Subject-01 looked down at the remains of the Nikkes he disposed of. His teachers had taught him about Nikkes. Disposable tools in the war against the ultimate enemy. Sure enough, they weren't of much value to him. Yet there was an infinitesimally small part of him that felt slightly upset at seeing them struggle, and the final one's words to him. It was his first time killing such humanlike opponents. Up until now he had only fought a handful of robots and preformed tests of his ability to take pain and damage.

He had been given various bad tasting drinks that had made him quite sick or felt extreme pain, but this was a first. He would talk to his councilor. After all, he could give him insight he did not have. As his thoughts jumped from place to place, he was struck with a splitting headache and he grabbed his head with both hands, falling to his knees and gritting his teeth.

Somebody said something over the intercoms in the room, but he could not focus. Something in his head was burning with a fiery agony. He screamed as it began building up in his head and moving to his eyes which were getting harder and harder to keep closed. Like a tank that was being filled with too much water, his eyes felt like they were bulging. He heard the voice of someone next to him, shouting his name.

"Subject-01 what's wrong?" he heard through his screaming as he felt the hand of someone holding his shoulder and shaking him.

"Get away now! I can't contain it any longer!" He desperately screamed, not wanting to hurt the woman who had her hand on his shoulder.

He felt her hand leave his shoulder and heard her step back.

"Oh my god" He heard the woman whisper before she turned and ran.

He felt hot. More than hot. He felt like his whole body was on fire. Every cell in his body burned, begging him to open his eyes.

"No" He grit through the pain. This went on for a good minute as someone shouted through the intercom, but he didn't listen. He couldn't listen.

He heard a sizzling sound as he smelled the smell of burning flesh. His eyelids were beginning to burn off.

That was it. He couldn't hold it in anymore.

Then, he opened his eyes.

With a massive explosion of red heat energy and the sound of metal being melted through, two gargantuan beams of condensed heat hotter than the sun bore through the facilities. Floor after floor were melted through until the beams condensed and broke through into the artificial sky of the Ark. All of Ark was dyed red from the intense power that struggled to break through the shields and was about to. They blasted against the shields that protected the Ark from outsiders and were stalemated for the time.

Seeing this insane blast that was beginning to heat up everything around it, civilians and military personnel alike stopped and stared in awe at the insane phenomena.

Back in the room, everything around Subject-01 was beginning to melt. The metal floor he was kneeling on was now a pit of molten metal that he had begun sinking into. The comms had melted and he was alone in a burning world. He had done well in keeping it together up unto this point, but as he released that heat, he began releasing his pain, his worry, his helplessness.

He thought back to just two months ago, when he had to drink dozens of different drinks and poisons that made his body feel like it was burning, freezing, and turning inside out at the same time, yet he didn't protest. Then three months before that when he would be repeatedly fired upon many times by various calibers of guns. He held it all in as these tests were necessary, but it hurt. It hurt so much, and he couldn't even try to fight back or protect himself.

As much as he rationalized it to himself, it was unfair. So many things happened, and the pain built up more and more, yet he grit his teeth, for the researchers said he was the hope of Humanity. He couldn't fully grasp why this was happening. He knew what he was told, but he couldn't grasp it fully, and as the one being experimented upon it hurt.

He screamed louder and louder, letting everything out, and everyone on the Ark heard the scream that day. That desperate, pained wail of a damaged boy.

He was no longer a secret. No, he couldn't be.

He had become a liability.

Forcing his eyes closed, he managed to stop the beams of power and heat.

He knew he would no longer be welcomed in the Ark. He had done something horrible. Something he couldn't be forgiven for.

He didn't want to be put down like those Nikkes. He had to escape. Then he felt it. Just for a moment, in his hour of desperation, he felt weightless, and he didn't question it for a second. Shooting out of the pit of molten metal, he flew up up ever upward. He closed his eyes with that feeling of freedom. Faster and faster upward.

He felt himself collide with something, but it shattered in mere seconds.

Then he was greeted with the feeling of dirt and rocks which he pushed through with a scream. This went on for a good minute before he broke out into the ruined surface of the world.

He had escaped, but at what cost?


Alarms blared across the Ark command center, and everyone knew why. Something was sending immense amounts of energy and heat in two colossal beams as wide as a house directly upwards towards the surface, and the shields were slowly being burnt away.

Then as shields were down to 30% power, the beams and screaming stopped.

Moments later something tiny shot up through the holes made by the heat and into the artificial sky before boring a tiny hole in the shields and cloaking above the Ark. It wasn't that bad in itself, as the hole sealed over in a second, but what created the hole was what was the problem. If he could escape, he could come back in at any time. God forbid he would hold the tests and experiments against them.

Almost immediately a meeting was called by the Ai and the highest end of the military and government branches.

Their hubris had come to bite them in the ankle. He was not a Nikke. He was a child, yet they treated him as business as usual. Thankfully, the barrier hadn't suffered irreversible damage.

Andersen sat at his desk, his elbows resting on the top as he clasped his hands in deep thought and thought of various answers to the situation the Ark was currently facing. Repairing the damage would be barely more than trivial. What really got to him was that the fragile feeling of safety the Ark had worked tirelessly to cultivate after the exile of Goddess Squad and their subsequent tales of martyrdom was teetering on a knife's edge.

He sighed as someone entered his office. There were few who had the chutzpah to do so without fear of consequence. He heard from the soft steps that it was Ingrid and he didn't even turn his head to her.

For a second he entertained the thought that she was here to gloat, but that was obviously not her purpose here.

"There's no point in hiding it anymore. The question is how much information should be released and how to keep leakers from spilling everything" She spoke, standing in front of his desk with a hint of a frown on her attractive face. That was one of the more pleasant things about her, she most of the times kept the personal out of the professional, even at times to her own detriment.

Anderson looked up after a moment's pause.

"There's no point in doing that. We can't control everything. Not to mention hiding too much would just make us and everyone around even more vulnerable to retaliatory action. I'm sure some amongst the men and women among us knew that peace and the safety they have are on the back of tenuous lies. I don't think the people can stomach much more. Not to mention our AWOL subject" He spoke while pulling out a laptop from his desk.

"In this are the original notes from the first two years of the experiments on the subject with nothing removed or edited. I want you and your department to look through this for any weakness to exploit on the boy to bring him back or any way to put him down before he gets back to his parents, wherever they may be" he said as he handed Ingrid the silver laptop.

She took it and held it in her hands, looking down at Andersen.

"Let's hope its not too late" She said before turning and walking out of the office.


Reviews:

Sevatar: Well, The Central Government does have some nasty stuff that could actually prove harmful to the kid. Not so much the adult.

Guest: He is truly alone. Tragic isn't it?

Rotten Sarcophagus: SUS amogus

Guest: Good catch. I was inspired by that version when making this story.

Ideal Man: Somewhat, but not completely.

RevengeS197: Thanks. I will try.

Kevin Naits: Thank you for the review. You got me up off my lazy ass to make another chapter.