(Anyone here is free to read this, but please leave the IC posting to just me and Addy.)

Chris Silverstein never expected it to end that way, at least not so soon. He had always hoped that Amethyst could have survived, that she could have had a life. But when the Nova fell, she sacrificed herself to destroy it.

Nova had taken so many lives, even the one that Chris had loved. All the grief in the world wouldn't bring her back, and there was nothing he could do to change that. Time was irreversible, death was unstoppable.

Chris was alone.

But this is the end of the story. To truly know what had happened, we must take a look back in time, to an age of neon and blades, where nobody knows that the world is about to end.

(I'll think along the lines of this and post tomorrow... I'll have plenty of time then..))

(Actually, hold off on that. I just thought of a really good way to start this, but I don't have time to wtirte it right now. I'll post later.)

Sure, alright.. :)

Year 282 of the Seventh Age

Chris Silverstein woke at exactly 7:00 AM, as regulated by his internal timepiece. At this point in his life, everything was pattern. Wake, work, train, sleep, repeat, and the cycle was the same every day.

At the time, he'd had no idea that the world was about to end, same with everyone else. Nobody was expecting the end of the world anymore, not since the 2012 escapade back in the Second Age. People figured the end was too far away to care about, so they went about their normal business, keeping pace with plain, everydsay lives.

But when life is the same from day to day, people would begin to act less like humans, and more like the artificial intelligence that maintained life. Everything these days was automated, regulated, controled. In all honesty, Chris wanted to change that. Start a revolution, or something.

He used to think like that, until the day he met Amethyst. After that, he just thought that changing his own life would be enough. For a while it was like that, for ten years even. But then the End came. When it was all over, he was the only one left alive.

But that's getting ahead. This story begins in the Year 282 of the Seventh Age, with Chris' internal timepiece waking him at the stroke of 7.

____________________________________________

Chris sat up in bed, his eyes adjusting to the light that automatically flooded the room upon his waking. He could hear the tiny gears whirring within his fiery orange eyes, formatting themselves to match the environment.

He tossed the black comforter to the right and swung his legs onto the floor. He stood and walked to the clothing rack and tapped the screen.

"Give me the red t-shirt and black jeans," He said.

"Slim or skinny?" an automated voice responded.

"Skinny."

"Pressed?"

Chris sighed.

"I didn't ask you to make me look like a douchebag."

"Not pressed," it responded, "Understood, sir."

The rack dispensed the clothes, and he put them on over his grey boxers. He tapped the button for the Converse High-Tops, then put those on as well.

He went to his weapons wall and chose his favorite blade, a straight katana exactly four and a half feet in length, with the center hollowed out to serve as a gun barrel. Firing .50 caliber rounds was a plus, too, and the sheer lethality of the blade had gotten him out of alot of tough situations. Granted, enhanced eyesight and the infared radar inside his left eye helped, but should he have been an organic, the blade would have been his salvation multiple times.

Either way, it was part of his job, and his shift was starting in twenty minutes.

Chris stepped into the lift shaft in the corner of his studio apartment and was whisked away to the garage. He went to his car, a matte black Infinity G80 Speeder, and beeped the door open. Sliding into the driver's seat and pressing the start button, he felt like today was going to be just like any other.

Turning to the launch bay, Chris accelerated to 250 km/h, out into the open sky of the towering city. Even during the sunny morning light, the neon towers and ticker-tape billboards glowed brightly, further illuminating the already lighted skystreets.

Ascending from 200 stories up to 700, he angled northward for the Seventh Division headquarters.

Seventh Division was the Age's main law enforcement agency. Each Age had their own company for law enforcement, each still operating under the same name as their Ages of origin. Second Division still went by the name "Police," and was the primary agency operating on the planet's surface.

As the Ages progressed and the buildings around the world ascended, so did the Divisions. Each one had jurisdiction over 100 stories of the cities, the only exceptions being Second and Seventh. Second took care of everything from ground level to 200 stories, and Seventh took care of everything above 600. That system had been implemented at the creation of Seventh Division, long before Chris had ever been born.

