NationStates Jolt Archive

During the middle months of the year, the Imperial Shogunate was stricken with a terrifying disease. Those who contracted it underwent horrific changes in anatomy. Canine teeth turned to fangs, nails turned to claws, and their red blood cells came under attack. Exposure to the sun accelerated the disease until it ate at all cells of the body. Of course, with this loss of red blood cells, the victims needed more or they would die. Unfortunately, one citizen realized how to replenish his count. He used his fangs to drain blood from others, thus prolonging his life, if only temporary.

Soon, he realized that he was no longer human. He was a predator, and humans were prey. He used his views to play to the mindframe of other victims that wanted superiority, even as humans. He gained a following and then set up headquarters in his newly deceased uncle's farm. The government, realizing the complications about to be born, attempted to contain the victims not under this man here. But they failed. In the middle of the night, two emessaries escaped. They recruited huge numbers to their side, and the nation fell to chaos. Meanwhile, the government stood helpless, unable to tell the victims from the innocent. They tried relying on the Catholic Church, although weak in the country. But it wasn't a holy matter, and efforts failed.

Shogun Nakamura Himura Kenshin called upon the services of the Doctor who diagnosed the first case and his personal friend who was a high level pharmacist. Together they worked to find a blood substitue, synthetic oxygen-carriers, to give to victims to keep them peaceful. But Kenshin did not think this enough. He commanded the finding of a vaccine. A year later, with a country in chaos and killings increasing nightly, a breakthrough was thought to have been found...

Journal Entry 423, 11/02/756

At last! We have succeeded in forming the much needed blood pill! This is revolutionary, by all means! We've employed certain metals to bind to oxygen and carry it through the blood stream! Though it is easily flushed out in a day, the government has assured us that this pill will be availible to all for free, as long as we produce it. It's a perfect blood substitute!

This leaves me and my colleagues with just finding a blasted vaccine.

End Entry.

Journal Entry 424, 11/05/756

The progress on the vaccine proceeds slowly. We've managed to find a blood sample of a vampire that has it. However, it seems immune to all know drugs designed to target viruses. Any drugs we haven't tested are far to dangerous for the human body. We've started combining compounds from each of these drugs to try to find a good fit. I will write as soon as work permits me.

End Entry.

Journal Entry 425, 11/16/756

No compound combination is working. This virus refuses to yield. My colleagues and I are at a loss for what to do. No modern medicine is working for this! It's as though the virus is invincible, an act of God!

But my close friend, the Doctor, asked a question that is worth considering heavily. What if we used nanomachines? Inserted into the body, they could lie dormant until they detect the virus! Yes, this could be it! I must go contact engineers to see if they could wire nanomachines to do this! I cannot believe it, this might just work!

End Entry.

Journal Entry 426, 11/22/756

Success!! The engineers have returned a nanomachine they deem capable to do the job! I can't believe it! His Excellency the Shogun has said to use his son, Taiki, to test it in humans. I hold reservations about this, but still, he said he wouldn't give anything to his people that he wouldn't give to his own son. He trusts us, we cannot fail.

I will right immediately after we administer the vaccine. Praise the Lord, this country is saved!

End Entry.

Entry 427, 11/30

My God! What have we done?! This, this outcome was unforseen! I write as fast as I can, time is short! Taiki's undergone, some sort of mutation, or something. I have no idea what the hell those machines are doing to his body! The lab is in ruins, and I've only just managed to duck out. The electricity surges, they're destroying all electronics. The shogun's already safely evacuated, but I've stayed behind. My Lord, save me! The energy, sheer energy has destroyed the wall! Dear God, save your ser......
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The labratory stood in ruins around him. It was as though he was looking through tunnel vision at everything. What had happened? Taiki looked around. Electricity was shooting out from something very near him, striking the ground and equipment not already destroyed. He looked up, and saw it shooting from a large pair of black raven's wings. But...there was no bird here....Then, he saw it, the wings were attached to him. He swayed queasily, and looked at his hands. His hands! They were clawed, the skin a darker color; greyish. A sharp pain stabbed into his arm. He squirmed and flung his arm out, as though trying to throw it off his body. But somethign insane happened. Blood flew out of it. Blood actually was flying out from under his tattered sleeve, and hovering in the air! It flowed and twisted just under his hand. He tried closing it, and the blood stopped moving, materializing in the shape of a scythe. A viscious one at that, with a fearsome, ornate head, and a tail of barbs with a curved blade at the end. Taiki was, to put it lightly, shocked at the vision. He started staggering until he met with a one-way mirror. He looked at the reflection. Starring back at him was a face oddly familiar, yet he'd never seen it before. Red eyes, narrow and angry shot into him a piercing glare. It's long, greyish hair extended up and behind it. Fangs protruded over the upper lip, and its clothes were rippling and fluttering. And behind it were giant black raven wings, electric bolts coursing up them, and lancing out at the top. One such massive bolt lept out and struck the mirror, shattering it. Taiki blacked out and collapsed in the ruins.

