The mixture

The mixture gave me unlimited strength. From the moment it got into me I could sense my muscles strengthening, my mind working faster and smarter, my memory got...almost impeccable. I can remember every single person, every face, and every text I read. Why did it happen to me? Why was I the one that happened to come across this imperceptible substance and not someone else? That is yet to be discovered. But the person I was, died the moment it happened. And a new one emerged, someone I can barely recognize and understand. It leads me the way and I follow along as its mere medium through which it can manifest. 

Every night as the city sleeps my work begins. The progress is slow and prolonged. For every one of them going down, there is a thousand more waiting in the line, waiting to be activated. They have found the way to intrude and expand on them faster and faster. So we have to change tactics. Facing them upfront would be as futile as trying to find a person that has remained 100% human. There is simply not a chance. But there is a different route to all this and bare with me because you are going to know all about it. But before we get to it, I'm Caisso..and here is my story...

***(Flashlights)

«Kevin wake up..Kevin!» the man shook the sleeping man firmly as he stood deadpan serious above him. «This is the last time I catch on to you wasting money from this firm. Behavior like this is unacceptable.» The man's voice stiffened as his face turned expressionless. «Gather your stuff pal. You are out of here!» he pointed at the door as he dismissed him and turned over his back to leave. The sleeping man stood up stunned and followed him along. 

«Mr. Lopez, I'm really sorry...I just had a really bad night...I had to finish up some work..and..you know..» both of them stopped outside the office, «I really need this job Mr. Lopez. I 'm really sorry. I promise it will never happen again» he pleaded with united hands, as he projected them forward from his chest. The man smiled, moving slightly the lower part of his face and raised his one brow as if minimizing his facial movements. 

«I think if you really wanted this job you wouldn't have failed at it so miserably, Kevin, don't you think?» he whispered as he jolted Kevin's shoulder with his pointer. «You can have my recommendation if you want...» he said as he turned back and entered the office.

***

And so the story begins. I lost my job and the only way I had to make an income and a living, just like that. The place I was working on for the last number of years decided it would be better for us to part our own ways. And between you and me, it was totally worth it. I mean, the guy was a total duce as you can understand! Nevertheless, I was far away from starting to understand any of it. I was heartbroken and shocked. For a few days, I was a zombie dragging my body from one bar to the next. No appetite to eat, to work, or even play video games. And then things got even worse. As I returned home one night I found my wife waiting for me with a baggage on her side.

***(Flashlights)

«Kevin, I love you. But we can't be together anymore» she said keeping her face intact.

«Wait..you can't leave me! this is just a slump. It's gonna get better soon..honey...you can't leave me..»

«You are saying this for the past 5 months.» the woman got closer to him touching his chest softly with her right hand as she looked deeply in his eyes with a warm smile. «you are a great guy Kevin, I'm sure you are gonna find a good person for you..» she dragged the baggage over the door and turn back to him. «You are gonna have the divorce papers soon..» she said before living...

***

And that was like hitting me with a thousand knives thrashing them all in my heart. I've never felt so lonely or disappointed in my life! Cold and cruel, the world changed its colors and resembled a grave. For the next few days, I was a total mess. I would go to the bar in the day and stay there till the next morning. Whatever phase I was going through it seemed it got a good hold of me. 

At the same time, things in biotechnology got quite advanced. New robotics mechanisms appeared in the market and as they got more advanced they turned into chips capable to be induced into humans. The innovations got welcomed with hesitation at first but people started getting more and more familiar with them, day by day.

Initially, they would find it convenient to not have to carry their bag or credit card with them. Just passing their hands through a device would suffice for the exchange. Later on, it would be used as an identification mechanism, the key through which you could open your phone, your car, and your house. Then came the voice. Through internal magnetic discs, they could transmit sound into your head without anybody else listening to it. Suddenly you had the power to ask for information and data, listening to them while you had a conversation with someone else. The advances would seem endless and vigorous. The technology got into a level that could project images inside your mind and control your visual cortex. Now imagine that. A device inside your own body controlling your brain and manipulating different parts of it as it wishes, creating images and sound! As doubtful as the world might 've been before, it was fully given to it later on allowing full control of their bodies and minds. Luckily for me, I was penniless. I could never afford such devilish machinery or had any inclination in trying it at all.

It wasn't long till they figured a way for the chips to receive requests the other way as well. You could delegate voice commands at will by just thinking about it and the device would pick it up. As long as you voiced the name of the device inside your head first, everything you would follow it up with would be perceived as a request. Like a Siri that can listen your thoughts. People got crazy about it. If internet made its way into our lives and took the world with a bang, that was a bang of a megatonne level! Apart from a scarce few people here and there that would stay faithful to the old ways of doing things the rest of humanity had turned into hybrids of half machines - half humans. Being connected to the internet themselves at all times and contributing their energy to it. You would never be sure if you were talking to a person or to an automated response triggered by the internal chip, programmed to behave like the person, through the machine learning training it had received. If there was such a thing as a 'next level for humanity'...then that was definitely it! 

