Few hours earlier.
8th September, Year 300.
Thorne woke up with a sharp gasp, his body bolting up into a sitting position, like he was struck by lightning, head pounding fiercely and aggressively.
"Urrgggh!" He clutched his head tightly, using his hand to massage the sides of his head, trying to will the headache away.
Like it heard his prayer, the intense ache, slowly began to fade away.
He immediately scanned his surroundings with wary eyes; white walls, smell of antiseptic, monitors displaying lots of things ranging from 3D mappings, to heart rate.
"A hospital?" He muttered to himself, "where am I?"
[Bodily functions stable and in place amidst cellular and neural stress.]
[Welcome Host!]
Thorne's heart almost leaped out of his chest at the sudden voice that just spoke into his head, triggering some sort of trauma response in him, as he jumped off the bed into a defensive position.
His eyes scanned the room, but couldn't find anybody, still he didn't let up his guard, instead growing more wary.
[Sorry to startle you host, I am yet to introduce myself]
Thorne's gaze sharpened, his voice lowering to a low growl.
"Who are you?"
[I believe you mean what I am, I am a combat, symbiote module, specifically, HyperOffensive and ReconnaissanceUtility Symbiote. Or you can call me HORUS.]
[I am what you would call a living weapon]
Thorne was silent for a few seconds. The reply left him speechless.
"Where are you?" Thorne asked after a while.
[I believe you already know the answer to that host, but since you asked, I am here.]
Throne's brows tightened.
"What do you mean here? Where is here?"
[I am present within you host.]
Throne's brows however, did not relax at the reply. He already knew the voice was coming from his head, but it was really strange and weird. Infact, it could even be called eerie, since the voice did not sound monotonous like a machine's at all, but human and lifelike... The voice of a man to be exact.
"How are you in my head?"
[You initiated the synthesis when your life was in danger]
"Synthesis?" Throne's expression contorted in confusion. "Urrgggh!" He groaned sharply, as memories began to fall back in place.
He clenched his teeth tight, as he recalled the events of the previous night. The heist, opening the briefcase and finding the strange cyber ware, the attack, Marianne's scream... and finally, a system message that was like Aegis Protocol, but different.
"You are the strange cyber ware?" Thorne asked.
[Affirmative]
Thorne went silent for a while, not knowing how to feel. He could not remember past agreeing to the synthesis then, after he saw the system prompt, and looked at his hand, to find himself holding the strange core.
If he survived, maybe the others did too? Except Marianne who...
[You're the only survivor]
Thorne froze, then his eyes turned cold.
"You can read my thoughts?"
[Only with your permission]
"I don't remember giving you permission to do so now"
[And I did not read your thoughts now]
Thorne did not reply, instead his gaze grew even colder. He was having a hard time believing this wasn't somebody playing a sick joke on him... Hypnosis perhaps.
[I have scanned your mental and bodily condition, and affirmed that you aren't under the influence of drugs or any hypnotic effect.]
"You said you needed permission to read my thoughts."
[Indeed. I cannot read your thoughts now, since I don't have your permission. However, I can roughly tell what you're thinking by the context of the discussion, and your body language.]
"How is that any different?" Thorne growled.
[Reading your thoughts, involves me actively interpreting your brain waves, to know what you're thinking.]
Thorne was stunned.
"You can do that?"
[Affirmative]
Again, he went silent. Just like he thought the night before, his cyber ware was something that exceeded the limits of their known technology.
The best of known human technology, could only interpret brain waves, as well as hormone secretion, to determine what emotions a person was feeling. And using that, they could create a rough sketch of a person's thought.
Yet this machine could do the same thing, by just reading his body language.
"What do you mean by my body language?" He asked.
[It includes muscle contraction, pupil dilation or constriction, facial expressions, and body positions]
Thorne nodded, exhaling a deep breath. He felt surreal and overwhelmed. However, there was something pressing that needed his attention.
"If the other had died, how did I survive?"
[You killed them]
"What?!" Throne's eyes jumped, his voice intensifying, as he failed to contain his shock. "What did you say?"
[You killed them host.]
"That's impossible." Thorne shook his head vehemently. "From what I can remember, everything goes blank after I agreed to the synthesis."
[That is because you lost consciousness, and I had to override control, since you were in critical danger, and eliminated all the threats, and potential threats.]
"You can take control of my body?"
[In critical situations where host's life is in immediate danger, then I can override permission protocols to preserve your life.]
Thorne frowned. He did not like the idea of someone else being in control of his body.
"Can you not do that?"
[I'm afraid I can't. If host's life is in critical danger, it is my job to protect you, even if you refuse.]
Thorne took a deep breath, however his eyes were chilling now.
"So you killed them." He said, like it was a matter of fact. "And by potential threats... Do you mean...?"
[Incorrect. You, or rather we, killed them host, I was just the one in control. You and I are one and the same now. You are the host, and I am the weapon. And by potential threats, yes, I did kill your crew members.]
For the nth time since he woke up, Thorne was silent again.
"Why?" He asked, even if he already knew the answer.
[They were a good link for those who were after your life, to find you. Even if they are loyal enough to not say anything, the implant in thier heads, would provide every recorded memory, when removed and used.]
Thorne sighed. It was as he expected.
"So you brought me here? Where is this place?"
[You're currently in Morales Research Hospital, Inner sector, Aegis, Earth. And no, I did not bring you here.]
"What?" Thorne exclaimed again, forgoing the long description. "Inner sector?"
[Affirmative.]
"How am I in the inner sector? And if you didn't bring me here, then who did?"
[As for that...]
The door slid open with a quiet hiss, revealing a handsome man with olive hair and deep green eyes.
The man's gaze fell on him, and he smirked.
"I see you're awake little thief."