the deal with this eye?! I thought you said this is all tested first extensively? I can’t even control it!”
“Ryan, I expected you back sooner. But I need you to leave now. The city has become aware of my tests, my bribes did not reach far enough.” Ryan noticed at this point that the doctor was not sitting down when he entered, but he was destroying documents and hard drives.
“Doc, I need this eye out right now. What is the deal?!”
“Look Ryan, I can’t take it out. And you’re going to be on your own for a bit now. Let me just be frank since we’ve not got the time. Your eye isn’t broken, it is working as properly, but I believe it may take you years to get used to it.”
“Years! How can I live like this for years!”
“Hold on Ryan, and please listen. That eye of yours is the hope of these people here. That eye is the culmination of all of my and many others’ research. Its existence is a miracle, which I am afraid will no longer be replicable due to this city. Your right eye, Ryan, sees 10 seconds into the future.”
Ryan was too stunned to speak. He removed the cover he had on his eye and looked around slowly. He could see it. His right away was seeing the world 10 seconds sooner than his left. Ryan stood there for almost a minute until the doctor snapped through his trance.
“Ryan! Ryan!”
“Huh?”
“Ryan, I wish I could explain more, but you need to leave. Or you may never see the light of day again. And Ryan, If they find out about you from my documents, which I hope they can’t. They will come for you, and they will use your power against what we’ve been trying to build it up for.”
Ryan was still in his daze and said nothing as he left. He rushed back to the waste and into his home. If asked, Ryan could not tell you what he did next, for he did not remember. Ryan grabbed his weapons and dressed in his full militant gown which he had gotten and been training in for months. Then Ryan did nothing. He sat in a chair and stared out the window for close to 20 hours not moving, not eating, not sleeping, just doing nothing. He thought he might be the target of the next attack from the city government.
Months went by. Ryan had begun to assume he was in the clear but knew he shouldn’t go into the city as the secret path was probably found. Now Ryan started scrapping again, he had to make money again as the cash he was getting from the doctor at each visit had stopped and he had to eat somehow. He reverted to an earlier version of himself, just doing what he had to to survive. He kept training when he could but he had left his old life as a lab rat behind.
But this eye, he spent so much time pondering his new eye. At times he wanted to gauge it out, he had headaches non-stop for over a month until his brain began to get used to seeing two things at once. One thing he learned during this time, was how to use his eye. He learned how it worked, or how to use it. Most people today would assume he would just think about doing something and he could see it, 10 seconds ahead. But he didn’t just have to think it, he had to intend to do it. Ryan was out scrapping and he saw an animal, rare, very rare. And not usually do they get to eat meat, and Ryan thought he could kill it. But he just stared at it, but he could never see himself killing it. This confused him greatly at the time but he soon learned how to control his future, at this time Ryan was not used to the idea of killing.
Another time, he was out scrapping. He was in an old and very unstable skyscraper. He had caught wind of some nice tech at the high floors others weren’t brave enough to venture to. With his eye, he figured he’d go. On the top floor, completely untouched by the hands of other scrappers were many old computers which he could bring back for the now rare materials left inside to make them. But he saw the floor below him disappear, he saw himself fall 10 floors and die. His adrenaline was higher than ever and he saw something different, in a matter of 3 seconds he saw himself die in 5 different ways. Before he moved. The floor had many weak spots where water had destroyed it. But the structural beams could hold his weight. Ryan died hundreds of times that day, but he went home just fine.
Ryan and Deren became much closer again during this time. Childhood friends, but their time together had lowered when his testing started, Ryan had been advised not to be around others much, but Deren knew about the operations, except for a few. They began scraping together, and one day, in a similar situation to the previous, Ryan saw Deren die and saved him beforehand. Going down a hallway in another tall building he saw the floor collapse. With a simple, “Let’s not go that way, I, uh, have a bad feeling about it”. They went elsewhere. A feeling was a strong thing to a scrapper here, sometimes a feeling was all you had to get you through the day to find something worth selling. Worth putting food on the table.
