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Description
The four snuck through the technologically advanced palace known simply as 'Nucleus'.

"So exactly how are we going to shut this place down?" Nathan whispered to Abby.

"Probably blow it up," Abby shrugged, "Everything always leads to an explosion."

"Good point…"

"What the heck is that?" Abby pointed to a room labeled 'Failed Clones', "Come on." She pulled Nathan over to it.

"Wait!" Heavy called as he scurried over to them, "Where are you going?"

"In here." Abby said as she turned the door knob, which was unlocked for some reason, "Nice of them to leave this open…"

"We should really just do what we came here to do…" Nathan tried to steer her away from the dark room.

"Where's your sense of adventure?" Abby groaned, "There might be something really cool in there!"

"Or a trap."

"We'll figure it out." Abby shrugged, "If you weenies want to wait out here; fine, but I'm going in."

"Fine, but if you die it's your fault." Nathan huffed as Abby walked into the dark room.

"Not dead yet," Abby taunted as she felt her way inside, "See noth-" she froze, then ran outside.

"What was inside?" Heavy asked as she proceeded to spill her guts out onto the floor.

"I'm never goin-" she puked again, "to tell."

"Where did you go?" Dominik called from down the hall, everyone had briefly forgotten why they were there.

"Coming!" Heavy called back, helping Abby up while she was recovering from whatever it was she saw.

As the two walked down the hall, Nathan peeked into the room, extremely curious as to what caused a response like that. Inside was almost pitch black, except for several glowing green tubes with humanoid figures in them. He approached the one nearest to the door and looked into it. The figure looked exactly like Abby only its arms were atrophied away to almost nothing.

He walked down the row of about four tubes. Each of the 'Abby's' had a different form of mutation. The worst by far was one in the middle whose whole body was twisted in a way to where it was impossible to tell which end was which. Nathan took a second to let everything sink in before rejoining his group, nearly slipping on the vomit on his way out.

~0~0~0~

In the heart of the Nucleus, two bridges led to a platform holding a small glowing orb suspended in mid-air.

"Okay, how do we destroy this thing?" Abby asked her father who was looking over some monitors.

"I have no idea." He answered after thoroughly examining the computers.

"Ah, it seems as if my friends have arrived." A voice chimed over an intercom system, "Let me introduce myself, I am Redmond Mann, I'm pretty sure most of you know me. Anyway, to answer your question, there is no way to destroy this system without dying."

"Show yourself!" Heavy bellowed.

"Sorry to disappoint my adoring public, but I'm afraid that I'm not here at the moment. None of us are, actually. We're safe and sound about twenty floors below you right now. And we've been watching you and your friends this whole time." Redmond laughed, "I can't believe how entertaining you turned out to be!"

"Quick question, strange voice coming from nowhere." Abby chirped.

"Ah, the little artificial girl, what is it?"

"Is this thing powering all of the robots and weapons and stuff?"

"Yes, actually…" he stopped himself from going into further detail.

"Good to know." Heavy shouted as he began shooting at it, but the bullets just bounced back at them, barely missing them.

Redmond began to crack up, "Wow, you really are stupid aren't you, Boris?"

"How do you know my name?" his face grew red.

"I'm your employer, idiot." He was mildly irritated, "In fact, I've got info about all of you! For instance, the small girl over there was originally going to be used in place of the robots, but after someone burned down our facility, we changed our minds. Besides, she was too stupid to be useful."

"Okay…" Abby shrugged her shoulders.

"Aren't you insulted? Furious? Going to try and destroy something in a fit of rage?"

"Why?"

"Because you're sick of being treated like a weapon your whole life, and want to get revenge on the people who turned you into this."

"Not really."

"Aren't you even the least bit mad?"

"Nope."

"B-but don't you want to get revenge? Just a little?"

"Not in the least."

"No rage-induced destruction?"

"No."

"No berserk violence?"

"Negative."

"No-"

"Look, I'm not a hundred percent sure why you're so obsessed with making me angry, but I'm not going to get mad at you, no matter what you say, do or think. I'm too stupid to fool."

"W-wait, what if I told you your father doesn't even care about you? Or that none of your friends think of you as a person. Or that everyone just thinks you're a psychotic moron?"

"You'd be lying."

"That you aren't supposed to exist?"

"So?"

"ARGH! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!" he cried out in anguish, "YOU WHERE SUPPOSED TO GET ANGRY AND KILL YOUR TEAM!"

"Meh."

"THAT'S IT! I'M DONE! I'M SETTING THE CORE TO OVERLOAD! I'M LOWERING THE SHIELDS! SO WILL YOU JUST DIE ALREADY?!" A loud alarm sounded and the core began glowing red.

"How can we stop it?" Nathan noticed him growing more and more irrational, and decided to take advantage of it.

"The only way to stop it now would be for someone to absorb the energy with their body but-" a loud thud was heard, followed by arguing.

