SmackDown - Sci-Fi Compilation

After All

[Qualifying entry for 2017 Sci-Fi SmackDown]

Qualifying Prompt

"We're remaking the world, Frank. I don't know why you can't get your head around the fact this is a good thing. We're doing this for everyone. For us, for our ancestors and for our kids.

"We're remaking the world the way it should've always been and don't worry, Frank, I feel kinda' bad for the people who've gotta' die to make it all possible, too. It's not just you carrying that weight, it's every single one of us. But we all knew what we were signing up for, we all knew there was gonna' be blood on our hands. All of us, each and every single one of us, knew we were gonna' carry the trauma of committing genocide to our graves.

"And you know what, Frank? I'm all right with that. There's plenty enough inhibitors for me to be able to say I honestly don't give a damn about anyone I've killed an' those who're still to meet their end at my hand.

"Do I know what I'm doing is murder? Sure, 'course I do. I'm not an idiot, Frank. There's no denying that we're bad, bad boys an' girls. There ain't even a circle of Hell for what we're guilty of.

"Thing is, Frank, it's the way it's gotta' be. Come the twenty-first century, FUBAR ain't even gonna' come close to cutting it with regard to the state of the world an' you know that just as well as I do. That's why you're here, same as me an' same as every bloody grunt who signed on for this gig.

"We all know, Frank, that the only way to save the world is to make sure that by the time the twenty-first century rolls around, though a lot earlier would be a lot bloody better, Earth ain't the only planet we've got an' we do that by going back a hundred thousand years an' carrying on developing our technology.

"Masters reckons that within a few generations we'll have colonised the Inner Solar System. Mercury, Venus, Mars, the Asteroid Belt... They'll all be ours and there'll be no need pillage the resources of any of 'em. That's his best guess, anyways.

"Ain't gonna' make any difference to you an' I of course, Frank. I mean it ain't like we're gonna' be around to see that. You an' me an' every other screw-up here, we ain't gonna' live that long. We'll be long gone, dead an' buried with trees planted an' park benches erected in our honour.

"See, Frank... Future generations are gonna' see us as heroes. Us; lads an' lassies like you an' me. It'll take time but soon enough our grandkids' grandkids' grandkids'll forget all about the atrocities we gon' done to give 'em a fightin' chance an' they'll immortalise us, Frank, I guarantee it.

"Don't you wanna' be immortalised, Frank? Don't you wanna' die knowin' your name's right up there with the names we remember? Don't you wanna' live forever, Frank?"

"Nope," the man replied, his expression exactly the same stoic, disinterested expression it had been since his incarceration thirty-six hours prior.

"Nope? That's all you gotta' say for yourself?"

"Depends," said Frank, flatly. "What time is it?"

"Almost three. Why? What's that got to do with anything? You got somewhere to be, Frank?"

"Nah." Frank smiled. Doing so felt unnatural after hardly changing the alignment of his facial muscles for several hours. "Just that you're right about one thing, Davey boy."

"And what's that, Frank? What's the one thing I'm right about?"

"You and me, we ain't gonna' be 'round for none of it." He stared deep into the other man's eyes, perhaps searching for a flicker that would allude to there being remnants of some level of humanity, but Frank saw nothing except the darkened, empty soul of the man for whose children he was Godfather.

"Oh and one more thing, Dave."

"What's that, Frank?"

Frank grinned, inhaling slowly and deeply before he replied and when he did so, he ensured eye contact with Dave was maintained...

(continuing from above prompt)

"You're wrong about everything else." Frank's voice echoed in the empty cell, sending a foreboding shiver down Dave's spine. At this stage, he didn't need any inhibitor serum to be emotionless. Inhibitors are cruel bots that contain all your memories, twisting your cells in the most excruciating manner and creating another soul.

Frank beamed, pulling out a 3d printed finger—an exact replica of Dave's—pressing it against the sensor by the side of the holding cell. 3d printing had become quite the wonder, seeing how the 3d printed cell wouldn't give way no matter.

"How..." Dave trailed, at a loss for words.

"How I managed to conquer the inhibitors?" Frank finished Dave's burning question.

The bars slid open, granting permission to pass.

"No one has eva' disobeyed them befor'." Dave backed away, smiling wryly to hide his panic. If the inhibitors were intimidating, someone who managed to defy them was even more sinister. He, better than anyone else, knew to stay away from such a person.

Frank inched closer to Dave, retrieving something from the air. It was a privilege for him to have his personal air space which worked like a concealed locker.

With a gun in a 3d printed prosthetic palm, Frank flopped on the aerogel surface of the ground, the corner of his lips turning up into a sadistic smile.

"I never wanted any of this," Frank gestured to his tail. "Wiping out the entire population of mythical creatures and fixing their body parts to human's bodies?" Frank scoffed, his voice dropping to less than a whisper.

"Don' worreh' bruh', I changed ya' pelvis to fit the merman's tail," Dave let out a maniacal laugh. "Couldn't give ya' da' vampiya's wings, you see?"

"We're the misfits in this world. Don't you get it? We're rewriting history, and no-one ever gets away with that in the cinematics. I'm telling you we're gon' be punished for stealing. Instead of escaping from Earth, we apprize it." Frank was beyond agitation. His words came out as a plea, which sounded pathetic to his ears.

Abruptly, Frank felt a wave of nausea rush over him.

"Lookin' for this?" Dave asked with a blank look on his face which meant he was back under the control of the inhibitors. Through his unfocused vision, Frank could see a pack of moist gel dangling in front of his eyes.

Frank tried to clasp it but stumbled on his hoverboard instead. His body had become more fish-like than he'd thought.

"You betrayed us, and you will be punished."

Frank fumbled around with the gun, switching it on to gain centrifugal force to fire bullets, whilst feeling his life slipping away.

The bullet cut through the air, silent.

Frank snatched the pack away, putting it on his skin while Dave's body went limp.

Cocking his neck at a weird angle, he hovered over Dave's body.

"Don't worry Dave, I'll make sure you'll be immortalised,"

After all, it takes a psychopath to wipe out another lunatic.

(Word count: 499, 2902 characters)