It had looked like, at first, the building would keep standing. However, that hope was quickly erased. The scientific labratory, located in the downtown of the capitol city, was erased from the map in a cataclismic implosion, dust and debris flying down the narrow streets. Adding to the chaos, that had happened at night. Though emergency units had responded immediately, those who had been in the evacuation urged them to hold off until morning, when they could see...anything strange and/or peculiar.

And so, morning had come, and the scene was complete pandamonium. Several police V-22 Tilt-Rotor aircraft were orbiting the obliterated half-city-block. There at least half a dozen fire engines, 10 police cars, and even an armored personnel carrier. One police sergeant, dressed in black fatigues, with kevlar helmet, and an M-64 assault rifle slung over his shoulder. As he crunched through the burnt fragments of walls, computer terminals, and medical equipment, he saw a figure layed out flat on its back a few yards away. Quickly he crunched over to where it lay. He was shocked by what he saw. The figure had on a long, black and grey robe with a black and grey trevelling cloak over it. It's hair was long and between grey and blonde. Most shocking was that the body had relatively few marks on it; just a few bruises and scratches. He bent down and but two fingers on the figure's neck. "HEY!! We got a live one over here! Get a Med-Evac over here, NOW!" he said, standing up.
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"I WANT TO KNOW WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED, AND I WANT TO KNOW IT NOW!" screamed Shogun Kenshin at the top of his lungs. His voice echoed slightly in his office. Across the desk was the lead engineer of the nanomachine project. And next to him were two White Knight Guards, their naginatas crossed in front of the engineer, restraining him. "I want to know what the hell you've done to my son, and I want to know NOW," he said, growling the last words.
"M-my team can tell you...," the engineer stammered.
"Is that so?" asked Kenshin. "Is that so. Then do you trust them with your life?"
The engineer was cornered. He had to choose the option that he at least might survive. "Yes, sir," he said, looking down.
"All right. They've got the floor." He turned his attention to a cluster of about 5 people to the engineer's left. With them, they had a small projector, and a screen. It appeared that they figured something like this was going to end up happening. One of them, a rather young woman, stepped forward and bowed quickly,"
"sir, it appears that the nanomachines did not accomplish their designed function." She pressed a button on a remote, and a display came on the screen featuring a diagram of the virus and the nanomachine. "The designed function was to detect and neutralize the virus." The display changed, showing the nanomachine moving in on the virus and cutting it into pieces with very small knives. "However, though we don't have a blood sample to confirm this, we believe that the nanomachines instead bound themselves to the viruses, enhancing them."
"Whoa, hold on. Do you mean to tell me you turned my son into a fucking super vampire?" Kenshin asked, incredulous.
"Ummmm....yes?" she replied.
"I should have you executed for this mess!..." Kenshin's phone rang, saving the engineers from his wrath. "Go," he said into the phone. He listened for a few minutes, then said, "all right, I'm on my way." He set down the receiver and stood up. "Guards, these people don't leave until I return." He left the room. His mood was stormy, to say the least, as he decended the 10 stories of stone stairs, zig-zagging back and forth through the center of the castle. His mood was still dark as he stomped across the Grande Hall on the ground floor and out one of the side doors. The day was deceivingly bright and sunny, and the heat beat down on Kenshin as he decended weather worn stairs on the side of the rock island peak to a helicopter pad built into the side. Waiting for him was a V-222 Super-Osprey. It was similar to the V-22, but had a longer fuselage, and a second pair of wings and tilt-rotors a bit further aft. He boarded into a spacious interior that was designed like an executive jet, and sat back as it took off and sped over the bay and into the city.

The V-222 took him to a hospital not far from where the medical lab had once been. Waiting for him on the roof, lab coat blowing in the rotorwash, was the Doctor. As Kenshin exited the tilt-rotor, the Doctor bowed and began talking. "Your Excellency, we found your son. Remarkably he is still alive. However, his blood sample has some...anamolies in it."
"If you say anything about the nanomachines bonding with the viruses, your name will be added to a growing execution order."
"I'll risk it, Sir."
"Hmmmm....maybe I'll keep you around for awhile longer. Let's go." The two entered into the building from the rooftop stairs.

