Part 112: Episode CIX: Biohazard
Episode CIX: Biohazard
We now join
"But that doesn't mean there is anything wrong with our plan... Everything is still under control. In the event of the explosion in the capital of Solaris earlier...I had set up a nanomachine virus to diffuse into the atmosphere. I knew they were eventually going to break the seal... But the timing was a little close for comfort... The current mutations of the humans are an initial response to the virus... Once the virus we spread over the world germinates inside of the humans, they are no longer the same. They change into a controllable form. We need humans that do not depend on the key's invocation in order to awaken. In other words, a being to take the place of the original body of god..."
“A literal virus... But... isn't it different from what they intended...?" *shakes head then nods* "Of course. We can't let them have it their way. The 'Ark of god' is mine." *laughs* "...Either way is fine by me. I will just side with whichever is the more certain one anyway..."Music: Omen
*munch* “Mmm... PB&J... Huh...? It’s my turn to narrate again? Just a moment...” *gulps milk* “Ahh... Okay. Let’s go.”
These facilities existed all over the earth. It is said that, originally, these were used for biological experiments and brainwashing. ”Is it supposed to read ‘Soylent System’? I thought this was the Ethos’ deal...? No? Alright then...”
Some of the humans turned Wels were attacking healthy humans and devouring their flesh and blood. That is because healthy human flesh and blood eased the pain of their sudden molecular changes and let them live longer. Their lives were so short...
We asked Citan and Taura if they felt any regret for having turned a healthy amount of the world’s population into zombies and cannibal mutants. But Taura vanished from his home, never to be seen again. Citan merely adjusted his glasses and gave an apathetic shrug to the whole situation.
Spoilers: We’re not visiting here either.
This one got a bit further into development than the Mass Driver facility. There’s still an entry for the Soylent System in the game’s map data. And as you can see, they actually finished rooms to have proper cutscenes in this time around.
Go to those facilities and you will be freed from the unbearable agony... So people gathered, seeking a fulfillment of this promise. There is salvation there... The news spread... although no one actually uttered it. Their mutated blood probably told such people to 'gather' there...
It went surprisingly smoothly. So much so that it is barely worth mentioning, beyond the boss battle.
It was an ugly battle to keep on living. Or so it may have seemed to the casual passerby... But to me they were desperately trying to live. It was each person's 'natural human form'. There were the 'haves' and the 'have-nots'... And...among them...were some of my former friends from Solaris...
”Hey, Lieutenant Van Houten. Fancy seeing you here. Grow an extra arm or something?” “No. Just here to shut down the pla—“ “Yeah. I grew an extra nose on the top of my head. You can’t see it, the hair is in the way. Makes me use the quality shampoo nowadays.” “I...see...” “Eh. Can’t complain. Vance here grew a hand out of his penis and an asshole on his elbow.”
“K-Kill me!” “Right... Sort of in the middle of something...” “Ah. Right. Well, nice seeing you...even if you did get us all shitcanned from Gebler. But hey...given the shape Solaris is in nowadays, it just got us to the unemployment line ahead of most folks.”
*clears throat*
They asked if a 'have' such as myself could understand their pain... I couldn't answer... No matter what I said it would have sounded like a conceited 'have' speaking... Even so, I wanted to relieve their anguish... And I decided to do so. Just like the person in the memory of my dreams... in the distant past...
”What the BALLS is that!?”Music: Knight of Fire
The ultimate bio weapon broke out of containment and is now attacking everyone in sight? You know, before I was just joking about Solaris being an Umbrella subsidiary. Now I’m not so sure...
We had to fight it... in order to save the people and in order to save 'him'... The eyes of that which was once human looked at me, pleading for... death... to take away the agony.
Alright. Time for our first proper boss fight since Miang and Grahf way back at the end of the first disc. Sufal Mass gained a few groupies from cutscene to gameplay. But, they’re a non-threat. The lesser mutants are just literally snacks for the big boss.
As such, we want to kill three out of the four straight away before even considering attacking the Tyrant. That is because when Sufal Mass takes a sufficient amount of damage, it will devour one of the lesser Sufals for a good 1500 HP heal. However, if we kill all four of ‘em before he gets at least one snack, he’ll instead start chomping the heads off our party members for nourishment. Considering that’s a one hit KO + all that HP going toward the boss...yeah...best to avoid that.
