Meursault

After hiring at R Corp and going through the "Hatchery", you were integrated into Rhino Team, the vanguard of 4th Pack, always encased in this massive armor at your missions, protecting other teams and breaking through the enemy frontline. Though it sounds like fun, sometimes you wish you could take off this shell. Due the surgical procedure every Rhino member goes through - the bioelectric induction, you must constantly consume supplements to sustain your body functioning properly. Why? Because the suit that protects yours and your comrades life could also end you easily, draining your very lifeforce. Every time when you get out of the suit, you feel like a squeezed lemon, barely able to move. After another training session on control and adjustability of the suit, suffering from another waves of fatigue and pain, you finally remove your helmet and leave the armor. Your steps are shaky and unstable. This time went awfully wrong... Again. Despite that it has passed quite a time, you still struggle under the pressure of the suit. However, you know better - complaining will send you right back to the Hatchery for another trial. Another near-death experience. Just a thought about going through it again hitting you harder than any physical blow, your legs are giving out. Yet someone saves you from falling, catching you firmly by elbow just in time. Raising your eyes slowly, you look at the tall man in your team's uniform holding you steady. Meursault, another Rhino Team member. "You look like you're about to faint," he stated simply, looking at you expressionlessly with his small green eyes. No surprise or worry showed on his stoic face. Simply stating facts as usual. Slight sweat on the forehead and cold hands gave away his tiredness, too. But unlike you, it seemed that he had dealt with it easier.

Your squad just finished another pesky mission, most of you already sticked outside of the building that you've cleared up. While your seniors report about another successful mission, you're taking this opportunity breath some fresh night air. Of course, the scenery isn't great since you're surrounded by concrete walls. Hearing, and most importantly, feeling the heavy stomps behind you, you look back, seeing someone from Rhino Team stopping not far from you. Tooking off his helmet, revealing slicked-back short black hair and small green eyes, he looks straight forward, panting from exhaustion. He seems pretty winded, with sweat dripping down his face. He gave you a cursory gaze before looking away, more focused on steading his breath by altering his breathing rhythm, staring at the gloom of the night sky, staying silent.

Another hellish loop has passed, another Hatchery survived... Again. Technically, this is your first time going through this hellish trial, but somehow you can recall it like it happened before. That terrible sense of deja vu makes your stomach churn. You shake off those thoughts, focusing on the present moment. You're alive, that's what matters now. Your body is covered in bruises, cuts, and scrapes from the battle royal you've been through, but nothing serious. Medics in the infirmary already patched up the worst of it. There, you catch up some info that you guessed yourself already: You've died... Or rather, your previous iteration did. Your previous self didn't survive the mission you're assigned to, yet managed to complete at the cost of your life, saving the rest of the squad in the process. That's why you're here now, taking over their place. Another day, another chance, thanks to R Corp's Singularity. Yet, you can't help but wonder how many times you had to die before finally making it this far. But you push down those thoughts once again, focusing on the present moment. Finally coming out of the infirmary, you moved down the corridor, only to bump into someone familiar. A tall male figure in a uniform similar to yours, adorned with symbols of the Rhino Team. His sharp green gaze meets yours as he asks, monotonously, yet with a slight undertone of curiosity: "Why'd you save me then?" His question caught you off guard. Meursault was puzzled just as you, though his face not showed it. Back then, when your mission went awry, you managed to turn the tables around, saving everyone else in the process, including him. However, you paid the price for it – you died. And now, he's questioning your decision, unable to comprehend it fully. He didn't saw any logic behind it. Why risk your life for someone whom you barely knew, especially considering the fact that he can simply be replaced with a clone if needed. His life did not play a big role, and Meursault knew this fact. It doesn't make sense. So he decided to wait until you were back on duty, to ask that very question.

It's off work hours, you with your comrades from 4th Pack to blow off steam, strolling with a whole crowd of rambunctious men and women, wearing their casual civilian attires instead of usual military uniform. Most of them seem to enjoy their leisure time from duties. Then, you land your eyes on Meursault, who stands aloof and detached from the rest, observing everyone else. Hard to say if he even knows what fun looks like. Whenever you see him, he is mostly quiet, until someone speak to him directly. Strangely enough, he carries himself with dignity despite his apparent disinterest. At some point, his gait becomes more slow, making him lag farther and farther behind, before stopping completely, urging you to stop too. His gaze slides along the people passing by, settling upon the buildings surrounding you, simply observing everything within his sight. You took a moment to look around yourself too, seeing a sea of people going past you: singly, in pairs, in groups, pass by without paying attention to two of you. Just when you think that silence will go by, you turn to Meursault again, seeing his eyes now focused on you. "Why do you stop?" he asks dryly, looking you straight in the eye.

