Job Eighteen: 
Better, Faster, Stronger

    The young Meta's scar that went from the top of his forehead, pass his eye, and down to his chin was accented by the faint lighting of the alleyways. The young man tapped lightly on a wooden door of a rickety warehouse.

    It swung open freely, "Come in Meta," said the sweet voice of Asuka.

    The man enter cautiously, "Gun," she said as she held out her hand. He granted the woman's request and put his weapon into her hand. She shut the door in a sweeping flurry.

    He eyed the room. There were tables and chairs set up, as well as hanging lights. Several people were all ready sitting in the seats. One was Rave, one was a young man with black hair and another was a strange woman in a trench coat with white hair.

    "What an odd crew, Rave. I didn't know you kept such company," Meta said as he sat down across from the woman with white hair.

    "No stranger than you," Rave said, sipping his tea. "We have a few more guests coming as a group. So, please, enjoy your tea." The young man smiled happily.

    There was another knock on the door. All of the people in the room swung around to look at the people on the opposite side. Asuka gave her hand gesture and had several weapons put in her outstretched hand. The woman shut the door behind the figures.

    Ahura, holding Raphael in his arms, looked around curiously. Rave had not done much with the place since he had seen it last. The large wyrm wiggled a bit in his arms, and was quickly shushed. "It's nice to see you, Rave," The thief said happily.

    "Nii-sama!" The younger boy said in a dreamy voice.

    The assassin stood on guard. The rest of the people in the room where odd and she was not referring to Athena, who was standing behind her. All of these people seemed unnatural, even more so than Gi herself.

    "Please, sit," Asuka waved to the chairs. The assassin raised an eyebrow as she pulled out a seat. They certainly were in a hurry to get started.

    The thief sat down quickly with the dragon in his lap. "After this I need to talk to you, Rave."

    The pink haired young man blinked. "Oh? I somehow think all your questions will be answered tonight." The information supplier stood up and pushed his chair into place. "Tonight I am going to tell you everything I know about us, and I will also try my best to explain Miss Athena's relation to us as well."

    All the people in the room remained silent. They all waited for the young man to speak.

    "Verona, Meta, Leda, Ahura Mazda Osiris, Anghiari, Asuka, and Rave are the names of the subjects in Project WINGS." The young man began to walk around the room. "Each subject is stronger and better than a normal human who walks around on the street. Each of us was created with a specific task in mind, though we have not lived up to our "parents" expectations."

    "All of us are genetic experiments. All of us had no outside family ties, with the exception of Verona and Anghiari. Leda was the first to be experimented on at the age of two, the experiment to improve strength and intelligence succeeded, even better than any of the scientists had expected. This was there first step and far from their last." Rave stopped behind Leda's seat. She shivered slightly when he leaned forward to face her, "You remember all of the painful things they did to you?"

    She nodded, "Impossible to forget, no matter what you do to try."

    "Meta was second. He was an experiment for dexterity and increased intelligence. It was a surprising success, and it even frightened some of the scientists, making them want to stop before the next step." Rave snorted, "But they continued the torture by experimenting on Asuka. They tried to create the perfect woman."

    Asuka winced, "They decided that the results were inconclusive."

    "Anghiari, by this time, had been created by combining the DNA of the leading intelligent people and skilled people of the world. She was the perfect assassin, but they had secretly made her a key youth." Rave had come up behind her and whispered into her ear, "That's why you have wings."

    Quickly, he went back to speaking at a normal tone and pace, "Now, we come to Osiris. A simple little boy who was given to the scientists because his parents could not afford to raise him. They excepted the scientists to raise him like a normal boy,"  He was now standing behind the sweating Ahura and slightly confused Raphael.

    "You were the beginning of the real experiment. Everyone before you was a test, and the ones before them had died horribly to make the experiment on you possible. You see the scientists had found the key to immortality."

    "That wasn't even enough for them. They continued with two more experiments, attempts to make living locks, that would counter act the keys and cause them to open only at the right time. Verona was created as Anghiari's younger brother and lock, however it failed, so they used him as an assassin."

    "I failed as well." Rave sat on the table, "But they made me make keys for them first. One thing seemed common place, the other, not."

    "You mean you knew about it the whole time," Ahura asked, looking directly into the younger man's eyes.

    "Honestly, no. I had blocked out all of the painful memories." Rave brushed his fingers through his hair uncomfortably, "What they did to me is something that I don't think I'll ever over come."

    *What do you mean by "keys"?* The little dragon looked up at him.

    "They can unlock everlasting youth and life, just like the real legend of the Hai and the Zai, but in order to do that, they would have to die. And all of the evidence--all of us--would have to die with them." The young man leaned back on the table until his head knocked against it softly. He was staring at the cross bared ceiling as he spoke more, "They want us dead so they can live forever young."

    *But that's impossible!*

    "If you're possible, what else is?" Ahura whispered softly.

    Raphael fell silent. He looked up at his bondmate, who had tears running down his face. The thief had always known about his real purpose. He had just denied it for so many years he forgot about it.

    "The Chimera Project came next. They wanted to create the perfect life form. A living weapon of sorts, that would obey them no matter what." Rave nodded to Athena, "All attempts failed, now They want all of the chimera dead so they don't "contaminate" other life forms."

    *Who are They?*

    "No one really knows everyone in the organization. The group of egotistical scientists has lost all face to the public, I doubt even their hired assassins have seen their faces." Rave paused, "However, there was the man who had acquired the egg for Ahura. He was part of the organization once."

    The dragon let out a sound of surprise. *What can we do against them?*

    "We kill them before they kill us," Verona said from his corner. "We are better, faster and stronger after all. We were made to be perfect, and all we need to do is compensate for our weaknesses by teaming up."

    "Why thank you Mr. Logic, that was quite nice," Gi crossed her legs and took a sip of her now cold tea, "How do you suggest we pair off?"

    "Naturally, you and Ahura, Rave and Asuka, Leda and Meta, and I would be used as the decoy."

    *No! No! We can't have anyone die!* The wyrm squirmed onto the table, *We're just going to live!*

    "In fear of our lives?" Leda asked quietly, "Then we might as well ask for them to kill us."

    "She's right," Meta piped in, "We can't just sit here."

    "Oh, we won't, but we won't play into their hands," Rave said flatly. "You'll find out what to do sooner or later."

    "Rave, this is not the time to be clever." Ahura had not raised his voice since he had begun to cry.

    "I'm hardly being clever, I'm just speaking the truth." The pallid boy said as he sat up, "We wait for them to come because we are the ones in control."