Kenshin sat beside his son's bed. The room was sparse, but had a window that allowed in the bright sunlight outside. Kenshin was hunched over, and was weeping a little. The Doctor was on the otherside of the bed, examining his charts. "Well, Sir, it is quite remarkable that he is still alive, let alone in this state. Given his injuries, he normally wouldn't even need to be here." He looked down at Taiki, who was in a deep, drugged sleep. "The engineers were right. Blood tests confirm that the nanomachines did indeed bind to the virus. However, why they went dormant, I'm not entirely sure...," his voice trailing off. "I just pray that for his sake and that of those around him that the nanomachines stay dormant."
"What will become of him?" Kenshin asked, afraid of the answer.
"Sir, he's fine. He was found in bright sunshine, and his red blood cells aren't being affected. The nanomachines thankfully prevent that," the Doctor replied.
"So, then...," Kenshin asked a bit confused.
"Oh, he's absolutely fine. He can check out as soon as he wakes up," the Doctor said, smiling.
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It had been several days since the incident, and Kenshin and Taiki were attending a funraiser for an important sponser of the government in the northern section of the country in a rather large and grand banquet hall. Kenshin was being his good-natured self, and Taiki was riping through a lot of food. He kept his long hair tied back, except for some of it that flanked his face. He was gorging himself so badly that his round glasses nearly slipped from his face into his food at least three times. Though it embarrassed him somewhat, the sponsers thought it was quite hilarious.

Outside, the rich, golden light of the hall spilled out into the dark street. Large, heavy snowflakes were falling gently, and the ground already had a few inches of it built up. Across the wide street was a dark alley. Here were ten figures in dark military clothing and balaclavas. Each had a military-style assault rifle. Several also had swords with them. The one thing of their identity that could not be hidden were the fangs that protruded slightly from their exposed mouths. "Sano, there're only two guards at the entrance. The light is too great for me to get a good count on resistance inside," one of them said, lowering a pair of binoculers.
"Great. Well, it matters not. Our speed will overcome any that we find inside. Remember the mission: Grab the Shogun and his son. Kill the rest. Clear?" the figure addressed as Sano asked. Sano was the original vampire, and had organized many others into a violent militia.
"Affirmative," came the responses.
"Is everyone ready for a government ruled by the vampires?"
"Yes, Sir!" came nine very enthusiastic answers.
"Then let's go!" Sano stepped into the middle of the alley from his spot against the wall and dropped to one knee. He raised his rifle and took aim. As he aimed, he switched to a three-round burst. Slowly, he pulled the trigger, the staccato of gunfire ringing in the night. One guard's head fairly exploded, his white samurai armour instantly turning red as the body slumped to its knees. "GO GO GO!" The squad burst out into the street, firing at the remaining guard, who had about enough time to raise his rifle before his armour was pierced through. The fire pressed him up against the wall next to the door frame, and he slowly slid down, a red streak left behind him.

Inside, the gunfire echoed through the halls to the main room where everyone was. Swiftly, ten or so guards in white samurai armour (upgraded to be bullet resistent of course) came out of hiding places and surrounded the shogun and Taiki, rifles upraised and pointing at the door.

The squad encountered absolutely no resistance as they ran through the halls. Finally, they reached the doorway to the main hall. One eager vampire started to enter the door, but was yanked back by Sano, just as a large burst of automatic fire came screaming through the door, ripping the stone wall opposite it to shreds. Sano motioned five vampires to cross to the other side. They complied with amazing speed, dodging another round of heavy automatic fire. With another motion, Sano's team burst through the door diagonally to the other side, the second team crossing in the other way. Their speed was enough to actually dodge the heavy fire. Inside, the source was revealed to be the two guards closest to the shogun, who were shouldering huge automatic rifles. Each team already had their guns set to full-auto as well, and raised them and returned fire as they moved in. Several of the guards went down very fast. The vampires slung their rifles over their shoulders and drew swords as they moved in on the people at the table, who were trying to drop to the floor, yet were impeeded by the variety of chairs. Mercilessly and without stopping, the vampires cut them down. Finally, all that were left were the two guards with the automatic rifles and four others, who drew their swords in response. The room was filled with the clash of steel. Several of the vampires, Sano included, were quite honestly shocked at the speed with which the remaining guards fought. Their only advantage was being quickly diminished. However, numbers couldn't be ignored, and soon the guards were double teamed and cut down. Sano had hung back and used the chaos to scope out good shots at the machinegunners, which he dropped with a bullet each to the head. The vampires, victorious, switched to a semi-circular formation, Sano at the tip, and surounded Kenshin and Taiki.