Ryan had seen himself die hundreds, maybe thousands of times. Ryan had spent days to himself, just practicing with his eye. This was how he learned how to use it, one day he wanted to know why he couldn’t see that rabbit die, despite thinking about killing it. He thought about killing himself. He grabbed a gun, sat there, and put it to his head, but he couldn’t see himself dying. He was fueled with anger and confusion, and for a moment he hated himself. He hated what he become, and he thought “What does it matter? I can see the future but I can’t seem to see what I want. Why am I alive? Why do I exist? Why do I have this power? What good can my life bring, the doctor is gone, and I am left alone with a maligned foresight? What would change?” Then he saw it, and he felt it. He could almost hear the gun go off and his right eye went dark and he came back to his senses. Ryan sat in silence for many hours afterward.
Later Ryan was faced with another opportunity. He saw some birds. And he wanted to eat something made of meat. He sat there for a bit and he watched. It took him a bit but eventually, he saw himself shoot at it, he missed with his right eye a few times then he saw himself hit and he did as his right eye did.
It was about 15 months now since Ryan had got his new eye. This was a day like any other at this stage in his life, uncertain. He had little idea as to what to do with his days, he had enough money to eat outside the city for the rest of his life. He only worked because it gave him something to do, and took his mind off of the unnerving uncertainty that came with every day. Deren had stopped going out and scrapping with him, he had found a different job at a repair shop not far outside new LA. Ryan did the daily workouts that the doctor had given him, and did his daily simulation training, his numbers were the best recorded, though he didn’t know that. The use of his eye had become natural to him, it took months to adjust, and even longer for the constant headaches to go away. Now Ryan was eating his lunch, he had only just gotten out of the shower a bit ago, then he header a buzz on the secure communicator he Had from the doctor.
“The communicator!” he thought, he had almost forgotten about it. It had been since before he was last in the city when he heard it buzz. He had kept it nearby in case it ever went off. It buzzed again. worriedly, he walked towards it slowly, it was a message from.. “[REDACTED]” He had never seen that before. He entered his password and saw two new messages. “They’re coming.” “you have 15 minutes.”
Stress. He felt more stress at this moment than ever before. He stuck the communicator into his pocket and ran into the basement. He began getting all of his military gear on. Before the Doctor had been taken, he had furnished Ryan’s home with the highest tech military garb a soldier could wear or wield, in case of such an emergency. After 5 minutes of panic, the communicator buzzed one more time, another message from the same sender, this time it read.
“Go with them. They will only run simple tests. They don’t know about the basement. They don’t know about the eye. They can’t know you knew they were coming, leave the communicator in the basement and continue your day as usual.
I’m sorry.”
Ryan responded saying, “Who is this?! How do you know all this.” he stared at the screen hoping for a response for 3 minutes. Then he realized he would not get one. He put his stuff back in its places, but he left it all readily available when the time comes. He got back into his more rugged waster clothes and went back upstairs, leaving the communicator in the basement. He closed the hidden door and made sure it was all locked and secure. Then he waited.

Part 3

“That sure is interesting Ryan, sounds like you have had quite the bit of upgrades. I am sure all of that helped with your military experience. Your record truly is amazing. You are one of the most decorated soldiers New LA has, as well as being the only person ever born in the waste to become a squad leader for the military. How exactly did a waster like yourself end up in the military?”
“Well, the military was doing checkups on all of the people the doctor ran any more than the one test on as a precaution, they said it was to make sure he didn’t inject us with any disease. They brought me into the city with them to their head base run some tests and had me enlist in the military. From there they trained me as a new recruit through basic like any other. I had the best scores of any recruit to graduate thus far, and when I graduated, it was about the time the rebellions began. “
Part 3.5
Ryan now sat in a chair in the corner of his room when he began to hear it. It was quiet, but his trained ears could hear it, they were two squads outside, geared to the max with the best equipment. And in a moment, the door was busted open, 7 soldiers in all-black skin-tight suits strapped with weapons and tubing wrapped around them connecting to their masks. Not a centimeter of skin was visible on any one of them. This was the military’s most elite squad, they had three total, and two of them were here to pick Ryan up. He saw it all in his right eye before his left, this was good, because a couple of them were trigger happy, though he learned earlier they had orders not to kill him. Ryan was able to get on the ground on his stomach and was taken into custody. He was cuffed and put into the back of a truck with two other men, guarding him.
