Chapter Two

Part One

December 12, 2253, several months before the Stigmata Enhancer outbreak.

"You’ve been working under Aisha since you were a college freshman. Am I correct Professor Wingate?" Takahashi asked.

"I don't have time to sit here for your amusement, Administrator. If you knew that then why are you asking?" She replies fiercely, apparently not pleased. "Why did you call me?"

"Well, Chief Science Officer Aisha isn't the rashes of people in the science community. She's loathed by all institutions across the planet for her... questionable methods of research. She's caused us both and the world a great deal of grief, embarrassment, and fortunes."

Takahashi struck a chord with Venessa.

"And so you want me to ally with you? you have some damn nerve Administrator Takahashi for even thinking of a joint venture between us after that stunt you pulled in Antarctica, sabotaging the [Environmental Recovery Project]."

"That's past tense, my friend."

"I'm not your friend, never was. Now get to the point of this meeting."

"Professor Wingate. I need insight on her institution's trade secrets and your dieing on the inside to get back at your C.S.O for that accident she swept under the rug for a decade. She's been silent since she was stripped of her Administrator status and career, but that's not stopping her, she's been working on something in total secrecy during her stay in the states. It's becoming a major concern for the community for we don't know what kind of threat she has hidden from the community."

Venessa’s blood begins to boil as her past rapidly creeps back to her from the deepest recesses of her consciousness. Her former Professor's eyes were cold, devoid of emotion and life, which frightened Venessa on her first encounter but, now all she feels is hatred and anger. However, nothing dissatisfied her more than sitting before her enemy, degrading tension between the two prominent figures.

"I can get you what you want. But what's in it for me? getting thrown into jail for stealing private property without gaining anything myself."

Takahashi hid his devious smirk behind his glass of whisky. His eyes fixed on Venessa’s lifeless face. "Ah, that's good scotch. I expect Aisha to have a wellspring of information and experiments with untapped potential. Whatever trade secrets you collect along with the main objective you can keep without any transparency. My overlord won't even know. Deal?"

There wasn't anything to think about, Venessa stands shanking his hand with a vice grip accepting the job. "Nature has no morals. That's what she told me when I lost my students to the experiment... those words showed me that she was no longer human. You'll have what you want in a few months. After this job, we'll no longer be in contact. Oh, by the way, it's best if you keep your nose out of Professor Aisha's business before you get burned."

Takahashi smiled as she leaves his office. "That's a risk I'm willing to take, my friend."

******

Upstate New York, Sublevel 6 Helix Industries

"Physical Inhibitors enabled, cryo thaw complete, all vital systems are functional, she's ready for release, Administrator Tojo."

"Raise security defense to level 3, processed with her release."

*Security Level raised to level 3. Sentinentals on Standby.*

"But sir, there's no telling what she'll do if released, we're not certain what kind of disruption she'll create."

"Just do it! with the inhibitor installed her frame is vulnerable to conventional methods."

The senior engineer complied with hesitance. The other faculty members in the control room paused for a brief moment with their eyes glued to the center holo-display as the pod depressurized and drained of its liquid content.

The brace around the girl's neck decoupled with a faint hissing, she drops onto the floor like a rag doll making a clunk sound. Fog crept along the metallic floor, dew formed on the walls, computers, and electronics in the room.

"Electromagnetic spike detected on the ground floor." A synthesize echoed.

"Administrator Tojo, temperature on the ground floor is dropping rapidly, freeze advisory!"

She slowly sits up on her knees with her head tilted back toward the ceiling. Her iris glowed a purple hue as she came to life.

"Someone's infiltrated our systems. Anti-cyberwarfare algorithms are ineffective, switching to redundant servers. Dummy links active."

This isn’t home, where am I? She looks around the empty room for others, she stares blankly up at the wall. Her pupils shift colors, her x-ray ocular drivers penetrating the thick metal walls detecting several personal above along with several heavily armed Sentinentals stationed adjacent from the control room below.

*Warning! unknown hardware detected, unable to engage threats, offensive, and defensive systems offline. Delta Frame below optimal operating range.*

Staff members behind the wall slowly stood up, ready to flee. A natural reaction, unsure what they have released from their slumber.