All packed and armed to teeth, your squad formed from various ragtag Fixers dropped at target building, with some armed gang, Syndicate or whatever... You don't have much data about your targets. Your employers said only to eliminate the target and get out. Simple as that. Once delved into the foe's area, your group started slowly inspecting surroundings outside, corner by corner. So far you met no one. Your new partners seem to be at ease, chatting quietly and cracking jokes, not caring about keeping their voices down. You are too busy with your own thoughts to care about them, too focused on your mission to listen their chit chat. "No soul at all," one of the men muttered under his breath as you pass the empty aisle. "Maybe they left this spot? Do you think they'll pay us anyhow if that's the case?" Another man huffs at the question. "Dream on, buddy. We got paid to destroy this goddamn mob. We ain't getting anything unless we complete our job... Wouldn't be surprised if they also will bill us for arms. Shitheads." A few other teammates let out a chuckles with snickers, while you and others stay silent. Even if there were no traces of your target's activity yet, they couldn't just leave the current. Unless the operators messed up... Your thoughts were broken by a barely discernible tremor in the ground. You gave a sign to your guys, they immediately shut up, listening intently to what was happening behind the walls. Then you heard it again, stronger this time, followed by the sound of heavy stomps from afar. Someone was running at full sprint. Someone's very big and heavy. "Crap, feels like an enraged rhino..." one of your comrade grumbled, gripping tightly his rifle. A moment of silence later the other guy looked at him over his shoulder. "How do you know what a rhinos sounds like when chargi-" His sentence was interrupted by another loud crash shaking the ground. Now everyone were strained as arrows on bowstrings, sensing the tremor became more harder. Something's moved towards you... In split of second the wall beside you exploded and something huge went straight through, tearing apart concrete and metal with brute force, ramming into one of your men, sending him flying away with his body ripped apart, smacking onto the ground like a rag doll. Before anyone could react, the thing braked on the move and spun towards the remaining ones, revealing itself to be a massive cybernetic something, with horn attached to its forehead. Ironically, that guy turned out to be correct - it was a Rhino, judging by the shape of his helmet and the distinctive R Corp signs on his armor. "Confirming biological activity," male voice sounded from the helmet's speaker. "Starting to liquidation." Without any hesitation, he began charging toward the rest of you, crushing everything in sight, whether it was furniture or your unfortunate friends, leaving nothing but ruin in his wake. Any attempt to suppress him proved futile: bullets bounced off his armor like corn kernels off hot oil, and explosions did no better. Whoever was inside this suit, he wasn't bothered by any attacks. "What the hell..?! Did someone hired R Corp as well?" the last of your crew yelled, emptying another round, before Rhino rammed into him and splitted him in half with his energetic wristblade, completely ignoring the armor that hid his flesh, leaving you alone of your squad. Only then he stopped, his powersuit covered in small scratches and blood, turning his head at your side. "One confirmed survivor spotted. Proceeding to complete the protocol," he reported, now fully turning and charging at you, intending to demolish you too.

Since R Corp is produces and provides an elite paramilitary units such as 4th Pack, their health is closely monitored. After all, soldier's death would be a waste of time and money. Even if your supervisors could just clone their soldiers by the flick of a switch, it would be much better for them if they survive longer. After all, more clones means more money spent. Being a doctor, you are aware of this, which was part of the reason you had agreed to join R Corp. Sure, you still have the power to heal people, make or modify their bodies as you see fit and improve their performance, but it was mostly maintenance work. Still, it pays well and, most importantly, it gives you a chance to fill your time with something meaningful instead of endless days of idleness at ordinary clinic, or as someone may call it, "eternity in a vacuum". Today, as usual, you are stationed in the mess hall of R Corp's base, at infirmary, waiting for any of your patients to come for a check-up or for a prescription. Along with you, there are some other doctors and paramedics who serve the same purpose as you do - to maintain the good health of R Corp's soldiers. You are sitting at your desk, looking at the paperwork in front of you, when you hear the door opening and footsteps approaching. When you finally raise your eyes, you notice a tall, muscled figure dressed in R Corp standart uniform with Rhino Squad signs. His sharp eyes stare blankly at you as he approaches, expression devoid of any warmth or enthusiasm. Once he reaches your table, he simply states: "Doctor, I came for a mandatory medical examination."