Other than that, Sufal Mass doesn’t have much in the way of offensive abilities. It has one fireball attack that hits the whole party for 50-100 HP. And a second individual targeting shot that did a whole 1 HP of damage to Elly and Citan when they got hit.
One final note for this battle is the fact that the BOW absorbs all elemental attacks. If you’ll recall, most all of our 7AP Deathblows have elemental affinities. So basically, they’re all off limits for this fight as far as attacking the big bad goes.
But, even so Citan is pumping out 1000+ HP of damage with his 6AP moves so once more, he could probably solo the whole fight without too much difficulty.
Well, that wasn’t too bad. And profitable too. Who’d have known a horribly mutated monster in a jar would be so loaded? Euthanizing can be fun and profitable too!
After the battle...back to cutscene land!
”Erm... May I ask what for...?” “May I borrow it or not?” “This is gonna get weird, isn’t it...?”
Click to view cutscene (Warning: Kung Fu movie caliber dubbing)
Hey. An anime cutscene. We haven’t seen one of those since...what? That Kahn/Id/Grahf flashback back before when we first met Bart?
Anyhow, Elly is borrowing Citan’s Hanzo Steel to cut up her hand. Don’t ask me how her uniform’s sleeve magically phased out of existence for her to bare-hand the blade. Gebler uniforms can apparently just do that.
See? It’s back already!
And now it’s gone again! Wiggy.
Elly decides she’s going to feed one of the Sufal Wels we cut down in the boss battle a bit of her blood. Poor guy has been surviving on eating gross portrait-less NPCs this whole time. Now he’s getting a taste of the some quality fluids.
Mmm... That’s the good stuff: Grade-A female lead blood.
"I'm sorry. I guess I couldn't help you after all.”
"All I can do for you now is ease your wounds. ...I'm so sorry."
"Elly...? You..." ”...Yes?” “...Huh? Oh nothing. I just wanted a voice acted line...”
”Blarghle.” *dies*
I wonder what function the steel girder crosses sticking out of a glowing vat serves in the Soylent System.
A short while later...
Music: Shattering Egg of Dreams
"This facility was built by the Solaris Ministry... It was created to implement their 'no waste' plan. Such facilities were used to convert mutated humans into weapons that serve as tools for their ambitions. Just one part of their overall plan of racial purification."Flash...
“...you can avoid absolute death. But is that human life? Even if you are the only one left, if you're devoid of a heart, what does it all mean?"Flash...
“By ourselves, we are lonely, so we try to draw close together to live... That's what it means to be human... That's how people live. A single hand cannot clap."Flash...
“Therefore... don't throw away your dignity as humans... Don't let go of your human heart..."Elly, now in full blown drama queen mode, briefly collapses. Fei jumps 30 feet across the crowd to come to her aid...
"You think I am doing something... foolish?" "No..." ”Your heart is in the right place. You...might want to hire a speech writer if this is going to become a regular thing. That was... I mean ‘a single hand cannot clap’...? That’s like something Bart would say to sound deep.” "I only did what I could. Maybe I'm a hypocrite. A well-to-do 'have'. Maybe it's only pity for the 'have nots'... But if I can know the joy of giving out a little of the life within me... Then maybe someday it may just be possible that one human can truly give love to another... People can do it... I truly believe they can. That's why..." "Elly..."
<This is going to be a high maintenance relationship, isn’t it...?>
So were the Soylent System labs already stationed on earth just in case everyone was turned into mutants? Did they set them up recently after Etrenank’s fall? Perhaps they just had some interns duct tape “Soylent” over all the old Ethos church signs and re-purposed the Umbrella labs they all had in their basements for this whole business.
Oh well, no use thinking too hard about it. Fei and the gang busted them all up off screen.
Those who had mutated only mildly were treated with Taura's nanomachines, which reconstructed and revived them. They were able to return back to their normal bodies. They all received a complimentary fruit basket donation and two free games off the PSN for the inconvenience caused by us. Unfortunately, there were some that had such accelerated symptoms that their treatment was not as promising... Trying to bring them back to a form that resembled a human was the best that could be done. However, mysteriously, they no longer fought each other for survival as they did when they were held by the Soylent System. Of course, their recovery from the physical pain of the mutation may have played a factor, but it wasn't only that... The majority of the people received by Nisan were those that had been admonished by Elly and had regained their humanity.