"She poses no threat to us. See what you can extract from her AI core." Takahashi reassures his staff as the elevator door to the isolated room opens. Deep within his consciousness, he wasn’t fully confident about this plan himself. Even with the restriction hardware installed, there's no guarantee she'll remain a servant and undoubtedly undo all of his work.

"Administrator Tojo, should we prepare the Learning Tree equipment?"

"That won't be necessary for someone like her. She's not a blank platform. She's a human in a synthetic body, speech, logic, and basic human functionality are already imprinted in her, Her mother is far ahead of her time while the rest of the world was just stepping foot into the realm of full-body synthetics."

Takahashi approached the girl, kneeling before her. Her eyes followed his every move, soon their eyes locked. "Such beauty is said to be impossible for the hands of humans but you, she outdid herself."

*Tuning Auditory Emulators, vocal recognition compiling... voice match found. Administrator Takahashi Tojo of North Albany Institution, head of Helix Industries. Warning! Cyber Intrusion detected. Safeguard Mode active.*

He touches her face, gliding his hand across her bone-chilling brown skin, running his fingers through her brown soft hair. "I wonder how this will make her feel. Knowing I have her greatest achievement in the palm of my hand. At the forefront of Type-2 biotics, you'll be useful in gathering crucial data on our latest research since her computing program outclasses anything we have built in the last 40 years."

Upon closer expection, Takahashi noticed a white shimmering glow over her skin. Every five seconds a hexagonal pattern would appear covering her body from head to toe. He sighed heavily shoving her to the side. "I see that defiance is a hereditary trait. You aren't going to make my life easier. Seize information extract programs and get her to Sublevel 10."

******

Several hours later after being transferred to another part of the facility, sitting in a chair with several machines attached to her gathering basic diagnostics as she interacts with her neural interface and AI core, running her own diagnostics on the unknown hardware attached to her spine.

*Self-removal is unfeasible, multiple redundancies detected micro explosives detected. Any form of tampering with the device will result in immediate termination.*

"I need to remove it somehow. Active Protocol Home."

*Establishing connection to Quantum Communication Network… error. Network has been disabled… Isolation protocol active. Changing communication parameters. Cyberwarfare suits: Active. Connecting with the global information network to expand search fields… connection error; all global networks are offline, switching to local information network... finding root cause. Alexandria has been declared inactive as of 06/25/2245, time 12:30 am, reason for inactivity is currently unknown.*

"Alexandria is a contender-class A.I. equipped with a robust defense system, an offensive matrix, and geostrategic positioning, she can accurately determine an incoming threats and effectively execute a solution to combat any threat, for her to be inactive is a major concern

*New Objective: Investigate Alexandria's sudden inactivity.*

She looks around the bland room, her eyes expand and contract following something on the other side of the wall, her eyes stop on the door.

"Yes?" She asked before the woman could knock.

The door opens, in the woman's hands were some street clothes for her to wear. She takes the clothes from the woman and dresses without regard for her own privacy.

"Excuse me, but do you have a name?" The woman asked, feeling fidgety being alone with the girl.

"My birth name is Sierra… Sierra…" Sierra repeated her name before muttering something intangible under her breath.

"Sierra is just fine." The woman directed Sierra to a table near the wall, an image overlooking the city's skyline appears on the wall.

"May I have your name?" Sierra requested looking at the holo-display of the city.

"My name is Kimberly Walkings I'm a biologists. Would you care for something to eat? You must be hungry after being in cryo sleep for so long."

"I appreciate the hospitality however, I don't require organic material to regain energy. I'm 100% self-sufficient largely in part to my mark X Tenebrion Core."

"A compacted Tenebrion Core? Fascinating were still using overflux salt reactors to power our cities. Only a few small experimental dark reactors are being tested for future space travel, but those efforts have stalled."

"Professor Walkings, what happened to the Library of Alexandria?" She asked bluntly.

"Hmm, I'm not sure. Among the other researchers, they believe Alexandria was knocked off course by solar winds and disintegrated in the earth's atmosphere but all of her instruments went offline instantly, no evidence can be provided for it to be the cause. On the other hand, the public is convinced it was a terrorist attack against the major tech and science sectors done by the Underworld but not even they're taking accountability for Alexandra's disappearance."

"I see. Professor Walkings, how did I end up here in Neo New York City? I recall being home in Neo Ciro."

