"Agreed compensation awarded to the Steel eye survivors includes 10 billion dollars in funding for the Machinaw rehabilitation center and its residents for the use in maintenance, housing, cost of living, medical support: including psychological services as well as housing and assistance if those residents are ever to leave on their own. This will also include compensation to the families of those who died during testing or the war. Furthermore, the surviving members of steel eye outside of the Machinaw rehabilitation center will also be awarded an additional 5 million for pain and suffering which includes the cost of future medical bills and psychological services."

Adam sat back in his seat and blinked a little surprised.

Lucky bastards.

Wait...

Admiral Kelly turned to look at him mouthing the words, "Nice."

He blinked stupidly for a second before realising, "Do they mean me."

Admiral Kelly snorted quickly, "You are a surviving member of steel eye aren't you?"

"Oh yeah, forgot about that."

She patted him on the back as the judges stood.

"The Geneva court awards these rulings and will be reinforcing ethical guidelines to biotechnology and bio splicing technology the ruling of which will be announced at a later date after a committee hearing has had time to meet on the subject. The sentencing for those tried in the court today begins effective immediately. The judges stood, and there was a loud clattering as the rest of the chamber stood with them, "This meeting is henceforth adjourned,and the ruling stands. Appeals may be made in a year after sentencing."

Adam took a very deep breath, feeling the air pass from his lungs out in a sharp burst.

Admiral Kelly patted him on the shoulder squeezing lightly as he took another deep breath, "Think you're going to be alright?"

"Yeah, I'm alright."

"I was worried about you a couple times there."

He smiled ruefully, me too. At his feet, the dog whined and he absently patted her on the head.

Taking stock of himself, he decided that he was feeling pretty good all things considered. Waffles whined again and he patted her again absently, "You probably need to go outside, don't you."

She whimpered, and he took that as an agreement.

Admiral Kelly walked with him from the courtroom greeting people and making small talk as they went. It was forced normalcy after all the things they had been forced to witness in the past few days, but at least they were trying, and he was feeling pretty good, almost high.

Luckily it seemed to be the kind of high that you didn't come crashing down from. He had survived the entire court case without once breaking out into a PTSD attack. It had come close a few times, but he had done it, he had survived, and he had helped win the compensation for his fellow steel eyes soldiers. If he could do that, there was no telling what he was he could do.

It almost didn't feel real.

"Are you feeling well enough to join a few of us for dinner tonight, Admiral."

He glanced over at Admiral Kelly, and nodded, "I think that is something I can do, just let me go and drop Waffles off at the hotel and I will meet you."

"You're not bringing her.... She's a service dog so they have to let her in."

He waved a hand dismissively, "It's alright, it's been a long day for the both of us, and I am sure she would rather relax somewhere quiet than spend time in a noisy restaurant surrounded by the smell of food she can' have."

They stopped outside onto the lawn and he looked down at the dog expecting her to begin sniffing around for a nice patch of grass, but instead she sat at his feet and stared at him, her ears alert, her eyes fixed on him. When he made eye contact with her, she shifted forward whimpering softly to get his attention.

Admiral Kelly looked down in confusion right along with him, "Is she ok?"

He shook his head in confusion, "I have no idea.... She's presenting like she does while I have an episode, but I feel fine.... Better than fine."

Admiral Kelly looked at him in concern, "Do you want someone to escort you back to the hotel?"

"No i think I am alright to take myself. I need to relax anyway, and a rail ride would allow me to see the city before dinner."

Just then Dr. Krill floated his way down the steps and stopped beside him, "That was.... Horrific."

"Yeah, well now its over and its time to think about food."

"How very human of you." Krill sighed, floating with him towards the end of the walk

She lifted her chin and nodded allowing him to walk off with waffles. One of the drivers stopped to speak with him, but he declined a ride and instead headed over to the rail. Krill on the other hand did accept an invitation to the car, and Adam parted with a wave before waiting patiently as a sleek white rail rolled up beside him. Waffles whimpered again, and he looked down to find her pressed up against his leg with big wide eyes staring up at him, nearly runnin into the train door because she wasn't paying attention to anything else.