Not a word was said to Ryan nor did he say anything to them. It was already worse than what he expected from the messages from the communicator. He noticed the second squad looked to have stayed as they were leaving. Eventually, they got into the city, when the door to the truck opened, he was in the most secure military base in the city of New LA. He heard the muffled speech before they opened the truck. When the door opened a single man, he had the face of his mask of say, “Take him to room 6B.” This man was clearly in charge as the men on either side of Ryan said “YES, SIR!” in unison. The man himself was white, about average height but very muscular. He had a thick mustache, the only facial hair he could get away with while wearing a mask in the wastes. Facial hair is a sign of status in the city since those in the wastes couldn’t grow it since the need for masks.
The corridor they took him down looked as if it was made completely out of smooth stone. It was all gray, there were doors on both sides, made of thick metal with no windows, and each door had an access panel. Eventually, they reached a door marked, ‘6B’. They opened the door, inside the room was just as gray as the rest, except there was a mirrored wall on the right, probably a shared wall with 6A he thought. There was a camera in each corner all pointing at the chair in the middle of the room. Behind the chair, built into the back of it, was a very high-tech-looking computer. They sat him in the chair and strapped him in so tight he could not even think of moving. They both stood guard by the door until a third man came. This man looked less like a soldier and more like a scientist, though he still wore the same black suit as the rest of them. He had his helmet off though to reveal his black skin and thin mustache moving across his upper lip. This man was the first person to speak to Ryan since they came to his home, and he said.
“Hello Ryan, I am Doctor Mitchell, I believe we will become well acquainted. If you will hold still I need to inject you with this serum, it’s thick but it won’t hurt much. Don’t worry, it’s not harmful. It will only relax you. You could use it, you are probably the tensest person I’ve ever seen. There, now that that is done I am going to plug you into the machine. Well, Ryan, I will see you when you wake up.”
His voice was deep, and he talked and a slower than average pace, but still he left no room for Ryan to even make a sound as he injected him with the serum. Ryan was stiff as a log with fear, he thought this would be a simple test. After being injected Mitchell pulled a cable off the machine behind him and plugged it into the port on the back of his neck. And it all went black.
Ryan does not remember much after this. But the machine ran diagnostics constantly on every upgrade in his body for a weak straight. Ryan was conscious for a total of fewer than 5 minutes during this time. After the diag, which proved very unfruitful to the military, he was relocated to a different room. This time a bed, with many, many more wires. A wire for every port he had on his cortex, and some that just got glued to his skin. This machine was new and very experimental. Like before, Ryan stayed connected to this machine for 37 days and 15 hours. This machine was designed to reprogram his mind. His memory was altered and was now given keywords that when heard, he would follow almost any command.
When Ryan woke up It was the first day of basic training. Ryan was excited to serve in the military. Ever since Dr. Mitchell came to the wastes when he was a teenager he dreamed of the possibility of joining the city’s military. He had lived in the wastes and both of his parents were terrorists, he had grown up seeing death everywhere he went. But he always saw the peace, stability, safety, and security the city brought to the people in the greater LA area. He pledged he would join the military one day. And one day, he just happened to find Dr. Mitchell doing more charity work out in the waste, in Old LA. Mitchell remembered Ryan and decided to invite him into his special research core to which Mitchel gave Ryan some of the most top-of-the-line upgrades. Afterward, Mitchell told Ryan he thought he was ready to join the core, as the talks of water rebellion were on the rise and Ryan’s talents were needed.
A squad generally consists of 6 soldiers, and one leader. In basic training, you are separated into squads of 7. And the leader is chosen among those who are best in those 7. These groups are trained together and grown together to become a living unit. Ryan was the only person in his squad from the Waste, in fact, he was the only current trainee from the wastes. This posed many issues for Ryan, his leaders looked down on him. And he was often bullied the hardest by the other cadets. But Ryan’s will was strong, he knew it was all worth it to serve and protect the city and its ideals.