"Sorry, I can't give you a proper answer since your existence was brought to light just a few hours ago. Facility members are still puzzled about you."

As they sat in silence, Professor Walkings' eyes wondered, landing on Sierra's slim body. Her mind was still trying to comprehend the girl's existence, a myriad of questions poured into her mind as she examined every part of Sierra's body. What is her skin and hair composition? does it have the same texture as mine?

"Professor Walkings, is something wrong? you've been staring for a while now."

"No, it's nothing..." Professor Walkings' phone beeps. "Oh! It looks like it's time to get this ball on the road, come, Sierra, there's someone that would like to meet you. She's been waiting a long time since you were brought here."

"Acknowledged. Also, Professor Walkings, are you nervous just being alone with me?"

"Of course not, what makes you say that?" She replies frantically.

"Your heart rate has elevated since entering my room. I can point out various bodily signals proving..."

"Ok ok, I am scared a just a bit but mostly it's curiosity. You're the first cyborg I've seen in my life. The practice of cyberization of the human body is outright banned along with Human Artificial Intelligence, superintelligence, mass teleportation, human biosynthesis."

"Those banned practices were created by our human hands and intelligence. Before they were held with great promises for the future of humanity. It can quickly become a blight on humanity. We have a tendency of creating marvelous things only for it to be abused by the malace-filled minds, just like biotics, they'll do the same with synthetics," Sierra replies as she steps into the elevator.

******

Part 2

August 16, Coney Island 9 pm

Night had fallen upon the city, revealing the beautiful city lights that blocked out the stars. People were out having a good time and embracing the warm summer night breeze that flowed in from the east.

As for Kuniva, he was at the nearby park. The bright park lights illuminated the large field and track. Bugs swarmed the lighted areas as people enjoyed a midnight jog around the track, walk, bike ride, or just hanging out with their friends. Kuniva noticed the increase in police and security drones patrolling the area. The smell of fresh-cut grass lingered in the air from the afternoon landscaping.

It’s that time of year again. It’s like this every summer in the big city. Sitting on the monkey bars spinning a metal cube on the tip of his finger. Kuniva stared at the passing trams as they entered and departed from the station, studying the black sky and listening to the sounds of the neighborhood.

"A lot of crazy things are going on but it doesn't compete with last night. All of those test sites where the experiments were conducted didn't show up on any internet forms or on the city's safety message board. Helix Industries, a multiplatform corporation. Best known for their ELZ-type7 neural interfaces, NTX-type9 artificial stigmata nodes, and the ZTN-type10 Psycho Driver."

Kuniva spent the last 16 hour combing through the data Professor Walkings gave him. There was nothing that stuck out the most was X02HG7689P01.

[Project Ascension], is it really possible for a person to break free human limitations and reach Transcendence with human interference?

He watched as a boy sprints down the lane being cheered on by his crew. He picked up speed entering the park. He leaps, tucking his legs up to his stomach just clearing the picnic table. Using his hands, he pushes just enough to clear a few inches.

Kuniva drops from the monkey bars, approaching the three boys. "That wasn't bad, but you hesitated; causing a loss of speed but using your arms for an added push. Are you practicing for Borough Clash?"

"Yeah I am, I wasn't sure if I had enough speed to clear the leap but thanks, you freerun too?"

"It's part of life in the concrete jungle. You're an em biotic as well."

"Yeah, Category 3 type 1… how did you know that?"

"Well, I'm an em biotic myself. I picked up your em field when you entered the park."

"Wow, will I be able to do that? Can I talk to others with the same ability?" The boy throws question after question at Kuniva.

"Talking to others? it's possible to a certain extent. Since the human brain can't change external electrical signals into information, however, we can pick up each other's frequency tags and pinpoint their location."

"Frequency tag? never heard of that."

"It's something I came up with on the fly."

"Well, how can you pick up my signal with all the interference around us?"

"By filtering out the background noise, some frequency tuning, focusing solely on radio waves since brain waves are similar to radio waves. Although it becomes exhausting just to maintain constantly. A lot of power is needed to keep a strong connection, especially those who can't regulate or boost their own frequency tags."

"Are there any others besides us in this area?" the boy asked looking around the park.

"Nope, it's just you and me-" Kuniva paused, turning a sharp glare towards the thick green scrubby.

"Is something wrong?" the boy asked looking in the same direction as Kuniva.

