“Good morning and welcome to your 8 am broadcast of 11Alive News. This is your host, Tom Harrison.

We’d normally go into weather, but this is breaking news:

In what could be described as one of the bloodiest nights in Atlanta’s history, an early advisory from the police force is indicating that 143 people were killed in the early hours of the morning. Our news correspondent Sharon Matthews is at the police briefing now. Sharon, can you tell us anything more about the details of what happened?”

A pretty brunette appeared on the screen with a horde of reporters swarming an empty podium in the background. Lights began flashing off camera as Sharon began saying, “Not yet Tom. From what we can gather, the circumstances are extremely bizarre. The number of deaths and their locations all seem to have some relationship, but-” A commotion broke out from the reporter flock behind her. “Ah, it looks like the Police Chief is about to come on now.”

The camera panned in to fully cover the stage in the shot. Several uniformed officers filed onto the screen, positioning themselves in the wings while a slightly older and clean cut gentleman stepped up to the microphone covered podium. The reporters all quieted down as the man began speaking.

Last night, in the early hours of 1 to 3 am, a massive display of violence was perpetrated on a group of individuals residing in the city. Police responded to 911 calls at 10 separate locations from young girls and boys who stated that they were liberated from an organization called Envy. This group was already under investigation as being the center of a newly established sex trafficking ring.

It is unclear who assaulted them, but they have been described, by all eyewitness accounts of the captives, that they were a group of soldiers that possessed advanced armor and weaponry. From the same testimonies, we can ascertain that there were at least 6 different members of this rogue attack force - 5 men and 1 woman. All were highly proficient in martial arts and the taking of human life which amounted to a total count of 143 souls.

While it seems their intentions were noble and their actions resulted in many children being freed, the Atlanta Police Department would like to remind all citizens that the taking of the law into your own hands is wrong. No matter how serious the crime, all are equal before the law and deserving of due process. If anyone has any information regarding these individuals, please do not hesitate and contact our local number. We will be opening up an investigation into the identities of these vigilantes in order to prosecute them to the fullest extent possible. Thank you.

Nova’s coffee cup loudly hit the tabletop, sloshing a bit of its contents on the wooden surface while chaos erupted on her small tv screen as reporters were shouting questions at the receding backs of the police officers. The reporter named Sharon seemed shaken and Nova was herself. A cold sweat broke out as she sat down heavily.

Did they say...6?

Thinking back, she remembered the normal, jovial faces of those she’d had dinner with that night. The conversation and their personalities whirled in her mind, refusing to reconcile with the suspicions that abounded regarding this morning’s news. Heather’s gentle demeanour that gleamed with a hint of mischievousness. Rich and Peter’s brotherly type of feeling. Victor’s responsible and mature countenance. Sergio’s charismatic reliability. But then she remembered Adrian and the way it all ended that evening.

He was the root of it all. When adding him into the equation, it all seemed to fall in place. He could definitely be classified in the ‘vigilante’ realm, but... something still didn’t add up. His targets were confined to political and business figures. While it could be argued that the Envy organization would fall under his criteria, Nova seriously doubted that he would bother going after them since they weren’t under the public eye. Yeah, he’s more after political corruption than anything. So why…?

At that moment, it all clicked for her as she remembered back to the previous evening that was more like a nightmare than anything else. If those assholes were related to Envy… The shocking realization only served to numb her as she looked back up to the tv’s illuminated screen. In the banner rolling by down at the bottom, she could still see the number that now was haunting her in a state of pseudo-guilt: 143. That was the number of lives Adrian took as recompense for their transgression against Nova. A tremulous shiver went up her spine.

***

A searching hand groped along the wall, feebly feeling for something. Finding its prize, sheets of a clothy texture came off a roll.

***

The sound of a toilet filling back up came from behind the door that Adrian exited. Closing the door quickly to contain the smell within, he turned to meet Rich’s eye as his friend came into the hallway.

“Yo, Bearcat. What’ve you been up to?”

Adrian froze and looked at him without uttering a word. Then, he turned to look at the door he just came from before cutting his eyes slowly back towards his friend while deadpanning. “You want a play by play? Ok.”

Rich’s eyes opened wide in comprehension. “Wait, that’s-”

“So there I was, working on a couple of fried circuits within the housing of my plasma knife when I got this gut wrenching feeling. Confused, I put down my soldering gun, ya know. It was then that I was wracked with a terrible, heated pain that lanced downwards towards... my anus.”

“Bear-”

“So! I rushed towards the bathroom fearing the worst. It was there that I met the vile demon.”

