A New Age

The scientist stood up from his chair as an image took form on the white screen behind him. It was a picture of Earth from the perspective of space. The boy had no choice but to sit and listen to whatever he had to say.

"First off, my name is Dr. Rowland. I'm one of the head scientists here at Alpha base as well as the chief overseer of the transition process. Now, can you tell me what this is a picture of?"

"It's….Earth." As soon as the boy said it he quickly adopted a bewildered expression. "How-"

"Did you know that? Simple. But as any good story goes, we must start from the beginning to truly grasp your situation. Now then. As you said, this is Earth. We are currently in the year 2040 A.C."

"A.C?"

"It stands for 'After Crisis'. Refrain from asking any further questions as all will be answered. Trust me, I've been through this process enough to know each question you'll ask me."

"....."

Dr. Rowland clicked his remote once more and the slide transitioned to one of a bustling city.

"This is an image of the year 2025 C.E, Common Era, in which society has been on a track of progression for many a century by this time. However-", Dr. Rowland clicked once more and an image of the same city appeared. Except this time in ruins and chaos. There are bodies laying in the streets, buildings in disarray, and flames on the horizon.

"This is the same city only 1 year later. This was at the start of the crisis known simply as 'The Outbreak'. A radical virus had begun to spread quickly all over the country. This country was once known as the United States of America. It has since been named New America following the rebuilding era. The virus was unlike anything we ever saw and was constantly evolving; this made the efforts for a cure impossible."

The boy looked at the image as an all too familiar wave of grief washed over him. This was a sight he has seen too many times through the eyes of Azrael.

"Once infected, the host would undergo a transformation phase and within 24 hours…", he clicked the remote and an image of a snarling reaper appeared. "You become one of these. The virus enters through the blood stream so any type of scratch from these things or the smallest drop of saliva on an open wound would be a death sentence. They are known as Reapers. But I'm sure you already know that."

Dr. Rowland took a seat once more. "It was declared by the government that the virus did not originate here on American soil. But rather was carried here from somewhere overseas. Further analysis showed that a specific group of people were more at risk for contracting and spreading the virus - this being foreigners. To try to curb the spread of the virus, all those who did not have US citizenship and/or had parents that may have originated from a different country were…'detained' away from the rest of the populus in government run facilities."

The boy's mind raced back and forth trying to process this influx of information. Did he still have a family out there? Where did he even come from? And how did this happen to him in the first place?

Dr. Rowland continued, "However despite our best efforts to provide the best level care, this plan proved to be what led to our downfall. The facilities became a cesspool of disease and gave birth to next level Reapers. You see, Reapers are given rankings from C all the way up to S. Every S and A level Reaper came from one of these facilities. To this day we are still unsure of what led to these powerful transformations."

The next slide appeared which showed a group of scientists posing for a photo and holding what looked to be the same device that the Major General wore on his arm. A younger Dr. Rowland stood in the middle of the group.

"In the years that followed the facilities incidents, humanity dwindled to only a small number. Every country was now facing this threat and there seemed to be no end to the madness. While the B and C level threats could be managed by the military, the A and S ranks were a different matter entirely. They had abilities that were leagues above the others and proved to be almost unstoppable. That is…until the creation of the Genetic Splicer."

Dr. Rowland lifted up his jacket sleeve to reveal the same bracelet that the General Major wore around his wrist.

"Release."

The bracelet glowed briefly before snapping open and twisting around his arm. He held open his palm towards the boy and showed what almost looked like a black comma tattoo in the middle of his palm.

"This forever changed the game and turned the tide of this war in our favor. This device allowed us to alter the DNA makeup of a Reaper upon touch. We could now change Reapers back to humans but also keep the parts of their Reaper DNA that allowed them to use the special abilities while they were Reapers. It also left a sealing mark in place to prevent reverting back. We were creating our own super soldiers. But, there were a few caveats…".

The next slide was of a human brain side by side with another human brain, but it was a blackish color and the shape was…off.