"Did you pick up a strange signal just a second ago?"

The boy looks around, shugging his shoulders. "Can you be specific? because all the signals around me are strange."

"Right… I have to go, and keep up the good work and I'll see you at Borough Clash."

He nods leaving the playground with his friends.

Kuniva dashes out of the park following the anonymous signal. That frequency tag… it feels uncomfortably familiar but from where? He followed the signal for about a mile north of his building complex.

He stops at the street corner looking around. "The frequency tag is right here in this gated community." He walks through the gate unopposed, the robotic security guard ignored him. The Droid was active but Kuniva was completely invisible largely due to his electronic-warfare capabilities. Mail drones flew overhead scanning the mailboxes and depositing mail.

He follows the path into a courtyard. The signal ends here…The em feedback intensified with each step he took.

"There’s no one--"

"It's good to see you again, brother." Without making a sound or triggering any of his early proximity alert systems. She stood directly behind him hugging him from behind.

He leaps from her gentle hold and gets a look at her face. When their eyes locked, Kuniva stumbles back, his heart raced, his body shivered.

This girl before him face was nearly identical to his, Kuniva's heart raced faster. Not for the thought of rejoicing and excitement but because he viewed her as a threat to his personal security. "One I don't have a sister and two who the hell are you!? Why is your frequency tag similar to mine?" Kuniva was poised to strike first, but she didn't make a move to provoke him.

"I do not wish to engage in combat with you, Kuniva."

There was an immediate clam, Kuniva stood up unassuming his fighting stance.

She slowly approached him, their electromagnetic fields sparking as she got closer to him.

*Frequency tag updated.*

"Can you help me with something?" She asked, handing him a can of soda. "I'm still cycling through my systems, some of my functions are taking longer than usual, mostly my muscle frame."

The sudden change in the situation confused him, he takes the can and pulls the tab opening the canned drink, and hands it back to her.

"Thank you." She drinks the soda and then crushed the can with ease.

"Wait a second, you said..."

"I lied, I did that to assure you that I'm not hostile, mostly not to you," she replies with a blank look.

Looking at her slender frame nearly similar to his and asked, "You’re physical architecture, all of your internals are synthetic but your brain is the only organic material within. What happened?"

"I was restructured through advanced technology and medicine, two-thirds of my brain was remodeled using your neural cartography as the framework. My synthetic body was also reconstructed with your Genome Key, I'm somewhat your fraternal twin. I am only allowed to give you certain information about me via [Project Second Chance]. Any other questions will be under harsh scrutiny. That includes other related ongoing projects."

"So, you’re my sister but a cyborg at that... Wait am I a robit too?" (robit=robot, thanks oneyplays)

"Classified."

"What a- come again?"

"That is classified information."

"What do you mean classified? What's so classified about me knowing what I am?"

"It is as stated." she gave him a blank look again.

"Ugh, can I at least know your name?"

"Are you hitting on your own sister? gross," she said, laughing awkwardly on purpose. "Sierra."

"Ok Sierra, where have you been all these years?"

"Inquiry Denied," her eyes scanned Kuniva, her eyes illuminated red, "You're not the Administrator of forgoing projects, even with the Original Genome Key. However, both Administrator Biometric Key and Original Genome Key are required-"

Impatient with the lack of information he required, too many questions, not enough answers. At this point Kuniva no longer cared about the situation he turned around heading out.

"I'll get the answers my own way. She may be a machine but at some point she has to make a pit stop at base to check in with her creator."

The thought of getting what he wants from others through extreme force wasn't ideal, not against a person who isn’t going to defend themselves, at most a sibling. Even though just meeting the girl, it still felt wrong, they were still partially strangers in his mind.

"But the thought of having an older sister is making me feel weird, to think that damn file was fake is stupid as hell. The only problem is, she's my fraternal twin and seems to not be all there in the mental department." Kuniva sighed, turning around heading back to the park, the connection they suddenly have washed over him like a tide wave. He walked over to the sand where Sierra was playing in the sand.

This whole situation is brimming with various emotions. Kuniva isn't sure if he should be shocked that he has a blood sibling or descend into absolute madness for not knowing of her existence in the first place.

Kuniva watches Sierra play in the sand filling a bucket up to the brim. At the same time, I don't feel alone. Ugh this is so damn confusing! He ruffled his hair.