He frowned and patted her head as they stepped on.

She squeezed herself between his knees and the sea in front of him as he sat winning softly, "What is your deal today, dog." He wondered tapping on his wrist and linking it to his implant. The call rang for a second before the other end of the line picked up.

"Hey Doc, is everyone in."

"Yeah, you're on speaker." In the background he could hear the shifting and the coughing of the other steel eye soldiers as they sat in baited breath in their seats.

"We won."

Muffled hearing in the background.

"We won, and 10 billion is going to you in settlement for pretty much all life expenses for the rest of forever."

More Cheering and shocked stammering from the doctor."

"Also a nice little sum for myself.... Don't know if I'll keep it though. Anyway, just thought you all should know."

Waffles whined again, and he patted her ears.

They spoke for a few more seconds when the doctor suddenly grew serious again, "And admiral... how are you feeling."

Adam smiled, "t was rough, not going to lie, but I am feeling pretty good right now. Better than I expected to feel. Hold on doctor, I will have to hang up in a minute. My stop is coming up."

The doctor paused, but let it pass, and he hung up as he was stepping off the rail into the heart of the city.

He felt as light as a feather as he walked down the street, his head spinning lightly from the exaltation of surviving the day. Waffles bumped into his side and stepped on his feet multiple times. He nudged her to the side with his leg, "Calm down would you."

The hotel was approaching just along the street, and he was greeted by a friendly clerk who smiled and waved as he walked into the lobby and headed up to his room. He stepped inside and moved over to change sighing as he finally crawled out of his uncomfortable uniform and into his preferred outfit.

Jeans and T-shirt.

There was no need for his jacket, which he left hanging on the bedpost.

He sat down with Waffles for a few minutes, holding her head between his hands and stroking his hand over her large, pointed ears which hse lay flat against her skull, closing her eyes and beating her tail against the floor.

"You worry too much, you know that."

Her fur was soft against his hands, "When Krill gets back from sightseeing, don't eat him, alright."

She liked his hand and he laughed, standing and walking towards the door.

As soon as he moved however, she leaped up to follow him, stepping on his foot again.

He frowned at her, "Waffles, no."

He pointed towards the floor beside the couch, "Lay down."

She didn't budge.

He was surprised.

She never disobeyed a command, never.

Is brows knitted together and he pointed more hardly at the spot of rug, "Go lay down." his voice was strong and unyielding. She backed away a few steps but didn't do as ordered.

He was a bit annoyed now not understanding what her issue was, "I said Lay down"

She lay down, but it was in the spot she was currently sitting.

He shook his head, "I will deal with you when I get back because I have no idea what has gotten into you."

He turned and walked towards the door ordering her to 'stay' as she left.

This time she did as told, though the whimpering and whining grew louder as he made his way towards the door.

"Sleep it off, girl." he said as he closed the door and stepped out onto the hall. Her whimpering faded behind him in the distance.

He felt good ,

Granted, of course he loved his dog, but,sometimes, she was a reminder to him of his weaknesses. It was good t get out there by himself, and stepping onto the street he raised his head to suck in a lungful of air, completely alone. Being on the Omen, it was hard to get his time away. It always felt like someone was watching him, babysitting him. Sometimes it was hard to feel like an adult.

Despite being the commander for the largest space armada in human history... the only space armada in human history.

He still often felt like he was being supervised.

He continued his way down the sidewalk following directions on his implant to the assigned restaurant.

The sun was just beginning to sink below the horizon, and he was simply enjoying feeling the warm breeze on his skin.

He would be a little bit early, but that was alright, he was sure he could find an outdoor table somewhere and just bask in the setting sun. Either that or he could find a bakery or something and find himself a pre-dinner snack.

Either one worked for him though the snack was starting to sound more appealing.

He took a step around the next corner just as the setting sun spilled downward into a grouping of clouds. The clouds luminesced and then burst into sparkling tones of red, which momentarily blinded him. He threw up a hand against the beam of light. Just to his left, a hover car was forced to let off its emergency air break, which came out as a sharp hiss of air from the front of the vehicle.