As a result of Ryan’s origins in the waste, he was not allowed to be a squad leader. Ryan did however have the best physical, mental, and digital scores of any cadet in training, and any cadet ever trained to be precise. This only got Ryan more attention from those who wanted to knock him down. But to Ryan, the more resistance he faced, the stronger his will grew. Ryan was often visited by his friend Mitchell, Mitchell seemed to be the only higher-ranking official who liked Ryan, and this too made it harder for Ryan among his peers. Though eventually, Ryan proved himself to his squadmates and leader. He saved them in simulations time after time. Ryans’ squad lost very few bouts, and Ryan himself was never eliminated once in any simulation or in any competition against another squad. In many cases, he was his team’s only survivor. Ryan couldn’t fully understand it, but he always seemed to have a sixth sense about what was going to happen next. It felt to him as if he could almost see the future playing out in front of him as if one of his eyes could actually see the future. This, of course, was impossible and he never spoke about it, he figured he had just some innate skill that others yearned for.
Ryan was highly praised for his scores as a cadet. He graduated first in his class and was given the Rank of Sergeant. The same rank as his Squad Leader, and the highest rank anyone can graduate with. Of his squad; Ryan and Lock: Sergeant, Pulse: Corporal, Vasa: Lance Corporal, Jenzen, Caera, and Geremy: Private First Class. They were one of the most high-ranking squads in history. As a reward, they, and many of the new graduating squads were placed on the front lines of what was about to become the bloodiest war in decades.
War had become rare since the AI nuclear incident that killed most of humanity. Most things just weren’t worth fighting over, especially when new governing powers rose quickly to fill the void. Though the new governing powers claimed to be more ethically based than those in the past, fighting exclusively for what will be best for humanity and the community. Such as separating those who might have radiation from those who were safe in the LA area. Creating a city outside the city’s safe zone.
The squads were sent out the waste. It had been roughly a month since graduation and today was the biggest protest to be seen in waste history. There were major rebellions years ago when the mutagen was found. Though with some bloodshed and the news that the man in charge who was first discovered to have the mutagen was an alleged AI conspirator they died down, until now. That man had founded the organization called the Equalists, this organization fought for what they believed to be a virtuous cause. For all people to be equal in the eyes of the law despite their place of birth. With the new mutagen, they were now able to enter the city without fear of any contamination they claimed. The fools they were, Ryan thought to himself. How could they not see that this separation had to exist for the order to stay in place in the city? Some have to sacrifice for the greater good.
At the protest men spoke of equality and peace and safety and shelter and food and all kinds of things they claimed not to have. But Ryan remembers growing up in the waste and having plenty of food, his parents took care of him until they passed and he was easily able to provide for himself. The fools they were.
But then it happened. A gunshot rang out. All of the squad leaders received communication from the captain on-site to open fire on the rioters. This information was relayed from leaders to the squad as the protest turned into riot, and riot into bloodshed. The streets of Old LA ran red with the blood of terrorists who threatened the peace and security of the great city of New LA.
Ryan and his squad were a task force that carried out operations that other graduating teams would not have. Their squad was placed on the same authority as that of a squad that had been in service for years. It was apparent at times the lack of experience the squad had on many of the operations, with many close calls, but in most cases, everything turned out in their favor.
On one operation they were cooperating with three other squads led by a Chief Warrant Officer. They had information about a rebel hideout, but the information was fraudulent and it was a trap. Ryan saw it coming before the rest of his squad and began his defense. They hunkered down in an old building as they were surrounded. They were stuck living on rations for a week, defending by and by each night. During this time Ryan saved the life of Chief Warrant Officer Wayde as well as many others. But despite Ryan’s innate skill, they went from 4 squads totaling 29 soldiers to 10 soldiers. The casualties included that of Lock, Pulse, Caera, and Geremy. Of Ryans’ squad only he, Vasa, and Jenzen remained, leaving Ryan as his new squad leader. Ryan vowed to never forgive the traitorous rebels on those nights.
An elite team was sent to save the remaining soldiers who had been bunkered down under siege for a week, and they were able to escape. Upon return, all members received promotions for their bravery. But on the high recommendation of the Chief Warrant Officer, Ryan was granted the Rank of Master Sergeant, three ranks higher. Such a promotion was unheard of. Though most at this rank would be leading multiple squads, Ryan with his waste origins, still led only one squad, containing his original remaining squadmates, Vasa and Jenzen, and other graduates from the same class who had lost their squads.
