The drone hovering above watched the small army as it headed toward the foundry. Boots crunched everything underfoot with rhythmic thumps. Huge hulking brutes at the back of the pack. The fifty soldiers held futuristic rifles, designed to fire a pulse of disruptive energy that can shut down nanobots temporarily. Their matching black uniforms made for an interesting site in the empty streets of the industrial area. Their numbers alone ensured that any stray ferals wouldn't come near them. The giants at the back stood around seven and a half feet tall and a mass of around five hundred pounds each, their imposing figures casting large shadows in the morning sun.
Adrian stood off to the side of the street they were walking down, he was waiting for the others to take their positions. Once he felt they were in place he made his move. His speed carried him to the middle of the street that the enemies were marching down. He moved so quickly that he appeared to manifest out of thin air in the eyes of the soldiers. It took a few seconds for the front leader to even register that Adrian was standing there. Startled, he put his fist up to halt the progression of the march behind him. Their movements caused them to bunch up before all of them could follow the orders of the man in front.
Adrian just stood there casually, like he wasn't facing down a regiment of nano enhanced soldiers. The head of the soldiers spoke up, "You there come with us quietly or we will be forced to engage." Adrian smirked, replying, "And why would I do a thing like that?" as he cocked his head flippantly. The soldier was slightly taken back, didn't he see the brutes in the back, did the numbers on his side mean nothing to him? "You are an anomaly and Leadership would like to know what you are. If you come peacefully you will not be harmed." Adrian could only chuckle, "You mean until they get me into a room where they could study me, and I'd be trapped…right?" The soldier's face fell, he knew this wasn't going to be as easy as he had hoped.
The head soldier adjusted his stance to appear more confident in his next decisions. "Send in the brutes." The chains being held by the other two leader class soldiers dropped off the Brutes and they pointed at Adrian saying, "Attack!" They immediately started their slow meaningful steps towards Adrian, the grunts parting to let them through, still standing at attention though slightly nervous of the Brutes temperament, knowing that they could get out of control sometimes. Their movements like a slow motion gait that showed their immovable status compared to everyone around them. Adrian didn't show a hint of fear as they cleared the front of the pack, coming directly at him.
Adrian cracked his neck, and rolled his shoulders like he was gearing up for a real fight, but instead of rushing headlong into battle, he raised his hand in the air. Nanobots began pouring into his palm, slowly the ball extended into a shaft in both directions making a spear; Its tip sharp enough to split a hair and it looked much like a metal flame. He reared his hand back, aimed directly in between the two brutes and launched the nano-spear like a missile. It whistled through the air, on the brink of breaking the sound barrier, before it reached its target the spear split into two independent spears at the last moment and veered in a perfect arc to bury themselves into their foreheads. The brutes' heads were hit with such force that their necks snapped back in unison hard enough to cause their momentum to stop completely, and they fell on their backs bouncing a little bit. The boom of their bodies hitting the ground was loud and the ground shook. Then everything went silent.
All of the soldiers stood there, their mouths agape including the head soldier that had spoken earlier. They collectively held their breaths looking at the monster in front of them. Adrian just held his hand out to recall his nanobots along with the brutes nanobots. The silver fog that flowed into Adrian was visible even to the soldiers in the back. The nanobots hit the skin on his palm as they passed through and joined the rest.
Assimilation complete. Free nanobots gained: 41,582 Total available: 128,359
Adrian let his arm fall to his side saying, "Thanks for the boost, it's going to make what comes next much easier." A wicked grin spread across his face. He grew giant blades on both of his arms, looking like a human mantis hybrid. His image blurred. Before the soldiers could react, Adrian materialized in the back between the two leader class soldiers that had been controlling the brutes. A blade slid into both of their midsections like a hot knife through soft butter. As he lifted the blades high through their bodies a large portion of the blades stuck out their backs. They struggled for a few seconds before their lives were snuffed out. Their nanobots flowed into him like a cloud as he flicked their bodies to either side, slamming them into whatever car or building happened to be nearby.
Assimilation complete. Free nanobots gained: 15,394 Total available: 143,753
The look on the faces of the remaining soldiers made Adrian chuckle as his blades turned into oversized claws, sharp on the inside from palm to finger tip. Before they knew what was happening Adrian was tearing through their numbers, blood and body parts flying. Scattering their formation in a blink of an eye. Some soldiers raised their disruptor rifles firing at Adrian, but he was moving too fast for them to make a clean shot. When one finally did manage to shoot him, there was only a negligible effect. Nanobots flowed into Adrian as he moved through the crowd, leaving a trail of mist behind him as he continued taking them apart.
