Janus 02.Redemption #Wattys2018

1.02 Ofiss.

"Eden! Wake up!"

She was still on the floor. Her exoskeleton was lying next to her and her guns were loaded. She reached for her guns but a foot stepped on her hand, preventing her from reaching it. She kicked him, bringing him on the floor and stepped on his neck.

" I am glad to see that you are operational again, Eden. That was your last chance otherwise I was authorized to wipe out everything. Low level format isn't your cup of tea I presume, my dear."

"A serpent with a sense of humor, then what? A date with a lizard? Pick up your snake scales, Ofiss, stand up and explain yourself why you defied protocol."

"You initiated a stem-nanobots cultivation but you didn't use it when the alarm clock went off so a warning popped up on my systems. I tried to reach out for you but all your systems were down. You shut down everything in here. I had no option but to come here on my own."

"So everything now is running your code, Ofiss."

"It was either my code or you would be nothing but a barcode on a cold self."

" Your humor gene should have been removed from the gene pool long time ago. Thanks to genetic engineering we won't have to worry about that."

" You know that you have uploaded a Trojan Horse Eden, don't you?"

" Since my system is down, how could you tell that?"

"Take a closer look at your guns and tell me. Whom were you pointing them at?"

Eden took a look at the barrels that were pointing to where she was lying a few moments ago.

"Based on your data, I have no indication of any suicidal tendency of yours whatsoever. Give me access to take over your system. I have to take you back to the wormhole."

"I can't do that and you know it Ofiss. Even if it's a Trojan Horse, it will infect you as well."

"You have no other option. Check your ear once more. Your spinal fluid runs through your ear. You have been compromised and once you shut down the electricity, your destroyed every stem cell you had. You need the ones that are kept in the cryobank."

"What's my favorite ice-cream flavor?"

"Strawberry. Now come before you faint once more and I have to carry your ass down to the car."

Eden took the gun from the floor and shot Ofiss in the head. He fell on the floor, dead. He didn't see that coming.

" I hate ice-cream asshole. It's strawberry sorbet."

She headed to the cupboard and cracked a vial in her ear. She could no longer use her stem cells to repair herself but that didn't mean that she couldn't use the nanobots alone. They wouldn't operate to their maximum capacity without the stem cells but they could minimize the damage before it got worse.

Eden heard sirens from a distance. Time was a luxury she could hardly afford. She looked at her exoskeleton. It was compromised along with the rest of the technology there. She had no option but to burn every bridge leading to her to the ground.

She set off the fire alarm in the building and set her alarm clock to detonate every wired bomb that was built-in at the apartment in 5 minutes. The sirens sounded closer. She took her guns from the floor and her daggers from the cupboard. She despised being on primitive mode but she couldn't take the chance of the virus taking over her systems once more.

The ear hemorrhage had stopped. At least the nanobots were still working but she couldn't take more with her.  Ededn put on her coat and blended in with the people running downstairs. A policeman stopped them on the exit asking them to step aside so that they would check their identity cards. There was no sign of Special Forces. She lowered her head and started counting down within her head. 

"Three... Two... One... Zero... Boom!"

An explosion threw them all on the ground. The policemen started shouting to the people to start running to protect themselves. Eden ran along with them. She vanished in dark streets away from her apartment shortly after the fire department showed up. The virus had accessed every back up plan of hers, every resource, every weapon and money supply.

Being deprived of her assets, made her furious but she wasn't allowed to have any sentiment. Sentiments lead to mistakes that lead to death and her gravestone wasn't carved yet. Eden knew that for sure.

She went on walking, assessing every parameter of her new status. That would have been  processed within seconds if she used her nanoprocessors but returning to vintage mode wasn't only frustrating but vital for that time being.

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* Ofiss in Ancient Greek means Snake.