All sound was sucked from the world.

Replaced second later by a high pitched keening.

Lights passed over him, shadows from people walking just to his right.

Red light spilled past tem and onto his face.

He took another step, and the ground and stone jolted up through his steel eye leg and into stump.

He heard the sharp hiss of the suit as it churned to life, hungry and rpeditory, ready for a fight.

The red light faded, obscured by a shadow.

He could feel the ash against his skin as he passed through, the particles plastering against his skin and stinging at his eyes.

He held up a hand, watching as the servos on his forearm moved with his hand.

A plate of metal covered the back of his hand, as well as the casings that held his fingertips and protected his knuckles.

Stone thudded under his feet.

He spun around in confusion, hands up and ready for a fight. Ash and red mist swirled around him. He spun again, his heart hammering, his head foggy. Ash whipped at his face, he held up a hand to cover his eyes.

Where was he!

How did he get here!
Where as his platoon.

His brain was foggy and slow, all he saw was blac shadows in the mist around them. He tracked them with his eye zeroing in on them like targeting system. He reached down for a gun that wasn't there.

He was unarmed

Unarmed aside from the suit.

And he had no idea where he was.

He spun around again, tracking one of the shadows as it moved forward at him through the mist.

A shape, a massive shape with too many arms raced towards him from the red.

He lept back swinging violently out with his hand to stop the blow coming down from above.

The blow never came, and fearing for what might come next he dodged to the side an racked into the ash keeping one hand up over his face. He heard the garbled words of Drev as they rose up around him.

He turned sprinting through a gully of rocks, trying as hard as he could to get away from the voices. The Steel eye suit whirred and hissed below him as h leaped over rocks and dove through shadows sprinting as fast as he could.

The whirring from the prosthetic leg was loud inside his head.

His other leg burned and throbbed in pain.

Oh nooooo, no, no not now, not this pain, not now.

He imagined he could feel the pain creeping up his spine.

It must be the bo, was he missing the box?

He looked down at his chest and stomach to where the black box should have been, but found nothing other than the steel vise of the steel eye suit. Oh no, the painkillers were fading off. His leg began to throb more and more as he ra.

He could imagine the pain racing up his legs ad into his body as the medicine wore off.

He spun in circles hands to his head trying to find an escape. Great pillars of rock rose up on either side of him. Red mist swirled around him.

Ash pelted athis ski.

In a panic, he raced off in another direction, stumbling and flailing as the pain roared up through his human leg.

They were chasing him, he could hear voices calling out behind him... the Drev coming for him.

He sped up and continued his race forward, breath coming in ragged gasps. He was going as fast as he could, as fast as the steel eye suit could, but somehow they were still gaining on him.

Before him, the mist parted, he could see the edge, a small cliff-face where the rock dropped down about thirty feet.

That is where he could lose them.

He broke into a dead sprint, the steel eye whirring along with his movements.

Drev battlecries behind him, and he jumped.

The ground rose up to meet him, and with a thunderous crash he staggered forward, the prosthetic taking most of the impact.

The throbbing in his left leg grew exponentially worse, he cried out in pain but continued running knowing that the steel eye suit would operate no matter how broken his body was. He just needed to fight back the pain for long enough.... Long enough for someone to find him. The voices were fading now, and the large pillars of rock had moved further into the distance.

He sprinted down the center, feeling his feet clatter over moss and rock.

Pain shot up through his hip and into his pelvis.

He slowed to a halt dropping to his knee with the pain. He gritted his teeth and screamed in agony as the fire went rolling up his nerves and into his body. He had to keep going, he had to keep going. He staggered to his feet, the suit letting off a disjointed clattering. He could feel where it burrowed into his skin, latched onto him like some sort of sick parasite.

He wanted nothing more than to tear it off, but he knew he couldn't.

He had to get to somewhere safe.

He cut left across open ground and towards the monoliths of rock. Maybe he could lose them in there. He darted inward his knee crying out in pain, the ball joint of his hip screaming. The pain leaked up into his abdomen, into his stomach and up into the lumbar region of his spine.