Shit, shit shit! Taiki thought as they were surrounded. Oddly, he started thinking back to the night of the experiment. If only I could use that power, even just 40 percent of it! he found himself thinking. He was concentrating on it so hard he didn't realize that there was now an odd wind blowing throughout the hall, and it seemed to be centering on him, his clothes and travel cloak were rippling wildly around him. The tie holding his hair back disintegrated, and his hair was flung up and back from him. His eyes narrowed into a violent scowl, and took on a demonic red glow. Fangs protrueded down over his lower lip, and his fingertips and nails changed to claws. Suddenly, the pain in his right arm was back again. This time, though, Taiki realized what it was, and allowed the blood to flow from his hand again, forming the scythe in midair. "Back off!" he yelled, half growling and taking a step forward. The vampires were sufficiently shocked by the transformation before them.
"Get him!" Sano yelled, hiding his shock well. The vampires flung themselves forward, swords drawn and running so fast they began to become just blurs. To Taiki, it seemed like there was a second, more viscious conscience in his head now. He dodged out to the side at the last second, the two end vampires stumbling forward as their swords missed wide, leaving them stupified and hunched over in shock. Taiki swung the scythe in a devastating horizontal slash. The vampires' midsections seemed to disintegrate as the blade cut through them.
"What the fuck?" Sano said, completely unable to suppress his shock this time. Taiki targetted a couple other vampires, and whipped the barbed chain out at them. It cut straight through the first one and the curved blade at the end ripped straight through the chest of the second one. Taiki jerked chain wildly, and blade whipped back and through the vampire's skull, killing him instantly. Taiki dragged the chain through him and back to his side. Three of the remaining vampires tried to do a killer jump-attack at Taiki, who calmly looked up at them coming at him. As they came in, Taiki whipped the scythe around, the barbed chain following dutifully behind it, extending out and passing straight through the necks of the trio, their headless corpses dropping to the floor in front of him, blood pooling. The last two vampries took a few steps forward, thought better of the idea, and took off running out of the building. (They would be cut down on their way out by the second guard, who had, in fact, survived) Sano was in complete disbelief.
"Well? Come get me, beast!" he yelled at Taiki. Complying, Taiki came at him, scythe raised over his head and prepared for a cleaving blow. Sano watched it come and raised his sword over his head, one hand on the blade to help absorb the blow, which he barely did. Sano threw back the scythe and went for a cut, which Taiki deftly blocked with the ornate head of the scythe. Taiki whirled around trying to cut in horizontally from the opposite side. Sano went to block, but the blow cut straight through the sword, missing skin by inches. Realizing defeat, Sano flipped backward, dropping the shattered hilt and running from the room.

Taiki stood surveying the surroundings, the blood running freely across the floor. Suddenly, he became aware of a weak feeling, like the one you get from holding your breath too long...or when you've lost a lot of blood. I wish...I wish I could get more strength... Taiki thought, tottering. Suddenly, the blood on the floor was drawn in toward him. He watched as it swam up his legs and felt it being absorbed into him. His strength returned, and indeed he felt even stronger. He heard footsteps running in the hall outside, and moments later many more armed guards ran into the room, seeing nothing but the bodies...oddly enough, there was no blood....

Following the incident and the fruitless scouring of the city for Sano, Nakamura Taiki had been taken back to the medical center of Honimishu Castle. The Doctor and Shogun Kenshin, however, were having a fairly heated debate over what had happened, and what that meant.

"Your Excellency, with all due respect, you are completely overlooking the opportunity here!" the Doctor said.
"Opportunity? Opportunity!?" Kenshin yelled. "What opportunity is there in my son having been transformed into some sort of monster!?" He slammed his fist on the desk in his office so hard that a cup and bottle of sake shattered from the force.
"Sir, first off, he's not a monster. He only becomes like that when the nanomachines activate. It seems that he can control that with thought. However, my point is, look at what he did last night! He took out 7 vampires without even breaking a sweat! You lost at least 10 White Knights! White Knights!" he repeated for emphasis. The White Knights were the elite of the elite. They were supposed to be unbeatable.
"...." Kenshin was at a lack for words. Simply put, the Doctor's words clearly made sense! Up till now, they've had no weapon against the vampires, just lucky shots in the dark. On the other hand, though, they were talking about his own son! How could he turn Taiki into a weapon? "You know, maybe you are right after all," he said. "Taiki is samurai, it is his duty to fight for the country. These vampires are clearly terrorists. If he's to become shogun, he must prove that he can defend the country, right?"
"Sir, it sounds like you're trying to justify a position to yourself," the Doctor said skeptically.
"Nonsense! At least I think not...," Kenshin said, doubting himself again for a second. "Either way, you're right." He stopped, thinking of the Catholic priest, Father Marco. Such bravery is normally found only in samurai. Yet he charged into the headquarters of the vampires alone with nothing but a gun and a sword. He picked up the phone and dialed the Ridgian embassy. "Father Marco, it is good to hear your voice. You remember the vampire issue, do you not. Either way, I've got a man with me who could surely defeat them. But, he needs a partner. Your bravery speaks for you, are you willing to fight the vampires with this man?"