Biomorph

Beta 43 caught up with Josh just as he reached the designated rendezvous for the trip. She sighed, then sat down next to him, ready to wait until her brother was ready.

"Why can't I control this beast?" he suddenly asked, staring through the traffic. "Why must I have to keep myself in check? I never noticed any other subject struggling."

Beta 43 turned to face her brother and held his face in her hands so he couldn't look away. "It's because of your anger problems that we weren't killed off, like the Alpha series was. Don't forget that. You are the one keeping the rest of us alive. "

She then pulled off the skin and then smiled. "Speaking of our fellow subjects..."

As she said that, Beta 25, Beta 10, Beta 37, and Beta 21 stepped out from behind the building opposite them. Josh couldn't believe it. He jumped to his feet, and unconsciously switched back to his default look. On seeing his face, they waved, and Beta 43 laughed; They had all been nervous about his reaction.

"You're here!" shouted Josh as he dodged through the traffic to hug them. "You're really here!"

As everyone walked around the corner, they were surprised to see Josh in his 'normal' form, and not caring about the stares he was receiving.

As they approached, they were shocked by the way he was ignoring everyone and everything but the 5 people he was looking at. One was his sister, but the other 4 were new faces. However, judging by their clothes - two-piece military uniforms - they were from the bunker they were going to

"Hey, Ayla, doesn't your father work in the bunker we're going to?" asked Boone. "If he does, does that mean he knows about Josh?"

"Probably." replied Ayla, who was slightly annoyed that Josh had not already snapped his head around to check who was approaching.

"Well, your dad could tell us some more facts about him then, yes? I'm so curious about his parents. Who were they?"

In truth, Josh had registered their presence, but it was at least secondary to catching up with his fellow subjects, if not tertiary, or quaternary.

"So, what tests have you had done?" Josh asked, slipping back into the general questions they used to ask each other.

"Tests? We haven't done those since we moved facility, on the day you 'died' 10 years ago." Beta 10 replied with a concerned look on her face. "Why? Have you had to do tests?"

Josh froze.

"No tests? Are you joking?"

"No... Why?" Answered Beta 25

"I had to do at least 3 tests a day, and you guys didn't? What is wrong with that Major? " Josh whispered, as AIMEe tried desperately to calm him down.

The last string on his sanity snapped, however, when Beta 37 started describing their accommodations and food. Large apartments; whatever they wanted for food; even being allowed to visit the city!

"The. Major. Will. Pay." growled Josh, as he prepared himself for what he would demand from his body in the next few hours.

Arthur and Joel were just catching up with the others - they had to take a quick detour to get their clothes from their HQ - when they saw Josh readying himself to launch into the sky.

"Josh? Activate drain protocol. Authority Arthur-Joel, Code Delta-3-5-9-Epsilon." They chanted into their commlinks in perfect unison.

The effect was immediate, and quite profound. The energy seemed to simply vanish from him, and he fell over. However, even as the crowd began to turn to them, he sat up, dusted himself off, and nodded his thanks.

"That, people, was a demonstration I put together!" exclaimed Josh, turning to survey the crowd. "This is to prove that even I cannot ever harm the city! If I ever try, I can be stopped! I will be visiting the Major and chief of police soon, to give them their own, unique, authorization codes!"

The crowd cheered, and began chanting "Biomorph!" , as he walked off, to get to where the bus was waiting to take them to the bunker.

Beta 43 was, quite naturally, horrified. Those codes could work on any of the subjects, if the right protocol was named. What was her brother thinking?

As he moved to walk past her, she gripped his arm, and hissed "Are you nuts? They could use that against you! Or us!"

She wasn't entirely impressed when he just turned his head slightly, gave her a wink, and whispered "Trust me." What idiot would do that now?

She sent a silent message to the other Beta subjects: Beta 42 had possibly fallen to mental manipulation.

He may need to be persuaded to go back to his usual self...

Completely oblivious to anything but his own thoughts, Josh was walking to the bus. As he walked, he had AIMEe pull up various files he had snagged from the other's internal computers. He had to figure out why the Major had been so kind to them, but not him.

After a few minutes, he stopped. You could almost see the realization drop. The Major's boss , this General Ross fellow, thought the others were dead as well, and so was pushing for more tests.

It wasn't the Major. It was General Ross.

With this realization, he began to run. He had to tell the others!

The Major was fully prepared. He had taken the threats seriously. The entire bunker was rigged, so that whatever room Beta 42, or indeed the General, was in when he tried something, that room would contain him whilst the scientists there decided how to try to kill him.

The Major smirked at that, and shook his head. If only Beta 42 would listen and understand, then the General could face his 'perfect soldier'.

Suddenly remembering, the major turned on his screen. There, laying on a table, was Gamma 1. The General's own creation.

Basically, an eight year old Beta 42, who was totally dependent on mechanical systems to move. It was a twisted mockery of the best being on the Sigma Potens project

The Major was almost looking forward to seeing the General's reaction to the 'Inferior model' proving itself superior.