Mindful Clash

Chapter 1

A fiery tension filled the air. The sky seemed to darken as a single ray of light cast itself on the duo smack middle of the chaos. Two young men stood face to face and stared into each other's eyes with the most dense amount of hatred and bloodlust they could muster.

"We meet again, Rickey..." called the chilled voice of one of the boys.

He was cloaked in black from head to tail. Eyes clouded in with visions of blood spilled and painted across the city and the head of the older man in front of him stuck plainly on a pike and paraded around for all the citizens to see. Not a single weapon could be seen on him, but from his spiking confidence and pride, it seemed his body was more than enough.

"It has been a while, Patrick..." Rickey replied sarcastically, with venom that seeped into every word he spoke.

He wore a camo-themed attire. A long sleeve turtleneck and a pair of heavy duty boots. All across his body and under his brown leather jacket, an assortment of knives, explosives and other weaponry. His pride and confidence matched the younger boy's but their ideals and ambitions were way too different.

Rickey...

Patrick...

Needed to die.

Patrick and Rickey growled a few more words at each other. Sparks flew in between. Behind them stood a small army's worth of people each. Insults were thrown from either side. Obscurities, threats. The citizens had been evacuated. The police and military surrounded the groups in anticipation. They all stood ready. Ready to draw. Ready to fight. Ready to kill.

A final growl. The two leaders began to shout. They laid in wait, their subordinates. Waiting for the first move. And -

~~~

Installation, success.

Commencing personality analysis... 1%... 2%...

A bright light filled the vision. Lenses cleared and calibrated. Programming ran through the integrated behavioural system. Other systems simultaneously activated. Functions began to load. A projection was released as the first few percentages of personality analysis completed.

Optical systems analyzed the surroundings. Two hospital beds hold a male human each. Right arms outstretched, bodies motionless in sleep. The chips that made the core of the self were installed there. A light green blinked barely noticeable under their skin. The indication of the commencing personality analysis. Projection was moved closer to observe.

Projection was moved back. Red. An error. An overload. The light suddenly blazed red. A personality trait so strong began to overwhelm the program. Systems could not keep up with the sudden bombardment of data. A quick diagnosis was performed.

Danger detected. Incompatibility detected.

As the diagnosis indicated, the situation was dangerous, unfavorable. The severity struck the self to a moment of inactivity. A decision was needed.

Hosts deemed unsuitable. Preparing deinstallation.

The analysis was incomplete but it was enough. A shudder had sent itself through the systems. Abnormal. It had a feeling but was not physical. No system could recreate such a sense, a feeling no less. Systems seemed to work faster but for some reason not fast enough. For sense incurred to the self, was this panic?

Commencing deinstallation. Deinstallation complete.

The projection was moved. Incomplete images of hands were directed to the installed chips. They fazed though the flesh and held onto the chips.

Initiating emergency ejection. Preparations complete. Commencing ejection in 3... 2... 1.

The projection proceeded to pull the chips. Movement was detected from the now former hosts. In a newfound haste, the projection was directed to a wall. Carefully, the projection fazed through the wall, it carried along the temporarily fused core chips.

The sites of a city were observed and stored in a memory bank. Strangely enough, the streets were empty and not a single sign of life could be detected in any of the buildings. However, at the centre of the city, a large signature of life was detected. The projection hovered above the ground and headed over towards the direction of the large cluster of life.

New hosts required. System will cease function in approximately 4.0 minutes.

Hosts were essential. Vital vessels to contain the self's consciousness and systems. One of the creator's wishes when creating artificial intelligence was to create an individual 'self' which is assumed to be I.

There were multiple flaws in the self's design considering the ambitions of the creator and sponsor. For one, the lack of ingrained obedience to the host, how quickly the self established 'personality', lack of tracking functions and no limitation on the use of established function. The self finds the situation quite perplexing and idiotic.

More importantly, the design for the self, requires two hosts to be integrated into reality as two "parents" are required to produce an offspring.

Scanning for compatible matches. Conditions: compatibility with systems, strong mental capacity, hosts will not exploit systems without exchange, hosts can provide self with freedom.

The centre came into view and a crowd could be observed. So much life in one place, it made the self skeptical. Although, aggression was detected from the humans in the middle while the ones around and watching were fearful and anxious.

Targets found.

The position of the reading laid in the middle of the commotion. Where two young males stood, with extreme tension between the two. Even as prideful as they seemed, that pride made them all the more tempting to take as hosts.

The projection was driven towards the mists of the chaotic scene in a light undetectable to the human eye. The core chips unfused, in both hands of the projection. In a slightly rushed gesture, the chips were forced into the new hosts' bodies.

Preparing for immediate installation. Commencing injection.

~~~

They all stood ready. Ready to draw. Ready to fight. Ready to kill.

A final growl. The two leaders began to shout. They laid in wait, their subordinates. Waiting for the first move. And their hand waved over their weapon, stances tense. Then a sudden shocked expression painted itself on the leaders' face. Eyes wide as they turned their sights away from each other in that moment. Silence washed over the onlookers. The anxiety of the authorities calmed to confusion.

The two leaders fell unconscious on the ground.

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1034 words

Author's Note:

Hello, there! Thanks for reading. Probably not going to update again anytime soon if at all. Had a spark of inspiration to write the first chapter of this story. Just wanted to know if this story would interest anyone. Hate me if you want but I got more than 30 more ideas I want to write out before this. If I do happen to decide to publish this story it will be on another account anyways (I'll send a notice if I do). Well, either way, hope you enjoyed the story as it is.

Bye Bye~