“Come on, man -”

Adrian’s hands flew to his chest in a desperate mock prayer, his voice rising in volume. “Recalling those most ancient of latin prayers, I diligently fought the fiend in a rigorous internal exorcism. My soul raged against the demonic possession until finally, I saw a white dove descend from heaven and land on my shoulder. Divine power coursed through me and I blasted the hellion into the watery abyss below. Still weary from battle, I exited the scene of carnage and met you in the hall.”

Silence spanned between the two as Rich leaned against the wall and put a hand over his forehead. After a moment, he said while nodding his head, “Enjoy that, you blasphemous bastard?”

Adrian pursed his lips before giving a satisfied grin. “Quite.” Inwardly laughing, he thought, who would believe that just last night we killed over a hundred people? Ignoring the look Rich gave him afterwards, he trudged past him and into his cluttered living room. As he was sitting down on the swivel stool at his wooden workbench, he took off his t-shirt and stretched his arms. Rich, who had followed Adrian back into the room, raised his eyebrows at his accomplice.

“What’s with the shirt?”

Adrian picked up his micro soldering gun again while he answered. “You mean me shedding it? I just didn’t want to accidentally burn it. If some molten solder wire were to splash back, which I know is a small chance of happening, I’d rather my super healing skin take it than my favorite t-shirt.”

Rich’s eyes appraised the grey Rage Against the Machine t-shirt that was draped across another chair to the side. A large fist could be seen on the front, clenched like it was raised during some revolution.

“Solid choice for a favorite - Rage fits your character perfectly... though, I can’t imagine that you get to wear it much when you’re around your family. Speaking of which, how are your folks?” As he finished the question, he plopped down on the couch and Adrian felt him staring at him as he clenched his forearm muscles slightly.

“Heh, you know... same old, same old. I still talk to my mom on the phone every few weeks, but I haven’t seen them in about a year. I talk to Andrew the most, though that’s through email and texting mostly.”

“Andrew….he’s the middle one that’s older than you, right? Don’t you have two brothers?”

Adrian answered dispassionately while bursts of light would occasionally flash from the opened dagger handle’s circuit board. “Yeah, and Matthew’s the oldest. Don’t really talk to him much though because he’s 10 years older than me. He’s got three kids to occupy his attention, not to mention the hospital pharmacy department he has to run.”

Rich couldn’t help but chuckle as a thought seemingly crossed his mind. “Do any of them have a clue about what you’re doing?”

Adrian snorted and placed the micro solder on its stand before screwing in the plate that contained the guts of the plasma dagger. “Not a chance. You know I’ve always differed from them on most things. The fact of the matter is that they do not, nor anyone in the town for that matter, have a clue about what I’m really like. It was a struggle to go back during college even, because the goody-two-shoes impression everyone in that town has of me is so far off base. It’s all I can do to maintain the facade.”

“Why even bother then?”

Adrian cocked his head to the side and then spun to face Rich. “Reputation. My family has spent their entire lives in that small town and if you know anything about a small town mentality, you know that everybody knows everyone and everything about each other. News travels so quickly, your grandmother may hear some shocking news about you before your mom even picks up the phone to call her. Don’t ask me how it happens, it just does.

They have a great reputation that my brothers and I have helped to foster in the community. In order to maintain that, and their state of mind, I’ve simply kept everything a secret from both family and friends to solidify information control.”

“How charitable. It certainly wouldn’t have anything to do with you not wanting them to worry and start scrutinizing your life, right?”

A small grin floated to Adrian’s face. “Of course not.”

“You’re a real rat bastard, you know that?”

“Yeah, yeah. I love my family, you know that, but I just can’t have them involved with me during this period. They’ll figure out something is wrong when we show up in the news after solving the cancer problem.” Adrian laughed. “So, I’ll savor these last few months of peace and quiet. How’s the Femora hord-... err, clan?”

Rich laughed and shook his head. “Dick. My family of 9 is doing just fine, thank you. Think mom is a little tired after popping out that 7th baby so her and pops are probably going to call it quits in that department. In other news, the second oldest after me, Clarissa, is pregnant and just got married to a guy who works as a construction worker. They’re struggling a bit with money, but he’s a hard worker, so I think they’ll be fine.”

Adrian regarded his friend for a second before he said, “You know you can throw some money to them, right? I can comfortably cover the difference if you don’t have enough and need more. It’s not like this place we’re building has exhausted my funds or anything. Your salary is guaranteed at this point, and the complex is already underway, so I think I can cover a signing bonus as part of the new research company we’re forming and it not look suspicious.”

Rich stared hard at Adrian, locking eyes for a moment. Sighing, he nodded his head, “Yeah, that would really help. I thought of refusing, but they were struggling to eat last week since the new housing market is so far down this season. I’d already spent your 50k on a new car and the rest of it went to my parents to help pay for a downpayment at a new house.”

