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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Not so much filler as the other ones... This is kinda important... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~ARTHUR SMITH~~~

~Shortly after Smith's release from Team Omega~

It's been thirty-six hours... THIRTY-SIX STRAIGHT FREAKING HOURS, with minimal food, even less water, and a goddamn car that breaks down every ten minutes. I thought I'd die out here.

But I made it. I'm finally back...

Every step seemed to take more and more life out of me as I approached the familiar building complex. Three stories of corporate pharmaceutical bullshit, with fifteen levels of groundbreaking science experiments and products hidden below, all crawling with hybrids like myself and some of the smartest minds on the planet. Thoroughly protected on the inside, nearly impenetrable from the outside. The last of its kind from a long line of similar OGD complexes.

In other words, home. Home, sweet, fortress home...

I walked to the entrance and approached the hand scanner. It took a minute to warm up as its sensors detected my presence, and soon instructions appeared in plain, glowing text on the screen.

[WELCOME TO OPTIMAL GENETIC DEVELOPMENTS, NEVADA DESERT BASE NUMBER 4. PLEASE PLACE HAND AGAINST SCANNER]

Wearily, I removed my gauntlet and pressed my hand against the scanner. My wrist was still a little sore from being bound for hours previously, but it was nothing a good night's sleep couldn't fix. Unfortunately, when you're a cryokinetic your body tends to resist the cold to the point where icing a wound often won't be enough.

[SCAN COMPLETE. IDENTIFICATION: OGD SERIES SA-757; ARTHUR LIONELL SMITH. PLEASE ENTER VERIFICATION PASSWORD]

The hand scanner's image turned into a bright green touch screen with a basic QWERTY keyboard, prompting me to type in my carefully chosen password. Out of the dozens of passwords I've used in my life, this one was nothing complicated, but it was still something that'd only be obvious to me.

I smiled to myself and typed in the word 'MELANIE.' The screen image turned into a giant checkmark, and the doors slowly began to open. I trudged onwards, getting a few funny stares from my peers due to my lack of helmet and chest plate, but I ignored them. It was after 2am and I was unwillingly starting my thirty-seventh hour of no sleep, so I honestly didn't feel like talking to anybody.

Well, I would talk to... Nah, she's probably asleep.

I found one of the base's many elevators and called it, eager to retire to my room on the fifth basement level as quickly as possible. As I stepped inside and pressed the button while watching the doors slide together, a hand suddenly forced its way between them, breaking the invisible laser beam and forcing both doors to open once again. As the person withdrew their hand and walked into the elevator, I couldn't tell who they were at first, being covered in the standard OGD armor, but I was in for an unpleasant surprise when the soldier took their helmet off as the elevator finally started moving.

Ugh, it's you...

I tried to be subtle to my surviving teammate. "Oh, uh... Hey there. Glad to see you made it back safely, too. Those HAC guys were a little stronger than we thought, but you seemed to give them a good run for their money."

Around here, some affectionately called her 'The Red Death,' while others called her the 'Ice Queen of OGD.' Ironic, considering she's a pyrokinetic. But I simply call her my mysterious, silent teammate. Out of all the hybrids here that just stare blankly and never talk, she was definitely the creepiest. Her piercing green eyes seemed to stare daggers at whoever's unfortunate enough to look into them, suggesting that she'd incinerate that person just for looking at her wrong. Even the way she moved was very machine-like, whether she was in the battlefield or not. But all things considered, she was very beautiful; even with the scars on her arm and under her eye, her long red hair perfectly complimented her leopardess hybrid body.

Well, power IS beauty, as I might've heard before...

As usual, she didn't say anything to me. She simply pressed a different button than I did and stared coldly into the distance, either refusing to acknowledge my compliment, or stood there completely unaware that I was trying to be nice to her at all. Either way, I decided to end this conversation before it got any weirder.

"Uh, anyway, we're going to need a new third teammate since their leader indirectly killed ours, so... Do you wanna mention that to the higher-ups or should I? I don't mind, but it'll have to wait until tomorrow. I just got back, and I'm beat."

Again, no response. Just her silent nothingness that seemed to answer all my questions with 'Fuck off, I don't want to talk to you or anyone else.'

Christ... At times like this, I'd LOVE to know what you were like as a human. Nobody can possibly be THIS cold.