Part 4

“Wow, and what a time to graduate, right when the rebellions began. You were really thrown into the thick of it. But as I have heard, you were able to gain the rank of Master Sergeant in mere months of the war? Now that is just unheard of.“
“Yes, that is true. It came at a great cost of many lives on both sides for me to gain that rank. “
“Oh yes, I am sure. So you also faced some hardships I am sure from your waste origins am I correct?”
“That is correct. I currently hold the heist ever recorded scores obtained by a cadet in the core, yet did not lead my own squad until I was a Master Sergeant.”
“Well, a safety precaution to take to avoid a situation of a potential traitor breaking into the military and leading a highly trained squad against itself. Now, this war lasted only a few months beyond that encounter, have you any stories from after that? See anyone you knew out there?”
“Yes, There was one time when I saw what used to be my childhood friend… He had… Turned traitor, against the city. “
“Oh my, what happened? What did you do?”
Part 4.5
Ryan and his squad were in a small wooded area outside of Old LA, they were on orders to hold the line with multiple other squads. In a situation such as this, gunfire would start and stop at any moment. The squad was the squad on the far west, there was a small hill followed by a small meadow which they oversaw. Ryan alone was moving to scout a certain area to their west. He was moving slow and quiet, and just when he began to crest the hill, he saw a figure, and the figure heard him. Ryan’s gun was silenced, which made it quiet, but not always quiet enough. The figure turned, and Ryan shot. He missed, He’s never missed. But he did not miss, he shot the gun out of the figure’s hand. The figure began to draw a pistol from his hip and started to move to cover. Ryan shot again, not intending to miss body mass this time. The bullet once again perfectly hit the gun in the figure’s hand, and the figure froze.
Ryan stared at him and he at Ryan. Ryan was in full garb, nothing identifiable to show, just a black armor covering every inch from head to toe. The figure, on the other hand, was in mostly normal clothing, but with extra pouches and a bulletproof vest. Ryan’s head began to hurt bad. It was like the man he was staring at had no face. He could not see it, but it felt familiar. Then it began again, the moment passed and bullets began to fly. The figure ran to his squad behind cover. A member of Ryan’s squad called out to him, and he snapped back into it. Ryan regrouped with his squad and then things continued as usual.
Ryan could not sleep that night. Something was bothering him. He’d never missed before, yet his shots seemed to hit, but just not close enough. Ryan was a trained and cold killer at this point in his life. He shoots, and he hits his target, he had almost come to enjoy it, some might say. The next night, he woke up, he remembered. He had a dream, a memory, of his childhood. Playing in the waste with his best friend Deren, growing up with him, eventually worked with him after some of his surgeries. Then he had another memory creep into his mind, the man whose face he couldn’t process. It was Deren, “I shot at Deren,” He thought.
It was the middle of a cold night. The war had been winding down and resistance had been dwindling. Ryan began to remember everything. The experiments, his upgrades. In his eye, everything made sense again, why he was so good. Then he remembered the torture. They pried into his mind and they changed it. His blood began to run hot, and his anger grew beyond measure. He was given this power to stop this corrupted evil regime of a government, not start working for it. Ryan had intended to help the waste, but he instead became the hand of the government to carry out their bidding to keep their beloved society safe. All the things he believed when he was brainwashed were still in his mind. He wrestled for days with the thoughts of protecting the cities’ society at the cost of the waste vs the freedom the wastes deserved.
Ryan overcame his brainwashing. But now he had a plan. He could not just switch sides, he was New LA’s hand of death, and the war was almost over. One night. Ryan, fully realizing his eye, left their camp. Ryan’s felt as if he could see everything again, the brainwashing left his foresight in his subconscious, now he saw the future without thought, yet he could still control it again as he was trained before the brainwashing. He had more control over this reality than ever before.
Ryan snuck, quieter than a mouse. Anytime he could see himself making any noise, he could stop it before it happened. He snuck into the enemy’s camp. Ryan took a big risk, he found Deren in their camp. He left a note on him, saying to meet him outside the camp where they could talk, and he signed it from Ryan. Deren thought Ryan was dead. He showed up at his house one day, and it had been torn to shreds, this was the action that urged Deren to join the resistance.