For the first time that day, Adrian turned to the screens on the wall and spoke to his A.I. “Raide, slide another 50k to Rich’s account. I think that’s a typical enough signing bonus for a talented engineer in the big city.”

“The wire has been sent, sir.”

“Thanks.” The gratitude practically wafted off of Rich, but Adrian merely waved a hand.

“Don’t worry about it, we take care of each other and that extends to our families. Just let me know if something else comes up.” Rich nodded quietly to his words.

Hopping off of his swivel stool, Adrian grabbed his shirt and threw it on. Next he grabbed his keys and phone from the charger before turning to his confused friend. “What do you say we go check in at the construction site? I’m still hella nervous that they’re going to try and cut corners. Contractors are bastards like that.”

“Oh hell yeah! Let’s go.”

***

The sound of construction chaos met their ears as the two exited Adrian’s Tesla. The roar of not one, but two concrete trucks could be heard as teams of two or three crossed in front them to obtain materials and return to their respective zones. A few of the newer workers almost stopped and said something to the pair of casually dressed twenty-somethings, but a quick word from a veteran made them forget that and then instead rush off to continue working. This wasn’t the first time Adrian had visited. They didn’t want to interact with a young man who had to hire their company’s services and also had the funds to do so. It was simply wiser to let them stay shrouded in mystery.

A foreman noticed their arrival and quickly came over to Adrian, grabbing his hand in a firm handshake. “Mr. Pierce, I didn’t know you’d be coming by today. Come to take a look around?”

“Apologies for not giving you any advance warning, Roger. I wanted to show my associate the fine work you all have been doing here.” Adrian dutifully returned the shake before sweeping his sunglass covered eyes over the surroundings.

The bushy eyed foreman smiled at the compliment. “Please then, go ahead and be careful with where you step. We’re working on the residential block at the moment and I’m the only foreman on duty today, so I’m spread pretty thin amongst the three crews. Just shout if you need me!” Adrian nodded pleasantly and walked off with Rich in tow.

Walking past the mobile offices that had been wheeled onto the property, they soon found themselves in front of a large circular structure with a vaulted roof. Walking just inside, Adrian took in the general layout. Towards the western and eastern sides of the building, entrances to difference wings could be seen. Directly in front of them, a large, 10 meter wide expanse of glass showed a clear view out into a gigantic courtyard, where a centrally located tower was halfway done with its construction.

What really gave him joy to see was the architecture of of the buildings. Since he was little, he had always been annoyed with “cookie-cutter” houses and office buildings - the ones that looked like a bunch of cubes stuck together. The idea that beauty had to be sacrificed for efficiency was a detestable notion to him. He’d vowed to himself long ago that he would make an effort in everything that he built to be beautiful in its own right. On top of that, it had to be be built to last. Why put off building his dream home? He was biologically immortal now, so there was no time like the present.

After all these years, here before him stood a merging of renaissance and modern. Where applicable and expedient, there was stone. Where appropriate and necessary, there was a specially treated steel, concrete, and glass. It all melded in tandem, producing a sight unlike anything known to date. Explaining it to the lazy modern contractor had been an especially taxing endeavour for Adrian. Just the construction materials and specialized labor had amounted to over 50 million by the time he and Carmichael had come to a consensus on the pricetag. That didn’t include any of the technological materials like fiber and solar systems, or the data center for Raide housed in the basement below.

Honestly, the more he looked at it, the structure looked like a cross between a cathedral and some sort of industrial monstrosity. I mean, God, it’s what... half a football field in area? Accessing the schematic in his mind, he confirmed that it was a diameter of 50 m. The duo walked slowly into the large, open expanse of the interior, heading towards a raised circular platform that dominated a solid 50% of the floor area in the center. Short sets of metal stairs and guardrails could be seen at each of the platform’s cardinal directions, providing the few steps needed to get up to it’s meter height.

Sweeping his arms wide, Adrian revelled in the sight of walking into his ‘church’ while speaking grandiosely to Rich who followed behind by a few steps. “This will be the landing and maintenance area for the A1-SX and any other type of aircraft we design that has vertical takeoff or landing capabilities. If you look underneath the platform, I’m sure you can see the hydraulics. That’s because the platform can raise and lower until it seamlessly assimilates into the floor, or raise itself to give a shorter landing distance for the returning A1-SX.”

Rich looked upwards towards the ceiling, finding a huge pyramid-like apex where four triangular pieces of opaque glass met together. “Returning...you mean that it’ll be landing on the platform directly by coming through the glass opening?”

