Utterly Mad

Timeline: 6 years before the cataclysm, 5 years before name change.

People involved: Roxanne Luna

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   Roxanne woke up in a surgical bed. A gas mask of sorts was being removed from her face while she awoke. Her memory was fuzzy but she soon recalled what had happened; she had just undergone bionic surgery to officially earn the title of Cleanser.

   It had been two months ago since she had been recruited. She remembered her orders; “Go to this location and accept their offer but reject their gift. Once you awake be sure to thank them properly.” She was now awake, she would test out her new toys and then give the men in the room a proper thank you.

   “I hope the procedure was to you and your benefactor's satisfaction?”, Answered an older man wearing a doctor’s coat and glasses; he help a clipboard close, “We installed a bionics to your expectations. We used CMB of course, but the result should be no less impressive! Why don’t you try it out?”

   “Yeah, let’s.”, Roxanne answered. She accessed her BUI for the first time ever and she smiled. After a quick read of the digital descriptions of her bionics, she got to work. First on the line was to test her Close Quarter Combat bionic. She set it to Bionic Combatives and tested out the new moves she now suddenly knew how to perform. She stepped forward as she gave kick and punch to the air in rapid succession; her movements were fluid and perceived. This would come in handy a lot, she thought; she had guessed correctly.

   While she was doing her little “dance”, armed men looked on. They held rifles close to their person with hand in the weapon’s grip but away from the trigger. Roxanne smiled after her little demonstration was over. She gave a small bow to the armed men and then continued to toy with her new bionics. She gave another pass to her BUI and found the other two could be used as a combom. The first of the two to be activated was the bionic blade; a foot long nano-carbon blade came out of her forearm. Roxanne raised it to meet her face and grinned; she then activated her second bionic, electroshock unit. As she did so, the blade was filled with visible and audible currents of static electricity; this made Roxanne’s grinned widen and become predatory.

   “You did a very swell job doctor. Only one more thing; how about you give me a life target to test this on?”, Roxanne commented while walking towards the doctor..

   “Oh? Life target? Sorry but there was no mention of such requirements of this procedures so we did not bother. We are sorry about the inconvenience.”, The doctor said.

   Roxanne was already within striking distance of the doctor, she paused and smiled. “No worries doctor, you will make a fine replacement!”, Roxanne exclaimed. She then jammed the knife straight into the doctor’s chest, piercing his heart; the electroshock unit then made him spasm as taser-esq electric currents were unleashed into his body. Roxanne’ smile grew wider as she dropped the limp body of the doctor on the floor. She then covers her ears and closed her eyes and waited the next part, smile still etched in her face.

   The armed men raise their rifles as quickly as they could. They shouldered the firearm and pulled the trigger; some were faster than others and as such only a few shots were fired. However, not all of the guns were trained at Roxanne, the faster to draw people among the guards shot down the other guards who were slower. They did so with precision and prejudice, as if they knew ahead of time that specific person needed to die. The bullets flew through the air and into the other men who never got to fire a single shot. The projectiles tore through muscle, tissue, bone and brain matter. All of it splattered all over the room as blood covered the shooters and Roxanne.

   Roxanne opened her eyes when the shooting had stopped and gave a little yelp and bit her lip as she witness the scene in front of her. These men were no more, reduced to mush and she was responsible for it. She now wielded the power of life and death and was tasked to use it on other people. She got to decide who lived and who died, she alone made the final judgment...Roxanne had never felt so alive!

   One of the men stepped forward and interrupted Roxanne’s little day dream. “Roxanne Blackmore?” The man called.

   “The one and only!”, Roxanne responded.

   “Welcome aboard Cleanser Blackmore. You are now ready to serve under our banner. Go home and await orders. We will take care of the scene here, so don’t worry about that. From this day forward, your new life begins! But for now...get changed...spare clothing are on the back room.”

   The man left and Roxanne was more elated than ever. This is it, she had found her purpose! She was no doing what was the best for humanity. She would get change, go home and get some rest...her new life would soon start.