The elevator stopped and opened on the second basement level; the floor she selected. She quietly walked out, ignoring my waving goodbye as she went.

"Whatever. Good night, GC-511. Ya bitch..."

~~~

I woke up late the next morning feeling completely refreshed and restored, though slightly concerned about how my day would progress from this point. A debriefing is imminent, and while the fact that my team and I had failed our mission (with a casualty, no less) was bad enough, I'd hate to imagine what my superiors will do to me if they find out... everything else. About how I told Team Omega some of our innermost confidentialities in an attempt to save my own life. All things considered, I don't have to mention that at all, but I need to think of a good lie to make up for it. If HAC comes knocking on our front door anytime now, someone's going to be to blame.

I was about to throw the covers off and get up, but as my senses slowly woke up with the rest of my body, I could feel a presence next to me on the bed. Someone was sitting opposite to where I was laying, most likely watching me sleep. Of course, out of everyone I know here, there were no prizes for guessing who it was. And after all the hell I've been through these last few days, it was nice to know that she was still here for me, right at my side and patiently waiting for me to wake up.

Melanie...

I cleared my throat. "How long have you been sitting there?"

She sighed, not surprised that I was awake. "Only a few minutes, actually. I was asleep when you got back last night, so I missed you then. But when I woke up I heard you were right here, so I just... wanted to make sure you were okay."

Chuckling, I rolled over and hugged her waist, to which she responded by gently running her fingers through the fur on my arms. We were just friends of course, but varying types of physical contact had become the norm for both of us ever since I met her. Like many of OGD's scientists, she was still human, so if there was ever an opportunity for her to use me as a giant teddy bear (teddy husky?), she gladly took it. But I didn't mind. In fact, I welcomed it. It was a weird system, yes, but it was our system.

"I am okay, Mel. Actually, I'm better than okay now that you're here. I REALLY need someone to talk to right now."

She smiled. "Of course, Arty. You know I'm always here for you."

As I sat up and my eyes adjusted to the room's light, I gradually made out the details of my close friend. She had on a simple lab coat with an OGD patch sewn onto the front, and wore casual working clothes underneath. Her dark brown, normally tied-back hair was loose today, reaching just past her shoulders. Her hazel-colored eyes shone brightly from behind her pair of simple wireframe glasses.

I took a second to formulate my words. "In a nutshell, I feel like this botched assassination... changed me. I mean, I had some doubts and suspicions about OGD before, but coming back here after having my life spared by our enemies just made me think. It made me think that now is a better time than any to act on my impulses and seize the one thing that's eluded me ever since I got here."

"And that would be...?" Melanie asked.

"ANSWERS, Mel. I know I've always talked about hacking OGD's mainframe to find out what they're REALLY up to, but now I feel like it needs to be done. When I was being interrogated by those HAC hybrids, despite all common sense I found a kind of kinship with them. I know our enemies are never as evil as they seem, but somehow those guys made me realize just who the real enemy here is. It's US, Mel. And I don't want to be a part of it anymore."

Now Melanie seemed slightly worried. "Arty... What happened over there?"

I took her hand and held it close, just to continue reassuring her. "Well... Do you want the long version, or the short version?"

She readjusted her glasses. "The long version, please. I'm not going anywhere."

"Okay." I took a deep breath and began to flash back. "According to our intel, we knew that HAC's Team Omega would be in downtown Boston to do another standard zombie raid, so the three of us got there a day in advance. We made our base inside a partially-destroyed building, where we were lucky enough to find some guns with laser sights, and waited. Sure enough, our intel was spot-on, and Team Omega showed up to clear all the walkers from the area. Once they stopped for lunch, we made our move. Red Death almost made the first kill, but they must've seen her rifle's red dot at the last moment, so they escaped our line of sight. Once we ran out of ammo, we went in closer. They were trying to run, but the three of us cut them off in an alleyway."

"Wow..." Melanie said, intrigued by our militaristic cunning. "That's quite a lot so far."

"And then," I continued, "Since Reginald just couldn't pass up a chance to taunt them first, the fight officially began right after that. We split up into two groups; he and I fought against their leader, since all three of us fought exclusively close-range, and our third took on the other two Omegas for the opposite reason; ranged combat. I don't know how well Red Death did, but if she was able to get back here alive, I'd say she was at least able to rough them up. We, unfortunately, weren't as lucky."

"Why not? What happened?" Melanie asked.

"Well, I got knocked out a few minutes into the fight, so I honestly couldn't tell you. But when I woke up, I was in the back of a pickup truck, bound to the truck bed from the neck down. If you've seen The Empire Strikes Back---"

"I have."

"---then think that, except my head was free. Team Omega's leader Gregory Ossland did it with his ferrokinesis abilities, taking extra care to make sure I couldn't use my own powers to escape. Not that I would've, anyway, because against the three of them, I wouldn't have stood a chance. I knew it, and they knew it."

Melanie took a second to think all this over. "So, if you and Fire Queen made it back, then that means Reggie..."

"Is dead. Gregory said he had him beat after knocking me out, but that son of a bitch actually used his damn chest plate to finish the job himself. Honestly, I couldn't believe it. Those HAC guys were soldiers, not killers; they might've let him go if he'd cooperated. I didn't take any chances, though. When they finally interrogated me, I answered all of their questions honestly, for better or worse."

This surprised Melanie, though I had a feeling she'd take it a lot worse. "You sold OGD out to HAC? Christ, Arthur! If our superiors find out---"

"They won't" I interjected. "I already went through one interrogation in three days, so another one won't even faze me. I don't have to tell our superiors anything I don't want to. They trust me enough to not lie to them, and this is one of those rare-but-necessary times where I have to exploit that. And as for the new plan I thought of on the way back to finally grab some top-secret data, I'm going to need your help as well."

Melanie sighed. "I'm just saying that you're playing a dangerous game here, Arthur. You know I support you and your anti-OGD scheming, but I've gotta think about myself here, too. Even if you get caught, you're capable of fighting your way out of this place. Me? Not so lucky."

I chuckled. "Don't worry, Mel. I've got it all figured out. I just need you to do one thing, and that's it. I'll do all the hard stuff."

She leaned in and hugged me tight. "Okay. You can count me in, Arty. If history's taught me one thing, it's that you have a knack for getting yourself out of trouble. And believe me, I'm anxious to see what the upper management is hiding from us, too. If they didn't tell ME, one of their top scientists, then it's gotta be BIG."

"All right" I said while hugging her back. "Here's the plan..."