He thought he could hear more voices behind him, but stopped.

Dead end.

He was blocked, and it was too high to jump.

Just a narrow wall of rock between him and the other side. He could still hear the steel eye whirring, and whirring louder now that he was thinking about escape. He couldn't go back the way he had come.

There was only one way to go.

Forward.

The steel eye was powerful.... Powerful enough to break stone.

He turned, backed up and then ran, pelting full tilt towards the small wall of stone the steel eye whirring around him, pain throbbing up through his limbs. He lowered his shoulder, tucked his head and....

Excruciating pain.

The whirring of the steel eye armor cut off as he was repelled backward, thrown to his back with a painful crunch. He lay on his back in a shattered heap, looking up at the sky, watching ash roll around him, a whirling mist of red. Small particles pelted against his face, but then.... Dripped down his cheek.

That.... Wasn't right.

As he lay there the sky above darkened. The red haze that had covered everything faded away

Black clouds hung overhead.

Small drops of drizzle fell from the sky, and the buildings that made up the alleyway he was in rose around him.

He lay on the ground in the metal scraps and refuse.

The rain picked up landing on his cheeks and dripping down towards his ears.

When he moved, there was no whirring.

He wasn't wearing the steel eye suit.

But he was in so much pain.

He could have gotten up....maybe

Crawled his way to help.

But he just... couldnt.

Not anymore.

He closed his eyes, and relinquished his hold on reality.

He didn't want it anyway.

***

He spun the cigarette between his fingers ignoring the occasional dirty look he received from passers by. yeah , yeah, he was trying to quit. It was actually pretty inconvenient to be a smoker in the 41st century. Soon the no smoking ads were going to get personal as he became the last man on earth to imbibe cancer sticks.

They could keep their noses out of his business.

Everyone had a vice.

Besides, he didn't smoke that much, thanks to his wife, but it was a habit he had picked up during the war to keep himself calm in tense situations, and it was a habit he found hard to break. Some people bit their nails, some people picked at their fingers, some people pulled their hair.

He smoked.

His left knee began to ache, and he turned his head towards the sky. Looked like rain.

Felt like rain.

Tasted like rain.

He reached down to rub his aching knee.

Stopping outside the door, he noticed the conspicuous no smoking sign, and tucked the cigarette into his shirt pocket, shouldering open the door, and into the dimly lit restaurant, crowded with people and filled with a cacophony of voices.

A hostess noticed him and smiled, "How many?" she asked

He shook his head, "here to meet some friends, big party of eight or so"

"Oh yes, they are just back here." She said motioning him forward, he followed after her through the dim interior and back towards where a group of men and women in casual dress were sitting around a table eating and drinking. Though they were dressed casually, he could tell by their bearing, straight backs and quick eyes, that they were soldiers before anything else.

They noticed him coming pretty early on and smiled.

Admiral Kelly waved him over.

He came to stop by, "Admiral." He said, nodding."

"Lindsay."

He turned to look at the rest of the table, who leaned forward slightly to get a better look at them.

"WHose your friend." one of the others asked Kelly.

She motioned him to sit in one of the remaining chairs, and he did so, "Everyone this is Kier Lindsay, an old friend here for the trial."

One of the other men leaned back, "The trial, you have family in the program or something?"

A smile twitched at the corner of his mouth, "Something like that."

A waiter passed by pouring him a glass of water and he thanked them before they headed off. Reaching out to take the glass, he noticed the other men and women's eyes as they fell on his hand, and the scars there.

"You?"

He nodded, "Yeah, me, still trying to figure out how to hide my newly awarded 5 million from extended family members."

Kelly snorted, "he's one of the five functional members of steel eye, and the old bastard seems to be doing pretty well all things considered."

His mind turned back to the cigarette in his pocket.

"How was the trial for you? Seemed to be pretty hard on Vir."

He shrugged, "Seen worse, experienced worse." He leaned back in his seat, "Other than an overwhelming desire to chain smoke my way through earths last remaining cigarette supply, I did pretty well." he glanced around the table, "Where is admiral vir anyway."

