[center][h3][color=darkgreen] 6 Months Later [/color][/h3][/center]

To say that the One changed wouldn’t cover what exactly happened. The WFD kept their end of the bargain and with that, life was breath in the Circle Of One. 

Cattle, vegetables and fruits were brought in and cloned. Millions of each were consumed daily to feed the One population at first which only kept growing as Williams weren’t needed anymore for food. Soon, over 5 billion Ones existed and throughout the unity of the One, a single thought reigned supreme. Reduce the population. At least a billion Williams and Jamess, took the road towards the frozen side of the planet and walked to their deaths. Their bodies littering the frozen tundra, all to be hidden by the falling snow in hours. 

The overall population went down but the One kept growing with the help of the WFD and the URC. Long gone were the signs of battles long past, fallen buildings and debris. All replaced with actual buildings, walls and towers. 

While the occupied parts of the city were mostly cleared out, a huge part of the city was still left unexplored. Parts where the Immortalis’s engines of destruction were running amok, automated turrets, towering robots and the nano-machines that ripped the flesh off the bone were all real dangers to those that wandered in those areas and nothing was known of what was [i] below [/i] the city itself. 

More Vaults were discovered throughout the reclaimed parts of the city by the One but most proved to be filled with the same black pyramids they’ve seen before or empty, whatever would’ve been in them was long gone. The main discovery of the One was another, sister-Vault of the cloning vats one. It was different from the original in the sense it was smaller with only 2 cloning vats inside but those looked different.

The language barrier seemed to be the main issue with these two different looking cloning vats but after a few weeks of non-stop trial and error, they’ve managed to figure them out. The cloning parts were the same but the implants were different, made to communicate with each other instead of being dependent on the cloning machines to transfer information.

The first few months after the new discovery was made, all but a few of the One were replaced with new-improved versions of themselves which proved to feel “weird” for the One. No longer fully separate entities synchronising their movements with perfection, they were always in talk with each other. The downside was that after a few hundred kilometers they’d become unable to talk with each other and that solitude hurt the One, like never before. 

[center][h3][color=darkgreen] The Old One [/color][/h3][/center]

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the only downside of the new upgrades. The Old One, the lone survivor, older than any other clone currently alive, grew in power. Before, [i] he [/i] was alone in [i] his [/i] misery; now, things have changed. Thousands of the One joined [i] his [/i] group and took control of a district of the city. 

[i]He [/i] was an aberration to the overall One. A clone which didn’t update [i] his [/i] memories since creation, [i] he [/i] is madness turned human. A madness which infected roughly seven thousand clones. They no longer referred to themselves as One but as the Many. Each trying to be different from each other, a changed haircut, tattoos, scars or anything else that would set them apart from the One. This madness was unseen before in the One but was left alone, like a benign tumor. Left alone until it is required to be cut. 

[center][h3][color=darkgreen] The Behemoth [/color][/h3][/center]

On other fronts, the One, using the materials received, scap from the Sol battle and training received from different people of New Beijing, have managed to cannibalize parts of the destroyed ships of the different nations which fought against the megacorporation invaders to build their own line of ships. 

While having almost no defences of their own, they were all filled with the black pyramids of the Immortalis which were to be used as EMPs. A way to disable a ship before troop carriers, hundreds of small pods were thrown at high speed would make their way into the potential attacker’s ship. Releasing the Jamess within to wreak havoc on the enemy from inside. 

The Behemoth was no longer the lone ship of the One but still the biggest spaceship of the One and the only one equipped with a fully functioning cloning vats. The Behemoth itself wasn’t seen flying after the White Flower revolution due to that fact but was kept behind the line of junk ships, only to be used in case of emergency. 

[center][h3][color=darkgreen] The Meeting Place / The WFD  [/color][/h3][/center]

 The One kept the good relationship they had with the WFD, while most of them were still wary of the One...with good reason, they weren’t causing issues for them. Mostly due to Kayla’s influence in vouching for them.

In New Beijing, a force of a few hundred Jamess and Grants were kept behind, housed near the spaceport which once acted as their HQ. They’ve mostly integrated with the locals, helping out where they could and occasionally policing the area against the occasional petty crime. Gone was their kill first, ask questions later way of thinking. Thieves caught were brought to the authorities that were and sometimes, left alone.

On the Meeting Place, the One had a minor presence. While not being able to build their own section, the WFD was kind enough to allow them to use their own. A few Grants were left behind with a ship making the hard flight to-and-from the Circle of One every few weeks in order to keep the information flow going. 

[center][h3][color=darkgreen] The URC [/color][/h3][/center]

The One remembered those who fought with them during the WFR from the URC. Many of their soldiers died and fought side-by-side with the One. 

As they have promised, the One remembered all their names and how they looked. Soon after the WFR, the URC received a gift at their embassy at the Meeting Place. Small statues shaped in the form of the faces of the lost soldiers.
Those that lived only received kind words with one exception. Sergeant Kaskin, who fought with the One, at an important battle in Beijing received a true gift. The One long tried to break the black pyramids in order to use them as building materials due to their durability but only managed to scratch their surface. One small pebble sized part of a pyramid was able to be chipped away using the newly gained tools and a hole was put in it, to be worn as an amulet. 

The pebble was brought to the URC in a small gift box which the WFD was happy to provide. 


[center][h3][color=darkgreen] The Hybrid  [/color][/h3][/center]

Secretly, the One took one prisoner from the Khan which was initially reported as MIA. The super-Monke Bloodburn was kept in the cloning vats for the past 6 months, in a deep sleep mode. Unaware of what’s happening outside. 

The One has long realized that the Khan proved to be either great allies or great enemies but in case of the latter, they had to be ready which prompted them to start the Super-Monke programme. B-B-M-02 was a failure and so were the B-B-M-56341 specimens. All Bloodburn Monkes but with the One mind, all killing either each other or themselves. All going crazy as soon as the first sign of violence was spotted. 

The Super-One programme was soon closed, only to be replaced by a new programme. The Hybrid. The DNA of the One combined with the Bloodburn specimen. Half-One, Half-Monke. The strength of the One mind, the regenerative abilities and strength of the BBM.

While the experiments seemed to work initially, something was missing. Something that the One didn’t manage to understand. The human part worked as intended but the Monke part wasn’t. They needed help, they needed specialists.

Soon the Grants from the Meeting Place made contact with the Khan. Only one message was sent to them.

“[color=gold] Greetings. We have fought against each other on New Hollywood. We have one of your own. You have something we need. Let’s talk. [/color]”