“Exactly. You can’t see it from here, but there are a set of exterior actuated levers to pull each of the four waterproof glass pieces apart, opening up the crown for access. I don’t know if you noticed the color, but the glass at the automated pyramid apex as well as all glass in this building is specially designed to change its opacity by running a current through it. It is also built with micro layers that help block out any type of prying eyes whether they be optical or otherwise.”

“That’s pretty cool.” Rich mused out loud before he suddenly snorted and shook his head. “You know what, I’ve never even asked, but what the fuck does A1-SX stand for anyway? I think I can guess, but I’d rather hear it from you.”

Adrian laughed. “Oh, that? It stands for Amphibious 1st iteration - Stealth eXperimental. I initially named it that to help me remember the main components of the design. You could say that I was a little scatterbrained before the upgrade.

I wanted it to be amphibious, back when I first started designing it in high school, because my parents have a pond beside their house. Silly right, but I wanted to be able to come back and visit in style. Now, I simply kept the feature in the design to increase applicable landing areas. It has a retracting set of landing gear too, so no worries. First iteration pertains, of course, to it being the first generation not unlike Tony Stark’s Mark I. If I end up redesigning the thing, it’ll change to a 2 and so forth. Stealth is self-explanatory to a degree and also the newest addition to the name because I had a breakthrough with Raide in the optical camouflage depart. It also speaks to the body design and omnidirectional antenna that dials back and forth in the spectrum jamming common frequencies.

Lastly, it has to be designated as an experimental aircraft because I personally designed more than 50% of it by definition and it was constructed without quality control supervision by a certified production team. I could say “screw you” and not go and register the thing with the FAA, but it would be a pain in the ass if I ever land at an official airport, or, ya know, get seen by the Air Force. Furthermore, the flying license has to be geared towards a certain class of aircraft, so it’s easier if you’re tested in the one you’ll actually be flying in. I can’t wait until I get an instructor to see the thing. It’ll technically classify under the helicopter category, but I doubt they’ll know what to make of the tertiary jet engine in the tail.” Adrian couldn’t help but start laughing loudly as he imagined the scene.

Rich rolled his eyes while running a hand over the raised platform. “Alright, alright, stop fanboying all over your own design. It get’s kinda creepy when you have that look in your eye, even if I totally get what you’re feeling as an engineer.”

Adrian waved him off absentmindedly before turning to the side and pointing towards the walls where a few intermittently placed black boxes were scattered around the room at equal distance, 4 meters off of the ground. “These... are robotic arm mounts. Some will be for actual construction purposes, the others will act as monitor and tv mounts that’ll swing down to the platform so that we can access whatever data we need. Unfortunately, no one is as advanced as us in the field, so we’ll have to build the things ourselves once we get moved in. The price of being a pioneer, I guess.”

He beckoned his friend closer as he noticed a large spool of fiber-optic wire. “Ever seen fiber-optic wiring up close? Here ya go. The entire place is going to be layered in it. If it carries data in any form, it’ll be by fiber-optics. That alone made this place shoot up in cost, let me tell you. I call this building “The Church,” by the way.” Rich shot him a look. “Don’t give me that look - we’ll keep that name in-house. Doubt the various religious factions would appreciate my naming sense. Let’s go to the lab section next.”

The two took a right and walked towards the eastern end of the large bay and entered into a more familiar type of building design after passing through a circular tunnel. Rooms separated by glass and a hallway extended down the corridor in a neat manner. Empty work benches could be seen within while boxes of equipment were placed all over the place. At a glance, Adrian could tell that they’d moved in the larger scientific devices and installed all of the necessary ventilation systems and containment areas. Large windows of glass passed by on either side of the two as they finished a tour of the singular floor. Neither Rich or Adrian were particularly interested in its contents really. The lab wing was intensely necessary for materials and genetics research, but the two shared a similar mind and were still back in the “The Church” mentally.

Adrian knew that Victor was going to drool over this place. A host of integrated robotics with top of the line equipment would enable him to do the work of 5 scientists. Everything that could be considered to be necessary and desirable Adrian had acquired, or rather, Raide had ordered to be delivered - he was the one doing the analysis of all the team member’s DNA and biological data after all.

Adrian crossed his hands behind his back as he and Rich exited the lab and emerged back into daylight. Turning left, they walked into the circular courtyard that occupied the area in between the outer ring and the central tower. Nodding his head towards the specially designed channels and drainage systems on either side of the winding concrete walkways, he said, “One thing that won’t be readily apparent to an outsider after this place is complete is that any greenery grown in the courtyard or the next building will be a part of a hydroponic system automated and regulated by one of Raide’s subprocesses. The simulations are already showing an expected 80% reduction in needed water if cycled properly with a nutrient solution.”