He was a commanding officer of Seventh in the U.S. district, a captain infact. Being a member of Seventh was interesting, especially since he got to see the world from over 800 stories up. It was a view he'd never grown tired of.

But he'd soon be viewing the world in an entirely different way.

Normal days. No matter how much she'd hated them, today she was wishing she was living one. But after her brother had died, nothing was normal. Amethyst and Jasper used to live on the surface together. Jasper had trained her himself, when they weren't working. They worked for the second level, keeping things in line one the surface... but years upon years of training couldn't have prepared them for what had happened. It was a gang they had been after for years now. The ambush was completely unexpected, and in the end Jasper took the fall...

For her safety she had been sent up to higher levels by her superiors. That's why she was here. The fifth level. It had been a month since Jasper's death, and she had always hoped she would fall back into some form of a "regular" lifestyle. But she always knew they'd come looking for her...

She glanced over her shoulder casually, her long black hair swinging past her shoulder blades. Short hair, toned, muscled figure, skull tatoo on the right side of his neck. He was following her. She quickened her pace, trying not to look suspiscious or hint that she knew they were tailing her. But by the time she was halfway across the walkway between two of the large buildings, there were more of them. Casually all walking in the same particular direction. All of them with the same particular skull tatoo in the same particular spot... and all concealing weapons.

She tensed, her DC's moving faster across the walkway. She was almost to the building, and they were gaining on her. She entered the building quickly, turnign down another hallway. Seven of them now. She made a quick left, then ducked under a sign restricting entrance to the next wing. The doors of these apartments stood ajar, the rooms in the process of being remodeled. Gritting her teeth she skidded to a stop at the end of the hallway- a dead end. As she turned to look for another route of escape the seven turned the corner. Three of them were holding knives, three more had swords on their belt. In the middle, the obvious leader of this small group (only a few in comparison to the large numbers of members in this gang) had a gun tucked into the back of his jeans. She inhaled quickly, fear engraving itself in her chest, quickening her heartbeat. Her hand reached for her sword slowly as the group slowed to a stop a few yards away, looking around at the vacant rooms.

"So, you want to play do you?" the leader crooned, a wicked smile spreading across his face. "I love the fiesty ones... I'm going to enjoy killing you like I killed your brother..."

As they advanced on her lone figure, she knew there was no use in screaming.

"Dear God... help me..."

Chris had left Seventh HQ at exactly 6:00 PM that day, and was on his way down to the gym on fourth level. But something was out of place. A girl was standing in the middle of a walkway, surrounded by multiple older men with weapons. Either muggers or hitmen.

He parked his car directly next to the girl, exited, and drew his gunblade.

"Tough guy, huh?" He said, "Picking on a girl like that. Really noble of you."

He pointed his blade at the apparent leader.

"Don't worry, I'm Seventh," he whispered to the girl, implying his role as an officer of the law, "Get in the car."

Usually she wasn't used to taking orders from someone she'd just met, but she slid into the car quickly, waiting for something unexpected to happen...

"So?" Chris said, still aiming the barrel of the katana at the leader, "Are you gonna answer me or should I start shooting?"

Several of the men tensed, gritting their teeth. The leader kept his hand behind his back, changing his tone to that of a kind, persuasive one.

"We don't want any trouble sir. We just want the girl..."

"Well when you go after her with guns and swords, trouble is exactly what you'll get," He replied.

"What can I say? We're only following orders. Our boss wants a word with her. We figured she'd resist..." he said, a slight growl in his voice...

Chris watched him for a moment, then pulled a small crystal card from his pocket.

"Well then have your 'boss' call this number and I'll have a chat with him," He said, holding up the card, "And by the way, I'm sure you're aware of Fifth's strict weapons policy, no? Any law officer catching anyone in posession of a working weapon is authorized to fire or otherwise use lethal force against them. I suggest you take this card and get the h*** outta my sight before I carry out up my... 'responsibilities.'"

He tossed the card to the leader, where it landed a couple feet in front of him.