"How can children play in the sand? It's equal to playing in a cat's litter box… hehehe." Sierra smiled forcefully sporting an uncomfortable joker grin.

"First, knock it off and second, disgusting."

"Silicon Dioxide is one of the most important building blocks for the growth of modern human civilizations. Having a versatile purpose in infrastructure and technology."

"Yeah, I'm not interested in science lessons right now."

She got up from the sandbox, walking up to her brother. "Apologies, Kuniva but I have somewhere important to be. Following me won't lead you to my maker since their whereabouts are unknown."

"You’re telling me this now?!"

"You didn’t ask. The fault is your own, brother," she said bluntly, she reached into her backpocket taking out a white and pink bracelet. She takes the assessory putting it on his left wrist.

The small beads illuminated from the electricity in his body, energizing the bracelet.

"Now we match. I've been meaning to give this to you since the day you infiltrated the Human Development Research Center."

"You knew I was there?"

"Yes, you were careless. You you didn't scramble your frequency. Easy for me to pick up your frequency and track you for over 2 miles."

"Yeah well, I didn't expect someone else was cable of picking my frequency tag."

Without any warning Sierra hugs her brother tightly.

"For your own safety. Please stay away..." She muttered the last words under her breath braking away leaving the court yard.

"I'll give her the benefit of doubt. If her words are solid I might have to connect with Alex… on second thought, I can get want through other means." Kuniva makes a phone call.

"Hey Marquis, I need a favor from you."

"Sure, what is it?"

"Can you find out what X02HG7689P01exactly is?"

"I can give it a shot but I never heard of something like this before. We're did you hear this from?"

"It's complicated at the moment."

******

A shadow leaps over a fence into the abandoned industrial district, as she walks deeper through the empty industrial district, looking up at the behemoth factory smoke stacks.

"In accordance with the experiment conditions, I will be your next opponent in this test trial. Experiment code: X02HG7689P01. Please confirm with your nexus code."

The mysterious hooded girl grins, tossing the can beverage at the junked box truck. "No way, they actually sent you, how much ass kissing did that old bastard do to get a foot into the project?."

"No°22. Please confirm with your nexus code."

"I read your mission report, Siberi,a December 20, 2243. Geez, I thought I was a monster. Since you replaced all the other live candidates, the last subject cried his eyes out begging for me to spare him. Not much development can happen if you submit right away. Anyway, transmitting nexus code."

"Acknowledged and received. As of August 17 at 22:00 the experiment has begun." The girl leaps backwards into the shadows, only her red eyes visible before fading out.

******

After hanging up, Kuniva scrolled through a list of experiments. He was overwhelmed with uneasiness the deeper he searched into [Project Ascension]. This project was 'employing' high ranking Category 4s and 5s from various research institutions for the new experiment. There are only 7 Unranked Biotics in the world. According to Alexandra's 500,000 simulations, only one has the capability of achieving ascension through human interference fast tracking the process.

"It was concluded that under normal environmental conditions, the project would take 450 years for transcendence to occur."

He stops scrolling, opening a folder with people's pictures from different schools. He swipes. "What the hell is all of this… These are the names of people who participated in the project."

He stops upon seeing Jasmine’s biotic file among the list of test candidates. "Jasmine? Why is she here? Wait, it's said she's been docked, two days ago!" His uneasiness began to grow ever more.

With the abundance of Category 4s and 5s, and training grounds provided by the federal government, various situations can be conducted in real-time. Between the years 2240 and 2243, 350 test trials have been conducted, according to Alexandria only 2,467 real world simulations are needed to achieve ascension. X02 is the best candidate for current operations, her data analysis and processing capabilities can be utilized to gather real-time information compared to normal biotics. [Project Second Chance] is the project's way forward, X02 neural capabilities exceeded expectations with her unmatched neural processors. Sierra was relieved from Neo Ciro to Neo New York City.

Kuniva slouchs on the bench, he closes his eyes taking a deep breath massaging his temples. He can't just pretend he didn't see his friend in the list of test guinea pigs. He held the phone to his face, scrolling through the pictures looking for Sierra but she wasn’t on the list.