"Not very competent, are they?" Boris muttered.

"Good job distracting him like that." Nathan put a hand on her shoulder.

"I was supposed to be distracting him?" Abby suddenly looked concerned.

"That's my girl." Dominik walked over to them.

"Okay, now that you know how to destroy it, who's it going to be?" another voice evilly asked over the intercom, "Which one of you is willing to lay their life on the line just to save someone else's pathetic life?"

"Could we not just shoot it?"

"No! That would blow up half the state!" the voice sounded sincere, but they were unsure.

"I will do it." Boris stepped up.

"No, I'll do it!" Nathan began walking towards it.

"Wait, no um-" Abby grew pale, "We could maybe throw something on it, like one of those- things."

"No time, I'll do it." Boris pushed Nathan to the ground and approached the core.

Nathan sprung back up and started a fist fight with the bear-man causing whoever it was on the intercom to laugh uncontrollably. This was quickly silenced however, when two syringes flew through the air, knocking both of them unconscious.

"I'll do it, dummkopfs." He sighed.

"W-what?" Abby looked as if she was about to throw up again, "No y-you can't!"

"Abigail, listen to me," her pulled her into a hug, "I need you to be brave for me okay? Get zhese two idiots out of here, and find the others."

"B-but-" she sobbed into his chest.

"Promise me you'll get them out of here."

"I promise..."

"Wait what's going on down there?!" Several voices began bickering over the intercom as Dominik walked to the core, "You aren't seriously-?"

Dominik placed both hands onto the core and a shock filled his body. It took all of his willpower to stay standing. He glanced over to Abby and the two sleeping idiots and managed a smile. A bright flash filled the room.

"D-dad?" Abby called out, but he and the core had disappeared.

A series of curses echoed through the Nucleus before a calm female voice took over, "Unfortunate, but we can always build a new one. Ah, A-6180, you seem to have grown well. How are you doing?"

"Y-you…" Abby stood up with her fists trembling.

"Congratulations, by the way, you've destroyed our army, yet managed to do it probably the most pathetic way possible."

"Y-you… YOU B****!" Abby screeched as she punched the nearest wall, creating a huge dent.

Evil laughter echoed through the building, "Why don't you and your little friends come down here and see if that courage does you any good."

"Lady, it's not courage," Abby spat as metal creeped up her spine, "you and your idiot minion wanted to get me mad, well guess what?" she heaved Boris onto her back, "It's going to be the last mistake you'll ever make."

Description
The four snuck through the technologically advanced palace known simply as 'Nucleus'.

"So exactly how are we going to shut this place down?" Nathan whispered to Abby.

"Probably blow it up," Abby shrugged, "Everything always leads to an explosion."

"Good point…"

"What the heck is that?" Abby pointed to a room labeled 'Failed Clones', "Come on." She pulled Nathan over to it.

"Wait!" Heavy called as he scurried over to them, "Where are you going?"

"In here." Abby said as she turned the door knob, which was unlocked for some reason, "Nice of them to leave this open…"

"We should really just do what we came here to do…" Nathan tried to steer her away from the dark room.

"Where's your sense of adventure?" Abby groaned, "There might be something really cool in there!"

"Or a trap."

"We'll figure it out." Abby shrugged, "If you weenies want to wait out here; fine, but I'm going in."

"Fine, but if you die it's your fault." Nathan huffed as Abby walked into the dark room.

"Not dead yet," Abby taunted as she felt her way inside, "See noth-" she froze, then ran outside.

"What was inside?" Heavy asked as she proceeded to spill her guts out onto the floor.

"I'm never goin-" she puked again, "to tell."

"Where did you go?" Dominik called from down the hall, everyone had briefly forgotten why they were there.

"Coming!" Heavy called back, helping Abby up while she was recovering from whatever it was she saw.

As the two walked down the hall, Nathan peeked into the room, extremely curious as to what caused a response like that. Inside was almost pitch black, except for several glowing green tubes with humanoid figures in them. He approached the one nearest to the door and looked into it. The figure looked exactly like Abby only its arms were atrophied away to almost nothing.

He walked down the row of about four tubes. Each of the 'Abby's' had a different form of mutation. The worst by far was one in the middle whose whole body was twisted in a way to where it was impossible to tell which end was which. Nathan took a second to let everything sink in before rejoining his group, nearly slipping on the vomit on his way out.

~0~0~0~

In the heart of the Nucleus, two bridges led to a platform holding a small glowing orb suspended in mid-air.

"Okay, how do we destroy this thing?" Abby asked her father who was looking over some monitors.

"I have no idea." He answered after thoroughly examining the computers.

"Ah, it seems as if my friends have arrived." A voice chimed over an intercom system, "Let me introduce myself, I am Redmond Mann, I'm pretty sure most of you know me. Anyway, to answer your question, there is no way to destroy this system without dying."

"Show yourself!" Heavy bellowed.