Ryan had thrown something at Deren in his bed from a distance to wake him up, and to see the note, the small stone he threw landed perfectly to wake him up but no one else. Deren woke up and read the note. He was confused and conflicted, He did not know what to do, he thought it could be a trick, but then how could the enemy plant a note and wake him up in their own camp. Deren decided to go.
In a small building outside their camp sat Ryan in a chair. Ryan had on his usual armor, but he had taken the helmet off. When he saw Deren enter with his right eye, he saw hostility at first, but he chose the best route to let Deren see his face.
“Ryan!? What!? How!? Why are you wearing that!?”
“Deren, I need you to listen to me.”
“Are you just a dog for the city? Why, why, what could…”
“Deren! Please just listen to what I need to say. I have no intention of harming you.” Ryan could see multiple scenarios where Deren pulled a gun on him.
“Well, Go on, talk. I could get killed for this, so make it quick.”
“This is going to sound crazy, remember how I worked with that doctor?”
“Yes, he gave you upgrades. Which I now see was the cities plan all along it seems.”
“It certainly does seem that way, but it is not the case. The doctor truly wanted to help the waste, that is why he made me. Deren, there is no logical way to explain this, but my right eye can see into the future.”
“That is crazy, and what does that have to do with anything? You’ve been seeing the future trying to murder your own people!”
“Deren, It wasn’t me. The City kidnapped me, I guess they caught wind of me being one of the doctors’ experiments, but I don’t think they knew about my eye. Regardless, I was brainwashed. Up until last week, I could not remember anything from the past. They filled my mind with propaganda, and it still lays claim to part of my mind.”
“You expect me to believe that? Brainwashed, how convenient for you”
“Why would I come to meet you like this Deren? What good does it do for me to come out here and expose myself, the city’s best soldier?”
“…”
“That is right. What I am saying is crazy, but it is true. But I have a plan. Deren, I can’t explain everything to you right now, but I know the city is planning to stop their assaults this month. Deren, Go home if you can. Survive the rest of this. And I will find you afterward.
“What do you mean!? You want me to just leave and let my people, no, our people die?! I, I can’t. The city attacked us, they drew first blood, not us. And what about you? Are you just going to go back to the city and be their lapdog and continue killing?!”
“Yes, I have to. I need them to trust me. Deren, I will be living with what I have done for the rest of my life. But I have a dream, and you have to trust me. Please, Deren. Just trust me.”
“…, I don’t know. I do but, how? How can you keep killing our people?”
“Deren when I am done, this whole city won’t be the same. Since receiving this power I have wondered why? Why me? What good could I bring? Now, I know. I will kill everyone I have to to make this city a fair place for all people. Not just those inside the walls, but the walls will be torn down and the city people and those of the waste will be one people. We won’t be walled off and put in cages like dogs anymore. But now, to do this, I have to bring evil. I am beginning to see. I can see what the doctor made me fore, why I was born. I was made to kill, to destroy, and to rebuild, and Deren, that is what I am going to do. But to bring about my goal, I will have to continue to kill and destroy. I need you on my side, this is not going to be easy, but I need you.

Part 5

“Ryan?” The reporter said as Ryan seemed to pause for a minute thinking.
“Well, I killed him, of course. He was a traitor, and an enemy of the city.”
Ryan’s demeanor changed after answering that question. Before the question, the reporter thought the man looked emotionless and empty. But suddenly, he went cold. She felt fearful almost just seeing his eyes, they were different, she now noticed for the first time, but they were so cold. “Now, if I am getting the timing right, it was not long after that the war ended. You were given a metal of honor, the only waster to ever receive such a medal.”
“Yes, I was given the medal due to my bravery in battle. My squads killed more and completed more missions than any other two squads combined, with the least casualties.”
“Wow, that is very impressive. What have you been doing now since the war? It has been two years.”
“I retired following the war. Though I am on contract with the military if the need arises, I will re-enlist. But for the last two years, I have been living in the city, I started a small vehicle repair business in midtown.”