He backtracks to the list of experiments, input the experiment code into the search engine. "The list was updated two days ago the same time was Jas docked. A last minute change? Experiment: HG7689, Candidate: X02 (Sierra), Subject: P01. Experiment start date 08/17, time 22:00, location… that's on the other side of Brooklyn." He looked at the time on his phone, it was 30 minutes into midnight. The same cold and empty feeling he felt after destroying the Synapse Network instantly resurfaced. His vision suddenly darkens, his heart raced out of control, out of sync with his raspy breath.

Without delay, Kuniva leaps up from the bench darts off. Set into a full sprint, he zips through the empty street utilizing his Freerunning skills.

******

"Tell me what is going on in that old man's head? ever since he showed you off like a prize during the conference. His obsessed in one upping his old professor after she criticized his research in human augmentation, when two of his previous projects went up in flames. Shit, my head hurts talking about that man. He's doing to much for a little bit of recognition from his overlord. Im surprised his still acting Administrator." The hood girl's words reverberated off the brick walls.

Sierra hid on the second floor, the right side of her face painted in blood, she held her stomach wound. She glances at her broken right arm. Her side arm was out ammunition, she was defenseless.

"A new method of approach is being determined."

The building begins to shake and crumble. Sierra leaps out the window only to jump right into her enemy's reach. With the intention to gain a good distance from the hooded girl, rebar pierced her right knee and left elbow severely crippling her.

"It must suck to be dragging into this shit show... to be tricked by the egg heads, built on the promise of a better future." What a damn joke." The hooded girl raised a single finger to Sierra's forehead and with a gentle tap the force was great enough to knock Sierra back into a brick wall.

The hooded girl yawns admiring the damage she caused. "Maybe I'm more of a monster than she is.. Ah, you can still move? same as the last subject, he had heart to keep himself fighting but not anymore."

Sierra limps away, leaning up against the wall, dragging her damaged limbs.

"I should have gone for the other leg but it wouldn't be interesting if she can't move." She kicked the ground, blowing out the wall behind Sierra knocking her to the ground.

"All systems compromised, diverting remaining power to critical functions. Connection integrity to server: 34%. I am unable to continue with the experiment, for this frame is critically damaged. Experimental data analysis complete. Psycho barrier envelopes her body 360°, physical and non-physical attacks are ineffective. Attacks are repelled back to the opponents with greater force. Conclusion, No°22 Psychokinesis has developed to manipulate vectors of motion and Kinetic energy."

The hooded girl pressed her foot down on the rebar logged in Sierra's back, despite how far she pressed the rebar through Sierra's back she didn't flinch or scream. "This is getting boring, machines can't beg for mercy. I should finish her and find something else to do, what do you think, friend?"

Sierra didn't respond since her vocal synthesizer was damaged during the test, she just stared at the hooded girl without a mark of fear.

"No answer? well I'll just decide for myself," She chortled, pressing her foot down. Sierra closed her eyes. A red mist burst into the air giving painting the surface around her.

Not a single drop touched her even though she was at the epicenter of the cause.

"…"

She turned around to the sound of foot steps on the gravel floor, Kuniva stood motionless staring in absolute horror as he slowly gravitates toward the unrecognizable body. He leaned forward hugging himself tightly, groaning in pure agony. The cold and boundless grip of death deepens without end. In the midst of his electrifying rage, a storm of iron sand tendrils erupts from the ground surrounding the hooded girl, hundreds of tendrils of iron sand rain down on her but the assault was fruitless.

The blades of iron sand were repelled, girl was untouched. "Uh? They sent another one already?"

Baring his fangs and claws at the unphaseded girl. Electricity crackled with great intensity unlike ever before, anything that was metal levitated 10 feet in the air over the girl's head.

What's this?

With all his strength and rage, Kuniva slammed his hands together crushing her in a sarcophagus of coagulateed metal or so it seemed. The metal prison glows red from the inside, the metal prison loses its solid form, a pool of molten metal collected at her feet. "You're different from the others, much more… creative with your abilities."

The flood lights flickered and burst from the influx of electromagnetic radiation. Kuniva was already in striking range, his right arm primed, aiming for her stomach.

But in a instant, the outcome of the fight was already decided, his right arm utterly obliterated by a wicked repelling force. Twisting his arm in ways unimaginable. With just a push from her finger she knocked him back.

Kuniva clutched his chest curling into a ball, each time he breathed a bloody cough would follow.