~~~

It's taken months of research and espionage, but I feel like I'm at the point where I'm ready to attempt hacking into OGD's mainframe. I've always had a thing for hacking computers, ranging from now to all the way back to my youth. I never did anything strictly illegal, like falsifying documents or stealing, but I loved messing with people. In high school, I had rigged the sprinkler system to go off on my last day of senior year, just as a final, dickish goodbye gift. To make a long story short, everything in the school was drenched and ruined, giving all the non-seniors an extra month of summer vacation. I earned the nickname 'LockSmith' from my peers after telling them it was me. It's a nickname I've stuck to even now, despite my hacking opportunities being limited.

Armed with my best hacking program on an otherwise empty 4 terabyte hard drive, I approached the mainframe slowly, as to not draw attention to myself. It was 2:25pm on the dot, so a change in guards outside the room was already underway. I had about thirty seconds to sneak in before the new guards showed up, which was exactly the amount of time it took to pick the room's lock and run in while locking the door behind me.

The room itself was small, housing only the large mainframe itself, several smaller servers, one large monitor, and a mouse and keyboard. There was a single chair in the corner and several boxes of documents and disks, but I ignored those for the time being.

All right, time to get to work. I've studied this mainframe for months now, so this should be a cakewalk.

With less than fifteen minutes before the next change in security, I had no time to waste. I double-cheeked the doors to make sure they were locked, and saw that the security camera's indicator light had turned from red to green, signaling that Melanie had successfully tampered with the video feed. I pulled up the chair, cracked my knuckles, and got to work on the mainframe.

"All righty then."

My precious minutes seemed to fly by as I attached my external hard drive to the mainframe and waited for it to install, but once I began the actual hacking process, time seemed to slow down in my favor.

"Root, slash... data_login... encryption_123..."

I had a bad habit of talking to myself when typing, but doing so always makes me concentrate harder. Which, at a time like this, is a necessity.

"...Delete file... uploading 'LockSmith' program... Come on... Come onnnn... Yes! I'm in!"

Voila. The entirety of Optimal Genetic Developments, right at my fingertips... Where do I even start? I've used nearly a third of my time getting this far, so most of this has to be copied rather than simply read and memorized.