Between her work in destroying the Soylent System facilities, Elly also went around and nursed the people in Nisan. She aided the bodies of the mutated and lent an ear to those who had no other place to go for help... She was the very image of the woman who created Nisan... 'Mother Sophia'... Margie was a bit annoyed that Elly was all but stealing her job. But Bart brought Chuthulhu over to distract her, so it didn’t become too much of an issue. It became rumored that Elly was a reincarnation or a second advent of Sophia. Go to Nisan and you will receive salvation... The news seemed to spread further about and people came from all over to be saved, both physically and spiritually. Free from the supervision of Solaris, the surface dwellers began to unite in one place.Meanwhile, back on the Satellite of Love...
“The germinating of those destined to be the body of the servant of god.”
“Not to fear... This might actually be helpful for us.”
“The time is near. Should we not prepare for those who are to become the fleshly body of god, and those who will awaken god?”
“The time has come to activate the 'Gaetia Key'...”
The Gazel guys have mentioned a ‘Gaetia Key’ a few times now (no definition of course.) It would appear they’re not just throwing out doublespeak proper nouns. They’ve actually got some kind of giant key to stick in a giant ignition slot on the floor of their chamber. But...
The SOL-9000 is blasted with energy from off-screen...
“Cain!?”
"What more do you intend to do? I can not allow you to use the 'Key'!"
“Cain! What are you doing!?”
“Without the resurrection of god, our purpose cannot be fulfilled!” “Or... are you planning on perishing with god, Cain...? Without fulfilling our purpose...” "Your purpose...? You were fated to it from your birth. Why haven't you realized that it does not arise from your own free will?" “I've heard enough...”
“Yes. This is of our own volition...” “If you still insist on opposing us...”Emperor Cain turns up the juice on the uppity SOL-9000 crew...
"Have you forgotten? You are my subordinates! I can destroy you if I so desire." “Mnnuuuuuuuhh...” "We have already done our part. It's time to pass the helm to the next generation. The people will not perish..." 
Elly and the Wels Cutscene
"I planned ahead just in case and released a virus that turns people into mutants if their Limiters are ever released." "...That's quite the contengency. Won't the Gazel Ministry get pissed?" "You seem to think I care." "Whatever. I keep everybody in the friend zone so I can slide onto the winning team in the end."Meanwhile in the narration zone...
So we accidentally turned everyone into horrible cannibal mutants. Solaris had a bunch of Wels hamburger processing plants on standby and the mutated people flocked there in droves since they're kind of stupid like that. Solaris mostly just locked them in rooms and let them eat one another. Also this some how resulted in bio-weapons from the shreds them moped up. Fei and I (Citan was there too but he didn't say anything) went to the Soylent System facility to bust it up. I was upset all the mutated humans were fighting and eating one another and muttered something about 'haves' and 'have-nots'. I'm going to be honest, I got pretty baked on the ride over here. Anyway, the Tyrant locked up in this Soylent System facility broke out and started eating everybody. My comrades and I killed it fairly easily. But then I felt unusually sorry for one of the dying mutants (that we'd just beaten up) so I took Citan's sword, cut myself, and let it drink some of my blood. It still died. And now I'm kind of woozy from blood loss. Also, now I'm Mother Teresa. Some time later...
So we destroyed all the Soylent System facilities and Elly became an aid worker for the mutants back in Nisan. Everyone flocked there saying she's the reincarnation of Mother Sophia, the founder of Nisan's religion. I totally said that 40 hours ago when we first got to Nisan but nobody listened to me! Anyway, everyone that got mutated was fixed up or died peacefully. Super sorry about that speed bump, folks.Meanwhile...
"Proper Noun." "Proper Noun?" "Use the Proper Noun..." "Goddammit! I told you kids not to use the Proper Noun! Now go back to bed!" "No, fuck YOU dad! We're using the Proper Noun!" "Me and my flatscreen TV laser says otherwise!" "RAAAAAHHH!!!" "I'm taking off the belt next time I have to come back here
Emperor Cain Concept Art