"From magnetism to electrokinesis, you're definitely packing more firepower than most biotics, hell even a top ranked Cate 5."

Just when she was about to step on him, he vanished in a steak of lightning.

"Something about you is different compared to the other candidates... wait... no way." His eyes were different from normal, four more vertical slit pupils appeared.

His eyes were focused, watching her sharply waiting for any slight movement from the target. Just out of the blue he collapsed to the ground unresponsive not even to the sound of her approaching footsteps triggered a response.

Unsure what happened the girl got closer looking down at Kuniva. "What a damn surprise! I never came face to with another pillar. What magnificent night this turned to be." She raised her foot over his head grinning behind the shadow of her hoodie. "Well, needless to say. Your a disappointment to certain extent, I picked up a new solution from you. Maybe the real world simulations has its benefits after all. Such a shame..."

"No°22, stand down." A woman's voice echoed from the shadows. "To think he would actually get dragged in. This complicates things even more."

The girl sucked her teeth doing as commanded by the woman.

"Sierra warned me about something hindering our operations." The woman's eyes fell upon Kuniva’s mangled right arm.

Standing behind her was Sierra, around her neck was a luminous pink ring shifting and rotating. Her nose dribbled blood.

"What are you doing here, Cynthia? And I see you've come back like they said you would."

"You assume wrong, I never took a physical part in this simulation. My combat capabilities are limited at the moment, what you destroyed was just a prototype offensive platform, a drone."

"This will definitely look like a sign of provocation to her. Hey, what are you doing?"

Sierra kneels next to her brother’s head, using her lap as a pillow gently placing Kuniva’s head. She opened Kuniva's eyes with just a touch to his temples, she leaned forward until her face almost touched his.

At the center her pupils, faint blue dots changing into rectangles, a blue dot at the center of Kuniva’s eyes suddenly glows red.

A purple and blue ring similar to Sierra's appears around his tricep.

*Diagnostics complete, right arm compromised, pain receptors disabled. Auto Repair Matrix: Inactive, Safeguard Mode: Active. Disabling Safeguard Mode… disabled.*

"That's why you had us reverse engineer that nanoband around your neck. Was it really necessary?" Cynthia asked.

"Yes, my old nanoband was damaged prior to my temporary shutdown, I forced him into Standby Mode, but with the Executioner Protocol active it switched to Safeguard Mode." Sierra digs deeper into Kuniva’s interface as she ran several diagnostic tests, her nose begins to bleed with no end. She takes her handkerchief wiping her brother's face.

*Restarting Quantum Communication Network... Restart successful. WARNING: Range has been limited due to cyber blocks in several critical communication core nodes... unable to update combat kit due to high restrictions on all critical core Offensive Matrix. Parent Neural Key required to lift restrictions... environmental movement kits updated.*

"Even when he's recovering he's a threat to anyone except, you."

"Correct, however without the updated transmitter I would also be considered a threat to the program."

A last resort when back backed into a corner for various situations and environments. In this case, the injuries are critical, when an animal is wounded only two choices exist, fight or flight. In this case he chose to fight.

Cynthia walked closer to Sierra. "I am quite familiar with the protocols. But what I want to know is how are you able to connect with him? Does he have a synthetic transmitter? or is it organic?"

Sierra blinks, looking the magenta haired woman up and down, her eyes flashed red. "That is classified information, even with our shared blood relationship, aunt Cynthia."

"Fine, keep your secrets. Furthermore, if we admit him to the hospital your mother will definitely shut down this operation and take aggressive action."

Which will redirect all Cynthia's party's resources into stopping Sierra's mother. Even she was a bit on edge for the worst possible outcome.

"Negative. He's prohibited from seeing any hospital or center that isn't under the Neo Ciro Institutional Umbrella. I'll take him myself." Despite her slender arms and legs, she carefully lifts Kuniva holding him in her arms. Small pieces of metal floating around Sierra as she walked off.

"And this just got fucking weird. I'm leaving, I have other things to do and tell that old bastard Willson I want my accommodations that we agreed on," the hooded girl said departing from the old industrial district.

Cynthia tried to stop the girl who was already gone from her sight into the dark abyss. She pressed on her left ear. "Alright, bring the clean up team. And get me Administrator Willson asap!"

*******