Assimilation complete. Free nanobots gained: 25,671 Total available: 158,424
The head soldier looked like he was about to wet his pants, mouth slack as he watched Adrian pick his team apart like they were nothing. And to Adrian they were nothing, nothing but food for his nanocore. The soldiers finally smartened up and scattered, heading in all directions away from the whirlwind of death that had taken out their teammates. Most didn't get far, Adrian darted around taking them out one by one. Only a few escaped his claws. When they didn't escape they were hit hard enough that sparks flew off the ground following impact, making for an eerie sight for anyone unfortunate enough to witness it.
The head soldier finally called for retreat, but it was much much too late for that as the stragglers were picked off one by one either by Adrian himself or his team that he had strategically stationed around the enemy army. The constant stream of nanobots flowing from the freshly dead fueled his rampage. He was growing increasingly stronger and faster as the soldiers fell to his onslaught. He paused for a moment to allow for the cloud of nanobots around him to be fully absorbed.
Assimilation complete. Free nanobots gained: 47,237 Total available: 205,661
With a deep breath he glanced at the head soldier briefly, causing him to take a step back in horror as Adrian's form blinked and then there was only an after image where he had just been. Screams of terror and cries of pain rang out through the concrete canyon of buildings, a symphony of slaughter at his hands. Adrian flashed by five soldiers killing all of them before the first could drop to their knees, blood and guts seeping from open torsos. The street was completely coated with red, fluids sprayed in all directions, all the head soldier could see was fractions of moments, brief glimpses here and there from how fast Adrian was moving.
Assimilation complete. Free nanobots gained: 32,591 Total available: 238,252
The power Adrian felt was immense, his killing spree felt like child's play, like they were all standing still, statues waiting for their death. They threw away their disruptor rifles knowing they were useless, but there was no escape, not from him. As the second to the last man fell, Adrian stood over him, breath heavy but steady as he absorbed the last of the soldier's nanobots.
Assimilation complete. Free nanobots gained: 53,845 Total available: 292,097
Adrian turned toward the head soldier, as a cloud of nanobots burst forward from him to gather organic and non-organic material alike. The swarm dissolved the bodies and weapons of the soldiers like they were melting. Gathering what he needed for nanobot replication for days. While the nanobots did their thing, he walked slowly towards the final man, the leader who was frozen in place with fear. He knew running or fighting was useless in the face of such unrelenting force as he had witnessed in that battle. Adrian grabbed him by the uniform collar and easily lifted him off the ground. With the other hand he made a tendril which he used to snag the hovering drone from the air before it could react.
Looking into the camera Adrian addressed his audience, "You see what I can do, you see what I've become. I'm coming for you soon, and there's nothing you can do about it." With that, he casually tossed the soldier in the air, created a blade on his arm and let him fall onto it in full view of the camera. The soldier groaned, twitched then went limp, sliding farther down the blade. His nanobots flowed into Adrian as he flicked the body aside. He looked into the camera one more time, with a menacing expression before crushing the drone in his hand and tossing it like a baseball.
Assimilation complete. Free nanobots gained: 5,326 Total available: 297,423
Adrian looked around at the carnage he had wrought and smirked, the rush of taking on so many at once slowly subsiding. "You guys alright." He called to his nano infused companions. They came forward, splattered in blood but in good shape. They stepped around the mess on the ground as they got closer, eyes wide at what could only be considered a one sided fight. Cedric spoke up, "Boss that was insane. I knew you got an upgrade recently but…" Adrian just smiled saying, "I'm just getting started, I don't know what a full evolution looks like but this isn't even close to my pinnacle."
They all headed back to base to alert the people there that the danger had passed for now. They would live to fight another day and Adrian had fuel to keep everything moving forward. Arriving in the cafeteria, Adrian knocked three times slowly on the door in the floor, the sign that it was safe to come out. The door creaked open, Payne looking up through the hole nodded as he directed the people downstairs back up through the hole. The followers smiled as they saw Adrian, he was a bloody mess but to them he seemed like an angel. "We are safe for now, it will probably be a while before they try coming after us again. Let's get back to work after a small lunch break." He said smiling and helping people step into the cafeteria.
Payne asked as he came up behind the last of them, "Did you really just take out that whole squad?" Adrian nodded, they didn't need to know the gory details, only that they were now safe and could go about their lives with a little less fear. With the group eating together the mood was celebratory, everyone's hearts and minds lighter. Only the four nano infused people knew the real cost of their short term freedom. Their leader was truly a monster, but he was their monster and they did not fear him. If Adrian was only going to be getting stronger they now knew for sure that they definitely chose the right side.
The fight didn't go unnoticed, a few nano infused humans had seen the troop movement and couldn't help but investigate. The one sided slaughtering of so many nano infused soldiers made them realise it was probably time for them to pick a side as well. Before long a group of them had gathered outside of the foundry. Adrian greeted them with claws forward as he didn't know their intentions, but before he could say anything they all kneeled asking to join his army. Adrian smirked as a notification popped up.
Followers: 44