"And make it snappy. I'm on a time schedule, here, and you don't want me to break that, now would you? Among other things..."

The leader growled, but another grabbed him by the shoulder firmly. "Easy... we'll get her later..." he whispered.

Another man retrieved the card, and they all began to move away slowly, reconcealing their weapons. "This isn't the last you'll see of us..." he called after her.

Amethyst gritted her teeth..

"Ain't gonna be the last you see of me, then," Chris said, sliding the katana into its flat-space storage bit on his belt.

He climbed into the car and pulled away from the bridge.

"So, I've got a couple questions for ya," He said, "I'll ask two for now. One; who are you? Two; who were they?"

(Flat-space storage bits are small panels on a belt that interdimentionally-collapse objects that are pressed against them. Similar to the ninjas in Ultraviolet, or Violet's bracelets.)

((Sounds slightly familiar..))

"Amethyst..." she said quietly. "I work... used to work, for the second level. Those were members of a high level gang on the surface. They're after me.." she whispered, looking away...

"Well we can't have that, now can we?" Chris said, looking at her.

She wasn't looking at him so he looked back towards the front.

"Got a place to stay?"

"Nowhere safe.. That's the first place they'll go," she said quietly.

"And... thankyou... for saving me," she whispered. "If you hadn't shown up, they would have killed me for sure... not that they wont later..."

"Yeah, about that..." Chris said, "Why were they after you in the first place? Are you like, an organic or something?"

Organics were sometimes kidnapped on the surface and used for biological experiments. They had less mechanical immunity to whatever they were subjected to. Some people nowadays were so heavily upgraded that they barely got itches, let alone diseases. Organics, on the other hand, were the same as they were fifteen thousdand years ago. nothing had changed for them except their surroundings.

It reminded him of something from the second age. In Tanzania, a still-standing district of the Africa area today, Albino Africans were hunted down by men with machetes. Their arms and legs were cut off to be made into potions, then their remains were left screaming and bleeding all over the ground to die. Despicable, to be sure.

There were problems like that up through the fourth age. Upgrades were first coming out back then, and it was reversed of today. People with upgrades were taken and upgraded further, to act as mercernaries or assassins. Almost always, their minds were wiped using phase three manipulations. They truly believed they had been brought up as assassins, and not as simple people living simple lives. Many political leaders fell victim to these people, wo were no less victims themselves.

He hated al of it. It was why he'd joined the most powerful law enforcement agency on this planet, Seventh Division. That kind of power was something he aimed to use for good, and he'd had a good time with it so far.

He could have been in a different time. He could have been born in second age Tanzania as an Albino, or gotten the up and coming upgrades in the fourth age. He could have been an organic, down on the surface.

It all struck him as incredibly disgusting. Organics were humans just as much as anyone with upgrades were, and the madmen down on the surface had no reason to run those horrible tests on them.

He looked back at her for a response.

Amethyst bit her lip. Very few people knew her secret. Xen must have found out somehow...

"I..." she sighed. "I am..."

Lucky guess

"You shouldn't have to deal with them all the way up here," Chris said, "It's supposed to be a safe zone. This says to me that they're after more than just biological experiment hosts."

He tapped a button on his nav screen.

"This is Seventh Division Captain Chris Silverstein," he said, "Commander Johansen do you copy?"

"This is Commander Johansen, go ahead Captain."

"Requesting permission to house an asset at my apartment," he said.

There was a pause.

"Why when you're off duty?"

"Caught some organic hunters down in Level Five. They were after a girl and I chased them off."

"Then you should bring her to Seventh HQ."

"Negative, sir, I gave them my personal number. When their boss calls, I'll record it, and I also want to be able to tell her what's going on right away."

Another pause.

"What makes you think you're more equipped to protect her than Seventh?" Johansen said.

"Nothing, sir."

"Then you should bring her to HQ."

"Again, sir. I respectfully disagree. Requesting a security detail at my apartment."

"Again, Captain, that is not following protocols."