"The one on the left is that of a normal human brain. The one on the right is that of a B class Reaper that we did an autopsy on years back. This is what the Reaper transformation does - it cuts off all brain activity and then begins to reshape it. But the anatomy changes drastically and leaves out almost all the parts that make us human to begin with. Most importantly, it severs all human consciousness. That is when who you truly were before dies. There's no coming back from that. We tested the Genetic Splicer on several B/C class reapers and they all ended in failure. Then we tried it on an S class Reaper and made a very interesting discovery. Most S class Reapers still had their human brains intact. They were still conscious inside the Reaper but unable to have any type of control. THESE were the ones that successfully made it through the process of genetic splicing."

Dr. Rowland raised a finger and pointed it directly at the boy.

"And here we are…at you. The S class Reaper known as Azrael, one of the great Infernals. Reapers who held the most unique of abilities and stood atop even the S class level. It was by turning Reapers such as yourselves into human hybrids that we were able to take the fight back to the Reapers and reclaim some semblance of life."

Dr. Rowland approached the boy and poked his forehead. "We also made another interesting discovery. Memories. All memories of their former life were gone. However, core memories of life outside themselves remained. Not human interactions but rather factual knowledge about the world around them. We believe this to be a side effect of the gene splicing as most memories are suppressed after Reaper transformation. But to be honest, it's probably for the best that you don't recall those old memories. You're about to face a very different life than the one you once had before the crisis."

Dr. Rowland clicked a button on the remote and the projector turned off.

"14 years following the crisis, we have now entered a new era in mankind's history, After Crisis. One where we now control the narrative once more. Cities rebuilt. Military might unquestioned. Life now goes on and you get to be a big part of making sure that continues."

The boy stared off into the distance as he tried to comprehend everything. "So…are you saying I'm a soldier?".

"Yes. As a Class S hybrid this is your only option outside of termination. You will be placed on a squad of people like yourself and start giving back to this country that you have taken so much from."

BUZZZZ.

A door behind the boy opened up. It was so flush with the wall that it was hard to even tell there was a door there in the first place.

Staff Sgt. Haji Sadiki walked into the room in his usual officer attire.

"Ah, perfect timing Sgt. Sadiki. We were just finishing up." Dr. Rowland said as he stowed the remote in his coat pocket. The white screen lifted up into the ceiling and revealed a small control panel behind it. Dr. Rowland walked up to it and pressed a small red button.

CLICK.

The restrains around the boy retracted all at once into the chair. The boy almost fell forward from no longer being held down so tightly.

"Good." Haji walked in front of the boy and stood before him with his arms crossed. He had a very commanding presence as he towered over him.

"I'm Staff Sgt. Sadiki. I oversee Midnight Squad and will be the one assigning all your missions. Which makes me responsible for you."

The boy rubbed his wrists which were red from the restraints. "Midnight Squad?".

"Yes. A specialized squad of Reaper/human hybrids. The very squad that brought you in."

Haji leaned in closer to the boy, placing both hands on the arm rests either side of him. His eyes showed an intense seriousness that sent a cold chill through the boy's body.

"Let me just be clear from the start. You may be a hybrid, but I will put you down personally if you step out of line. This is your warning and go ahead and consider yourself out of chances. You will listen. Or you will die. Is that clear?"

The boy nodded. He was no longer sure if he had been rescued or simply imprisoned once again.

"Good." Haji stood back up. "From this point forward, your position as well as your name will be that of 'Zero'. Midnight Squad is composed of ranks 0-5 in order of strength. You will only be addressed by your position. Is that clear?"

"Yes."

"Sir. Yes, sir. You will show respect to those above you."

"Yes…sir."

"Come."

Haji walked past Zero and towards the door. Zero obediently stood from his chair and followed suit. He then stopped for a moment and turned back towards Dr. Rowland.

"Um..excuse me Dr. Rowland."

Dr. Rowland looked towards him, "Hm?"

"What did you mean by it's best that I don't remember my life before all this?"

"Ahh. Well. It's best you just see for yourself. You all find out much sooner than you may like the truth behind those words."

"Stop lagging behind," Haji called as he opened the door.

Zero quickly shuffled after him through the door as it slowly closed behind him. Dr. Rowland stared after them with a solemn face as the door slid shut.

So began Zero's new life at Military Base Alpha. One which would be marked with great triumph and even greater misery.