[OPTIMAL GENETIC DEVELOPMENTS HISTORY] [PERSONNEL BIOS] [PHARMACEUTICALS] [ANNUAL REVENUE STATISTICS] [EXPERIMENTS]

Here we go...

[EXPERIMENTS] ---[HYBRID SOLIDER PROGRAM] ---[ABILITY DATABASE] ---[ZOMBIE DATABASE] ---[PROJECT VITA]

Project Vita? What's this...?

I selected the mysterious entry, and pressed 'Enter.'

[OFFICIALLY STARTED ONE MONTH INTO THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE OF 2011, PROJECT VITA AIMS TO TURN THE TIDE OF WARFARE AGAINST THE UNDEAD BY PREVENTING THE ZOMBIFICATION PROCESS ITSELF. FRESHLY INFECTED HUMANS ARE SUBJECTED TO CRYOGENIC HIBERNATION TO INDEFINITELY DELAY THE ZOMBIFICATION PROCESS, AND ARE CAREFULLY SUBJECTED TO NUMEROUS TREATMENTS IN MID-STASIS. THROUGH RECENT BREAKTHROUGHS IN GENETIC TECHNOLOGY, WE HAVE DISCOVERED THE MEANS OF COMPLETELY DRAINING THE HOST OF THE ZOMBIE MUTAGEN. TYPICALLY, THE SUBJECTS ARE THEN FINALIZED FOR COMBAT.]

[LIST OF OGD HYBRID SOLDIERS CREATED THROUGH PROJECT VITA:] [i) TR-056] [ii) HG-104] [iii) MM-329] [iv) ZB-404] [v) LK-467] [vi) GC-511]

Wait. GC-511... Red Death? She's one of these guys? Wow... This explains the scars, but definitely not her behavior. Hmmm... I wonder...

Against my better judgment for time management, I decided to look up her profile.

"Search... GC-511."

By the time I tapped 'Enter' again and GC-511's page popped up, I was trembling with anticipation for what secrets her profile would reveal. But as I read, nothing could've prepared me for what I found.

[OGD SERIES GC-511; FORMER IDENTITY: CALI GREENLAW] [AGE: 20] [NATIONALITY: AMERICAN] [EYE COLOR: GREEN] [HAIR COLOR: RED] [HEIGHT: 5'9''] [WEIGHT: 120lbs]

[PERSONALITY TRAITS: NONE; BASE PERSONALITY AND CONSCIOUSNESS HAVE BEEN SUPPRESSED THROUGH APPLICATION OF FORMULA 37X-9 IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING TRANSFORMATION. AS WITH THE OTHER OGD "SILENT" SERIES, SHE IS LITTLE MORE THAN A SIMPLE MACHINE TO BE PROGRAMMED AT OUR DISCRETION.]

[BIOGRAPHY: GC-511 WAS AMONG THE MANY INFECTED ON Z-DAY, THOUGH A LAST-MINUTE CRYOGENIC STASIS STOPPED THE CONTAIGON FROM DESTROYING HER. SHE WAS BROUGH TO AN OGD-SPONSORED SURVIVOR SHELTER BY HER BOYFRIEND SHORTLY AFTER BEING BITTEN, AND A QUICK ANALYSIS OF GC-511's BODY PROVED HER TO BE AN EXCELLENT CANDIDATE IN PROJECT VITA. AS WAS CUSTOMARY, SHE WAS PRONOUNCED LEGALLY DEAD SEVERAL HOURS LATER.]

THE BOYFRIEND, THOUGH INITIALLY UNKNOWN, WAS REVEALED TO BE THE FORMER IDENTITY OF A HIGH-RANKING HUMAN ADVANCEMENTS HYBRID SOLDIER, GREGORY MARTIN OSSLAND.]

I stopped reading. I felt like my stomach had just exploded inside of me, and I could swear that this stream of horrifying information was giving me a migraine.

What the hell... What the HELL have they done to her!? No choice, no free will, no NOTHING? And Greg... Oh my God! I... I had no idea!

And this means... All the other silent ones... Oh sweet Jesus...

As I reread the words in front of me, trying to see if there was any part of this insanity I might've missed, a message with 'Transfer Complete' suddenly popped up, signaling that I now had a copy of every one of the mainframe's files on my portable hard drive. I carefully removed and pocketed it, and noticed that the clock had just struck 2:39, giving me an entire minute to disappear. Time had effectively flown right over my head, but I got what I came for.