"Sir, to my understanding they went beyond their normal hunting grounds just to capture this girl. What's to stop them from attacking Seventh's housing area? There are two thousand inocent people under protection in that area, and if they attack, there'll be casualties. My reccomendation is to increase security in the housing area, and keep the girl away. The further from their scopes she is, the better."

A third pause.

"That's just like you, Captain. Thinking smart while still thinking of the ladies."

"Thank you sir," Chris said, "But do I have a go on my original request?"

"Yes, you may. I will post four men on your building ASAP, and patrols throughout Third."

"Thank you."

A beep on the Nav Screen indicated the connection had been severed.

"You'll be staying with me tonight," Chris said, "That gang won't be able to track you at my apartment, and even if they do, I have that place outfitted like some freakish combination between a nuke bunker and a weapons cache."

He looked at her, attempting to make eye contact.

"Don't worry, you're safe with me."

She turned her head slowly, the strong look in her eyes now choked out by this strange sense of fear... but as her emerald eyes met his, the look of fear faded to the back of her skull, and a small ring of gold appeared around her pupils. Why she trusted this man she did not understand...

but she did...

Her eyes changed color. Was she a metahuman? That was common, but not much with organics.

Regardless, he flew his car on a downward angle toward his apartment. He parked in the garage, where he found one of the officers waiting for him. As he passed, the officer stood, saluted, and said "Captain."

"I want an ID check on anyone who tries to use the lift," Chris said.

"Yes sir."

Chris led Amethyst into the lift and waved his hand over the scanner, which activated the lift. It rose to his floor and opened to the entranceway. Simple design. A black standing lamp on the left for the purpose of using less light, an opening in the grey wall on the right leading to the kitchen, straight ahead to the living room. A ceiling twenty feet above, with crystal staircase leading up to a second floor overlooking the first. Black furniture. Two couches and an armchair, aimed at the holo-projector. His room had the black comfortor on his bed to match the rest of the furniture. The bed in the guestroom had anamorphic color scemes to suit the guests's tastes.

"This will be your room," he said, gesturing to the third room on the left of the second floor.

He pointed out the bathroom, the first room on the left, and his own room, the second on the left.

"Kitchen's stocked, so you can eat whatever you want, and the holo-projector is voice-activated, if you wanna watch it."

(Actually that's natural... My eyes change color. A lot of times they're a smoky grey... sometimes they shift towards blue, and others they'll change green. But strangely enough when I'm around someone I like or during some other circumstances, a ring of gold appears around my pupils... it doesn't make sense to me... but its interesting to watch ^^)

"Thanks.." she whispered, brushing a piece of hair behind her ear as she entered 'her' room, looking around as she moved towards the bed and sat down. After a moment she closed her eyes and sighed, hanging her head, her hair falling down around her face...

(Did she close the door?)

(No)

Chris stood in the doorway.

"You okay?" he said, not sure whether to approach or not.

"I..." she sighed. "I don't know... I just feel like.. without my brother, there's not much left. Let em take me, you know... less trouble for kind people like you.."

"That ain't the way the world works," Chris said, "They catch you, a young, unspoiled organic, and countless people pay the price. Especially if they're a big enough gang to leave Second and hunt in Fifth, which, might I add, is the most strict Level for kidnapping and weapons crimes."

He entered the room and crouched down in front of her, eye-to-eye.

"If they have the resources to not only hunt in Fifth, but get away with it, then they obviously have either big plans, or big potential. And no matter what, big money. Problem with you wanting to give up is this; to them, what's one organic compared to ten to twenty thousand people, maybe countless more? Answer? Large profit. They catch you, or any other organic, they stand to gain hundreds of millions, if not billions in cash, weapons, and resources."

He paused a second.

"The deal with that is, they're already doing it. The goal is to stop them completely, and keep as many organics away from them as possible."

He stood.

"Which is why you need to come follow me," He said, "We'll need to fix you up with some weapons, if you're gonna defend yourself. The cache is at the end of the hall."

He turned and went to the door, then turned back to see if she was following.

Amethyst sighed, moving to her feet and following behind him. Why her....

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