So things carried on like this for a while. And one night something different happened. Something out of the normal I wouldn't have anticipated. As I was getting back home I heard voices. A couple of men yelling and threatening and..I don't know..they seemed ready to step into some sort of violence. As hazy as I might be from the alcohol in my blood I decided to check it out. Down in one of the darkest of alleys, in the midst of the night two men had a woman squeezed in the wall demanding her of something. I thought it was some sort of thief attempt or maybe a micro-robbery thing that junkies delved into to gain some cache. But then I looked more closely at it. They guys didn't seem like junkies at all. They were clothed in dark blue suits with white shirts, both in a similar fashion and it seemed more like an internal fight from people that knew each other rather than anything else. As a born and raised gentleman I had no choice but to jump in..

***(Flashlights)

«Hey..you! Stop it. Why don't you leave the girl alone now»

One of the men turned around and looked at Kevin. They glanced at each other as the guy pointed to the other one to take care of the situation. Only that the second one was a much larger and a much more muscular version, with the tattoos protruding through his neck all the way up to his left cheek.

«Why don't you beat it, pal. I would advise you to mind your own business and...nobody gets hurt. What do you say» the guy stood with his two hands tied in front of his waist as he opened his legs firmly in the ground.

«Mind my own business... Well, what do you say you mind your own business and leave the girl alone and then I mind mine as well. Then we can all go home.»

The guy chuckled. «I don't think that's the way it works but you're quite funny...I got to give it to you..» 

Both of them started giggling a bit more as they faced each other. 

«Now..there is an easy way to do this and there is a hard way» said the tattoed guy as he started approaching him steadily and slowly. «And I would advise you to take the easy way out..» 

As the man walked toward him, Kevin leaned low and threw a strong kick on his left knee tilting him down on the ground. Then by dacking down like a little ball he raised his fist maximizing the distance of his movement, smashing his jaw with an uppercut punch. The guy lied down insensible.

«How about you leave the girl and we all leave in peace here mate. I don't want to hurt you.»

«Ohh I don't think you will buddy» said the guy taking a knife out of his pocket. 

«Ohh now take it easy there. You don't want to do anything crazy.» said Kevin as he started swirling around him. 

The guy projected the knife intimidating him with jabs that Kevin managed to avoid. With a quick maneuver, Kevin swung around him and started hit him with quick punches but the guy eventually turned around and managed to cut him deep in the waist splashing blood out of him. Kevin although disoriented continued hitting him before he passed out in the ground next to his partner.

«You are hurt. Let's go to my car! Quick! » said the girl as she grabbed him by the arm.

«Wait..who are you? What are all this for?» said Kevin quizzingly.

«It doesn't matter for now. You are bleeding. I can help you. I have medicine.» she said and they start running.

***

But I was much worse than I thought. I actually passed out after a while as I had lost lots of blood and I can barely remember anything. Nothing apart from the moment before she got me the mixture.

I could barely breathe. I was sweating and.. my head was spinning and aching. Then I saw her coming into the room. Hazy and mysterious...

«Who are you?» I asked demanding an answer.

Her face was angelic. With a smiling and sweet expression, she passed her hand through my hair. She shushed me as she grinned a bittersweet expression. «You need some rest.» she said as she touched over my wound. Then she took a flask out of her bag and brought it over me.

«This is gonna help you» she said as she stooped over me. «It's gonna heal your wound and make you stronger. Much much stronger.» she whispered as she poured the liquid in my mouth. «They have already advanced their powers way too much. This is our last hope.» She said before everything becomes blurry.

That was the last thing I remember about it. Next thing I woke up in the middle of nowhere having zero recollection of the incidents that led to it. But my mind was...just so clear and lucid. I felt as if I could see through everything like they were transparent and palpable. My vision was better, and my hearing, and my senses in general. They were all accentuated to the maximum capacity and my body felt strong and healthy. It wasn't long till I saw samples of my power. Suddenly I could lift a rock or heavy objects like a car! My mind could make calculations and assess things I would never be capable of before. Something in that liquid changed me, for good. I don't know who that woman is or how she is related to the rest of the story. But I know that her mixture gave us a second chance. A chance to get back what we had before all this happened. Our world and paradise...

It didn't take long for problems to appear with the AI advances. A group of hackers managed to crack the code and access the internal controls inside everyone's minds. Now they could manipulate them to act as they will towards bringing distraction and terror to the world. People turned into an army of robot-humanoids directed by dark forces. And it doesn't matter how hard you fight them as the numbers are infinite. There is only one way to go about this and that is to find the source. Right where it all began. The hacker group is an association of government officials aimed to take control of all this. They bought out the technology companies and their internal source code and now they are the sole undisturbed players in the whole game. But not for long. I found their location and their operation base, and tonight is the time we get to pay them a visit. You are the lucky ones. You are the only people in the world that didn't have the device inside them and couldn't be manipulated. That makes 6 of us! And it's a whole lot better than being alone! So take a rest, my friends. Cause tonight they are in for a surprise..tonight is gonna be a long night...