“Why did you leave the military? You were the best they’ve ever had.”
“Have you ever killed someone?”
“I… uhh… no of course not.”
“I see, Most have not. I have killed more than most. I was trained to kill and it is what I am best at. But I killed so many in that war, took so much life. And you see, I knew something that you don’t know. I am going to have to kill a lot more before I myself die. And if I was going to do that, I needed to take a break from killing.”
The woman did not know what to say. She was frozen, she felt even more fearful now as his eyes went from cold, to heartless and angry. She could see that he was not lying. She quickly found her words and asked one more question. “Well, uh, now that you can no longer go to the wastes, how have you adjusted to the city? Is it not the most wonderful place to live, certainly much better than the radiated wasteland you used to call home?”
Ryan paused for a moment, looking like he was thinking about it. Ryan looked down at his watch briefly and decided now was the time to begin. “Do you really know what the waste is like? Have you ever been out there? Walked those streets or talked to the people? A man born in the waste is worth as many as 10 born in this city. The people of this city care only for themselves, they care not for their neighbors or their fellow countrymen. Oh how far you have fallen. Least of all you care for those in the waste, but why? Is it because we have evolved beyond the need for your walls? Is it because we built the railroads that bring you food, thousands sacrificed for the sake of the ungrateful.
You ask me these questions about my life, in the wastes, and here, you frame me as a hero in a war I was forced to fight. Did you know they brainwashed me? Literally brainwashed, unlike the rest of the soldiers who just had the normal propaganda. Do you really think I would kill my neighbors and my friends? Those who housed me when my parents died, those who fed me when I could not feed myself. The people of the waste are not divided fighting for themselves like the people of the city. The people of the waste are a family, when one is in need we help them. We are a pack, we are wolves. We fight to survive, and we fight for each other.
But when we tried to meet you as equals in a new world where we have evolved beyond the ailments we are born into you told us no. When we came to you peacefully in protest in a fight for the lives of people starving due to your selfishness you met us with death. You slaughtered and massacred people who met you peacefully and only fought to survive. You see, I remember everything now. I did as I was told and could not do otherwise, a silent observer of the horrors of my own family.
But you have gone too far. And now the wolves have woken up, and we will fight for our freedom, we will fight to be met on the streets of New LA as equals. This is no longer a discussion, this is a demand. We will find our equality. If it costs the lives of everyone in this city we will find it, to the last man. “
The woman stared now in pure fear, she looked to the camera to see the light is still flashing, they were still broadcasting. She wondered how the broadcast had to go through multiple real-time checks to make sure the content was safe but yet it kept going. The people in the studio began to panic. Security began to fill the room, though as security came so did the wolves. A small specialized team half the size of security fields the room from various intros all wearing black clothing with a white wolf embroidered on their chests. Quickly, quietly, they killed each security member but left the workers alive to keep the broadcast going. The woman began to scream as bullets fired all within a moment and it was over in a matter of seconds.
“We have taken over this building and various other locations now in the city. You gave me the military permissions to reach knowledge unknown to most and I know this city’s weakest spots, and now they will belong to me. If you think it will be as easy as it was to slaughter children again, it won’t. As I speak bombs have been placed on the generators powering the shields. I say the word and they are destroyed and your wall is gone, no longer safe from the radiation outside. “
As he said this Ryan stood up and took off his high-tech military hoodie to reveal he was in full military garb with a white wolf’s head in his right pectoral. His jacket seemed to conceal from the scanners what he wore underneath and he had many weapons strapped to him. While still on camera a man with a shaved head walked into view and handed Ryan a gun and stood beside him.
“We are the wolves,” Ryan continued, “we have come to take this city and to make it into the ideals it was built upon. We will dredge out the corruption and burn it away at the source. To the people who caused this, you know who you are, we will find you. And to the citizens, you have two choices, fight for peace and for equality, join us, or die alongside those who would trade your life at the drop of the hat to maintain their image.”
And at that moment the TV screens all cut black, the broadcast had ended. A sudden deafening silence filled the city as the world began to shift. War has begun, and a fight between ideas has begun. And for that moment, just that one moment, there was silence. But as quickly as it came the moment disappeared, and the city began to be filled with sound.