All it took was one look at Rich and Adrian knew that he’d lost the interest of the mechanically minded engineer, so he summed it up. “Basically, I want an area of what we do here to be devoted to automated hydroponic farming research. Combine that will our robotic/software advancements and we may overturn several sectors of the economy by ourselves.” The realization of what Adrian had just said started to dawn on his friend’s face. Both of them had spent a large amount of time in a state that had a heavy hand in agriculture, a sector of the national economy that annually accounted for around 167 billion of the U.S.’ GDP - that was just farmers. If they could successfully find a way to automate farming and hold the rights to roboticized, local hydroponic growing solutions, they would displace much more than just 167 billion. Transportation and some refinement could be converted as well. Done right, the potential revenue was staggering.

All in all though, that was a project that was destined for the back burner in the immediate future. The much more pressing project was the cancer cure that Raide and Adrian had discussed when they first pulled this group together. The AI had already stripped down the serum to serve as a vehicle in his simulations, but he couldn’t do much more without actual lab trials to test chemical reactions and fine tune. Ultimately, it would be a shadow of its former self. I’ll be damned if I’m the one to make the mistake of giving the entire human race immortality. With that thought in mind, he’d told Raide to break down the serum to just the two tasks of eliminating junk DNA and rewriting DNA to prevent the cancer mutation process from recurring.

Rich broke out of his imaginative reverie a few moments after Adrian did and looked across the courtyard to the next largest building they hadn’t visited yet. Adrian felt a question coming on, and sure enough his friend started speaking. “Wait, you said the next building and the courtyard. So that building over there is hydroponics?”

Adrian shrugged lightly. “Yeah, it’ll be something akin to a biome. I didn’t think we’d bother going over there. It’s not we’ve actually started growing anything yet anyway. From the engineering side, the only things worth noting would be its specialized rainwater collection tanks and water filtration systems used to circulate the solution I mentioned earlier.” Just as he finished speaking, the two arrived in front of the central tower.

Standing before them was a monstrosity that echoed the structural architecture that the Church possessed. Fifteen unfinished floors high, the behemoth held a circular shape that stretched upward in an amalgamation of stone, steel, and glass. Windows spanned the majority of the exterior in typical tower fashion, except on the western and eastern sides of the building which houses out bulges on every floor. True to Roger’s word, the majority of hardhat clad workers were in this area bringing in slabs of glass. Several pulleys and platforms were erected where workers were busy affixing the windows.

While Rich was staring slackjawed, Adrian started speaking with amusement, saying, “The tower is 15 floors, or a 180 ft in total height. Every panel of glass on the exterior is specially designed PV glass that collects solar energy as light passes through. Every room inside additionally has the ability to change the opacity of the glass to serve in lieu of window blinds. Power is supplied via a combination of solar and geothermal. In fact, I tried to make every building in the complex follow this format in order to make us as energy independent as possible. As you can guess, this is because I don’t want anyone to be able to see how much power we draw or have any control of our operations.”

Raide decided to get in the conversation and started speaking over the speaker on Adrian’s phone, adopting the tone of an apartment manager trying to play up his spaces. “Our apartments are the top of the line in luxury and amenities. If you look at the bulging portions of each floor, every room has access to their own mini swimming pool/hot tubs. Fiber-optic cabling, and a deal with Google, ensures that you will be able to watch and download your HD midget porn to your heart’s content. Unfortunately, I have to oversee all of the digital traffic that flows in and out in my server room under the tower, but I guess we all have to make sacrifices.”

Rich’s face paled and he started, “Oi, what the fu-.”

Running right over him, Raide continued, “Apartments have access to a gym that spans the entire 14th floor. It’s right beneath Adrian’s floor, so try to keep your grunting and dropping weights to a minimum. Let’s see, washers and dryers are included, along with rent, power, and tv. Basically, if Adrian lets you live here, you get to live for free on top of receiving a salary.”

Rich looked over at Adrian while saying, “Yo, ignoring half of what he just said, is he serious about the free living arrangements?”

Adrian nodded and then laughed lightly. “Of course, I don’t want anyone that works for me to be distracted by normal issues of life. You don’t have to worry about rent or power or anything because I simply don’t want you to waste time and your concentration over worrying about that. We have too much to do to dick around with everyday shit.” Adrian then reached over and patted his friend on the shoulder before turning to walk away. “And don’t worry, we don’t judge here.”

“I don’t watch midget porn, Bearcat!”

“To each their own, man,” Adrian called from a short distance before disappearing back into the Church.