Kelly shrugged, "he was dropping his dog off at the hotel before heading over."

"Hmm.... wanted to talk to him. Boy seemed....."

"Shaken up."

"To put it mildly. I just wanted to introduce myself. He did a good job all things considered. Made me a bit smug when he told that lawyer to STFU."

"He has his moments."

Lindsay looked towards the door frowning slightly. It shouldn't have taken the man that long to head back to the hotel. The city wasn't that big, and its not like admiral Vir had a reputation for being late. Yeah Lindsay knew a little bit about him; he liked to keep an eye on the kid – in a not so creepy way– it was good to see other members of steel eye making it big.

But....

He took a few minutes and had a few drinks before setting his glass down and standing up.

"Where are you going?"

He smiled and patted his shirt pocket, "To shorten my lifespan a few years. Please excuse me."

They waved him off, and he stepped outside.

It was beginning to rain.

And the sun was just about setting.

He stepped into the rain, not caring about the wet. It felt good. Anything that reminded him he was alive felt good.

His little girl had taught him that.

She loved the rain.

Now, which way was that hotel?

He followed his feet along the pavement. No harm done in looking. If the man was on his way, they would probably run into each other, but.... something ... call it human intuition told him that it wasn't that easy.

He was just making his way up the nearest street when he heard something... odd.

Barking.

And the patter of paws on the ground just ahead of him. He squinted into the darkness and then leaped aside eyes wide as the German Shepherd charged from the darkness, ears pressed back against it's skull. For a second he thought it was coming after him, but then it blew past him.

In that split second, he turned his head, and made eye contact with the alien gripping the animal's collar, being dragged along like some sort of twisted children's balloon.

That was Admiral Vir's service dog.

A second later he had broken into an almost dead sprint after the two of them.

He was going to fall behind.

But then the Iron eye prosthetics whirred to life.

His feet thundered over the ground as he flew through the streets behind the dog. She wasn't going as fast as she possibly could, tracking at the same time she ran, so he ended up catching up to her.

Metal clattered against pavement.

He was going to need a new pair of shoes.

The alien stared at him.

"Where is Admiral Vir!" He shouted through gasping breaths.

"I don't know!." The alien squeaked a little bit as the dog leaped over a bench, cutting around a corner and skidding to a halt before an overpass drop.

He nearly flipped himself over the edge, just catching himself before taking a nosedive.

The dog whimpered and paced back and forth.

Lindsay peered over the edge of the overpass to the ground.... Where a line of webbed cracks was evident on the concrete.

"Holy shit.... He... jumped?"

The little alien followed his gaze giving a dark expression for an alien.

"But hes not there anymore."

Lindsay kicked his legs up and over the railing, "The Steel eye leg probably saved his legs."

He turned to look at the whimpering dog and held out his arms, "Come on girl, we can find him."

She stared at him, but somehow, something got across and she lifted herself up on her back paws.

He grabbed the dog around her front and back, grunting slightly at her weight. She whimpered.

"What are you doing!" the alien hissed.

"Relax, its not like I can break my legs."

He took a step forward and dropped like a stone.

He crashed into the concrete, sending up shards of the stuff outward from his impact.

The dog whimpered again, and he set her on the ground.

The alien floated down after, "You.... you are one of the steel eye soldiers."

"Yep,"

"Both legs?"

"One above the knee and one below, just got to be careful to take the weight on the right leg or my real knee might blow out... come on."

The dog sniffed at the ground for a moment before pelting off in another direction.

He raced after, the alien grabbing onto his shirt at the last moment and holding on for deer life.

He cut through the rail yard and down towards a set of buildings on the side, old scrap heaps covering in tufts of grass dotting the intervening space.

She raced into the next alleyway barking.

He followed after, skidding to a halt.

"Shit."

He trotted forward and dropped to his knees next to the body.

Adam Vir lay supine in a pool of greasy water face tilted back towards the sky. His clothing was torn. He was bleeding from his nose, and one ear. His entire right side was battered to shit and covered in abrasions.

It was only due to the shallow movement of his chest that he knew the man was still breathing.