Jack sighed as he walked out of the train. He had barely any time to put on some artificial skin before they arrived. So he looked more like a half-blood than anything else.

He also didn't like the fact that someone had been watching them for several minutes. Babina had told him about it when they got to the safehouse. She said she didn't know where the person was watching them from or who they were but the most likely bet was that someone was using an Augment to spy on them.

She had then forced him to put on a bit more artificial skin to blend in a bit. Gave him some weapons, and then pushed him out to tail 'Nate Vis' if he remembered correctly.

Jack sighed as entered the marketplace. He had been doing that a lot lately, sighing, but he never could figure out why. Babina had always gotten annoyed by it, and would frequently tell him to shut up when he did it.

The Market Place was almost as colorful as the people inside it. Vibrant colors swirled around him as hoards of Vat-Born mingled, chatted, and bargained their way around him. he saw numerous foods that looked different. He saw a green rose being sold by a random man with three eyes and a swirling skin pattern of crimson on his chin.

He saw a woman selling roasted pig, the pig being green, fat, and to his shock alive. The roasted pig wasn't supposed to be alive all things considered.

He also very quickly saw his target. Nate Vis.

It wasn't very hard, a lot of people were either avoiding him or just giving him some free stuff. He supposed it made sense. Most Vat-Born who had the symbol he had on his mask wouldn't survive that long. So they wanted to make Nate's life more enjoyable before he got set on fire.

It was kind and considerate in a messed up way.

As Jack followed Nate. He noted several things about his appearance, first was that he seemed to have been descended from Indians. The Asian ones. Not the ones in America.

This was strange. Unlike Babina who wondered why the Empire wanted his DNA, Jack knew that very few Indians lived in Europe, and fewer still lived in mainland Europe at that. While Vat-Born had done away with this somewhat. Jack guessed that there was probably only around a hundred Indian Vat-Born and several Birthed in the empire.

Jack guessed that the government wanted to create spies to infiltrate the Raj. It was an open secret that the sub-continent had provided hordes of resources and man-power to help the British. So having agents who could spy on and sabotage the Raj was helpful. Especially if the people who controlled the Raj, were the Empire's sworn enemies.

Jack also noticed the numerous scars that marked his skin. While some were an inch or two most, others spiraled across entire limbs. Defacing the patterns that were etched into his skin when he was born.

Now he knew The Cult of Vulcan was mad at him. Vat-Born cared much about their individuality. So the cult taking away some of that through numerous ugly scar's was known as torture and punishment to Vat-Born who strayed out of line.

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But then why left Nate live? They had easily shown their ability to harm him. So why not kill him?

Jack guessed that if Nate died, then some people might do some digging, put two and two together. And call the cult out. The cult was likely doing some serious damage control. Making plans to sour the tale Vat-Born activists would spin when Nate's incident eventually got out.

Jack continued to follow Nate, making notes of his interactions with certain people. How well known was Nate? What connections did he have? What did people think of him? Before you could kill a man you had to know how he would impact society after he died.

Nate slowly winded down alleyway after alleyway. Street after street. Corner after corner. Till he finally stopped at a quaint looking home far away from the Market Place. Few sounds could be heard from this entire section of the city.

Except for the low pitched sounds of stray mutated animals, born from Vat-Born couplings that were not meant to be. Jack quickly excused himself. heading over to a nearby building before Nate realized he had been followed.

Jack quickly entered a rundown apartment. Filled to the brim with some type of moss. It sparkled with serene light. A pale blue that made Jack feel light of heart, As if the world suddenly melted away, all the stress. All the worries. Simply becoming non-existent to his mind.

Jack didn't know how long he stayed there till he felt a chill all the way to his spine. For a split second, he broke away from his trance and moved towards the door. The chill he felt suddenly became a wave of heat when a fist smashed into him from behind.

Jack was sent tumbling, his face smashing into the doorway of the apartment with a crash. Blood welled from his broken nose as a foot struck his back with full force.

Overwhelming pain-filled Jack as a barrage of kicks struck his back. Each one ringing his ribs with unbridled power and strength. Each strike having far surpassed what a normal man could do.

"You're some shitty agent aren't you? The next time you try to follow someone, make sure you're on your A-Game. While your target may not notice you, you have to worry about people protecting your target."

Jack slowly turned around to face the man who had attacked him.

The man had crimson spiky red hair along with one blue and orange eye. A tail belonging to that of Bibel themed devils ran out of his hip and ended with a pointed spade shape. The man had arms that were the equivalent of tree trunks, brimming with muscle and power.

Two massive fangs came out of his chin which ended in a downward curve. Each fang grinning in some sort of a weird smile. One where some unexpected prey just so happened to land in your lap.

"Hi, I'm Rudolph Spike, the brother of the man you attacked."

Oil. A term that was once known around the world as the substance that made the world turn. It was what powered the first car, the first airplane, and of course, the first tank. Such a substance had a violent impact on the environment. It and its cousin Natural Gas causing massive amounts of pollution to form in every major city that wanted to stay a major city. The only reason such an impact stopped was because of Vat-Born, or more accurately. The things we use to make Vat-Born. In essence, Vat-Born's are made from Vats. We acquire the genetic material of Vat-Born and place it inside a Vat. The Vat then quickly combines and fuse's genetic material, which is controlled and monitored to make sure the best traits are selected and used for the embryonic process. This relates to our original topic because Oil and Coal are made from biological creatures. So one should be able to produce Coal and Oil just as one produces Vat-Born right? And just as we modified and improved the original human genome, couldn't we improve Coal and Oil as well? It was at that moment that our entire species changed. Once we were hesitant to approach a power so similar to the divine. We told ourselves it was okay, that it was what God wanted. Or whatever being out there wanted. But in those lab's, I saw men frothing at the mouth, as they played God with no caution. We created something amazing we did in those labs. But sometimes I wonder if what we discovered was best left unrecorded.

- Memoir of Goldfire: The Building Blocks of the Great War