Perfect timing. I can try to rationalize all this later. For now, I've gotta get the fuck outta here...

~~~

~The next day~

Until now, this entire day was a blur of armor, weapons, and hybrid soldiers being gathered for our second attack on HAC. The debriefing I had anticipated yesterday actually never happened, giving me more time to spend with Melanie and inform her of my findings. In a nutshell, she was just as taken aback as I was. Which was understandable, considering she had inadvertently worked on key aspects of Project Vita herself. I managed to collect all the data I stole and transfer it to a smaller flash drive, safely stored inside my new chest plate. After ripping out the auto-suicide device, it seemed like a dumb idea to not use that small gap to hide something.

As for right now, the two if us were outside, sharing one last moment before I joined with the rest of my fellow troops. After one more hug that I really didn't want to break anytime soon, I finally resigned myself to my mission, and started walking away.

"Arthur, wait!"

I quickly spun around and ran back to Melanie while removing my helmet. "What, what is it?" I asked. "You forget something?"

She looked confused and embarrassed, but what she did next explained why. Quickly yet sensually, in front of everyone who may or may not have been watching, Melanie cupped my cheeks and kissed me. A quick one, but more than enough to finally open a long-closed door between the two of us. As soon as it was over, she let her hands drop to her side, staring at the ground to conceal her blushing. Now I was the confused one, but at the same time I could feel joy swelling up inside me. Nevertheless, it still took me a moment to find my voice.

"That was..."

She looked up to me and grinned sheepishly. "That was just in case you don't come back... And I never see you again. I'm sorry, Arty, I... I just had to."

I gently caressed her smooth, furless face while staring into her eyes. They shone with pure passion through her glasses; shifting from the warm gaze of a loyal friend to... something more. Something that must have always been there on some level, but I never was able to notice. Whatever it was, it was something that I realized I wanted to be a part of.

It's now or never... And I choose 'now.'

Right out of nowhere, I pulled her head towards mine and kissed her back. Even with my eyes closed I could tell Melanie was shocked at first, but I could gradually feel her relaxing and really moving into the kiss, with both of our lips and tongues doing all kinds of things to each other that I'd never even considered before. Unlike her little display of affection, this one was slow and messy, but so much more intense. Until we both broke it apart to catch our breath, it was pure bliss.

Of course, I did realize that kissing her back would permanently change things between us, but I was willing to take a chance. I was also well aware that the world around me was still mobilizing, but in my mind for those few moments, all that existed was the two of us.

I took a hold of her hands. "Listen, Mel... When I get back, and I do mean when I get back, there's... There are some things I need to talk to you about. Things I now realize I should've told you a long time ago."

She smiled and nodded in agreement. "I understand. And I know you'll be back safely, so I'll try not to worry so much. But for now, go. Go and end this stupid conflict, no matter the cost. I'll be waiting for you, Arthur Smith."

Slowly, I let go of her hands and walked away, joining with the rest of the troops while putting my helmet back on. We organized ourselves into smaller groups and prepared to board different vehicles, all of us ready to continue our unjust assault on HAC. All of us, except for me. Me, who was single-mindedly focused on doing just the opposite by fighting for HAC, the real good guys. As I walked, it continuously dawned on me that potentially half of the people I was marching with truly had no idea who they were or what they were, and that I was the only one who knows enough to do something about it. Even my own damn teammate, who I should now call Cali, was no different. She and all those other people used to be someone's kid, someone's significant other, or just somebody, period. Someone's girlfriend... Heh, if Greg nearly killed me because he was so worried about some other girl, I'd LOVE to see how he takes this little piece of news...

I'm going to make this whole thing right. I've got my plan, and I'm gonna stick to it. Once HAC sees what I have to offer, they MUST let me join. This is just as much my battle now as it is theirs.

Together, we'll come back here, tear this entire operation down, and free everyone under OGD's control.

And Melanie... I'll be waiting for you, too.

I... I love you...

~~~

Well, this technically wasn't an Origins chapter per se, but I figured that the story of how Smith got affiliated with OGD wouldn't be as entertaining as how he got affiliated with HAC.

That being said, the last Origins chapter won't be too far away. But like this one, it won't actually be about the person's origins (terrible, I know), but about how and why they work for who they chose to work for. In my opinion, that still Origin-ey enough.

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