"Sorry to disappoint my adoring public, but I'm afraid that I'm not here at the moment. None of us are, actually. We're safe and sound about twenty floors below you right now. And we've been watching you and your friends this whole time." Redmond laughed, "I can't believe how entertaining you turned out to be!"

"Quick question, strange voice coming from nowhere." Abby chirped.

"Ah, the little artificial girl, what is it?"

"Is this thing powering all of the robots and weapons and stuff?"

"Yes, actually…" he stopped himself from going into further detail.

"Good to know." Heavy shouted as he began shooting at it, but the bullets just bounced back at them, barely missing them.

Redmond began to crack up, "Wow, you really are stupid aren't you, Boris?"

"How do you know my name?" his face grew red.

"I'm your employer, idiot." He was mildly irritated, "In fact, I've got info about all of you! For instance, the small girl over there was originally going to be used in place of the robots, but after someone burned down our facility, we changed our minds. Besides, she was too stupid to be useful."

"Okay…" Abby shrugged her shoulders.

"Aren't you insulted? Furious? Going to try and destroy something in a fit of rage?"

"Why?"

"Because you're sick of being treated like a weapon your whole life, and want to get revenge on the people who turned you into this."

"Not really."

"Aren't you even the least bit mad?"

"Nope."

"B-but don't you want to get revenge? Just a little?"

"Not in the least."

"No rage-induced destruction?"

"No."

"No berserk violence?"

"Negative."

"No-"

"Look, I'm not a hundred percent sure why you're so obsessed with making me angry, but I'm not going to get mad at you, no matter what you say, do or think. I'm too stupid to fool."

"W-wait, what if I told you your father doesn't even care about you? Or that none of your friends think of you as a person. Or that everyone just thinks you're a psychotic moron?"

"You'd be lying."

"That you aren't supposed to exist?"

"So?"

"ARGH! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!" he cried out in anguish, "YOU WHERE SUPPOSED TO GET ANGRY AND KILL YOUR TEAM!"

"Meh."

"THAT'S IT! I'M DONE! I'M SETTING THE CORE TO OVERLOAD! I'M LOWERING THE SHIELDS! SO WILL YOU JUST DIE ALREADY?!" A loud alarm sounded and the core began glowing red.

"How can we stop it?" Nathan noticed him growing more and more irrational, and decided to take advantage of it.

"The only way to stop it now would be for someone to absorb the energy with their body but-" a loud thud was heard, followed by arguing.

"Not very competent, are they?" Boris muttered.

"Good job distracting him like that." Nathan put a hand on her shoulder.

"I was supposed to be distracting him?" Abby suddenly looked concerned.

"That's my girl." Dominik walked over to them.

"Okay, now that you know how to destroy it, who's it going to be?" another voice evilly asked over the intercom, "Which one of you is willing to lay their life on the line just to save someone else's pathetic life?"

"Could we not just shoot it?"

"No! That would blow up half the state!" the voice sounded sincere, but they were unsure.

"I will do it." Boris stepped up.

"No, I'll do it!" Nathan began walking towards it.

"Wait, no um-" Abby grew pale, "We could maybe throw something on it, like one of those- things."

"No time, I'll do it." Boris pushed Nathan to the ground and approached the core.

Nathan sprung back up and started a fist fight with the bear-man causing whoever it was on the intercom to laugh uncontrollably. This was quickly silenced however, when two syringes flew through the air, knocking both of them unconscious.

"I'll do it, dummkopfs." He sighed.

"W-what?" Abby looked as if she was about to throw up again, "No y-you can't!"

"Abigail, listen to me," her pulled her into a hug, "I need you to be brave for me okay? Get zhese two idiots out of here, and find the others."

"B-but-" she sobbed into his chest.

"Promise me you'll get them out of here."

"I promise..."

"Wait what's going on down there?!" Several voices began bickering over the intercom as Dominik walked to the core, "You aren't seriously-?"

Dominik placed both hands onto the core and a shock filled his body. It took all of his willpower to stay standing. He glanced over to Abby and the two sleeping idiots and managed a smile. A bright flash filled the room.

"D-dad?" Abby called out, but he and the core had disappeared.

A series of curses echoed through the Nucleus before a calm female voice took over, "Unfortunate, but we can always build a new one. Ah, A-6180, you seem to have grown well. How are you doing?"

"Y-you…" Abby stood up with her fists trembling.

"Congratulations, by the way, you've destroyed our army, yet managed to do it probably the most pathetic way possible."

"Y-you… YOU B****!" Abby screeched as she punched the nearest wall, creating a huge dent.

Evil laughter echoed through the building, "Why don't you and your little friends come down here and see if that courage does you any good."

"Lady, it's not courage," Abby spat as metal creeped up her spine, "you and your idiot minion wanted to get me mad, well guess what?" she heaved Boris onto her back, "It's going to be the last mistake you'll ever make."