“For as long as I can remember, I have been serving my country as its lapdog. Stealing this and that, spying some other country's politicians and killing our country's bad seeds.

My name is Grace, but I don't know how old I am or when my birthday is. Still, based on my and others' appearance I reckon I'm around 20 years old. Some members of my squad say I'm lucky to still be alive.

They don't say it because they hate me, I believe. They say it because I'm an old model. Old models spend their own life to use their powers, so they all die quite quickly and, in fact, I'm one of the few remaining.

To me, this is a monotone, colorless world. Almost nothing ever changes, if not for the few turning points in my... career. The first was when I saw the life in the eyes of a man slowly disappear as he bled to death.

It’s not like I hadn’t killed anyone before, but that was strange. It didn’t feel right or wrong, and neither did I enjoy it. It just made me fully realize how fragile our lives are, how quickly time passes and how easily it is to lose everything.

The next turning point was when I was on a spying mission abroad. The person I was tasked to shadow made his bodyguards kidnap a young girl like it was nothing, and then the guy proceeded to have his way with her, before torturing her to death.

There was never any investigation on the matter, the politician was pretty influential and he easily made the victim’s family shut up, either with money or intimidation. That was when I realized the value of my life. I was like that girl, no, maybe worse.

There would be no one to grieve me, unlike her, so I knew that my life was worth nothing. I understood that, no matter how useful I proved to be, the government would still kill me and make a better, more powerful, agent than me.

The last noteworthy event was when I had to ‘punish’ a traitor of our country. I tortured her son and daughter until the two had a mental breakdown, then I killed them. The woman’s face continually distorted in rage and despair.

I learnt with my own body how much a strong will can do. The deep emotions etched in that woman’s soul gave her a temporary boost in strength, she freed herself and almost managed to beat me to death before I killed her.”

As I finished my story, He makes a sad face as He looks directly at me, in my eyes. He took me away from the government, He saved me when they were about to dispose of me after I made an error. It wasn’t such a big deal, they just wanted an excuse to terminate me.

The two of us are currently being pursued as traitors, so we often have to fight, which leads to me once again using my powers, but I don’t mind. If it’s for freedom, if it’s for Him, then I don’t mind, I will gladly use all my remaining life.

When He first saved me, it was like the world finally had colours, it wasn’t dull and gray anymore. My heart started beating and I could feel the warmth of His body mixing with my own, making me feel secure, making me feel at home.

He was always there for me after I used my powers, He would gently hug me from behind and stroke my head, reassuring me that everything was okay. His sweet voice always lulled me to sleep, despite the pain my body was in.

We traveled all around the world and our country, at first it had been difficult to go past the border. I finally knew what “fun” really felt like. We visited monuments, saw beautiful sceneries like the sunset at the border of a canyon, the dawn at the peak of a mountain, the starry sky encircled by trees as we laid down on the grass in the middle of a forest.

I tasted food completely different from the one the government had provided me before. I tried many different clothes and hairstyles, we walked hand in hand in the midst of people, happily strolling in the city during our date.

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But, they always managed to find us. With time, it became more and more difficult to escape and more and more painful to use my powers. I wondered why the government was so persistent in trying to kill me, it was not like I knew any important secret and I would not live long anyway.

Then, one time, I was so tired His voice wasn’t able to make me sleep. My blood seemed to be boiling, my skin was like it was being pierced by thousands of needles, my bones creaked like a poorly oiled door frame, my nerves were taut like a bowstring and even a gust of wind stimulated them.

His phone rang. I was surprised he still hadn’t gotten rid of it. His voice was cold, unlike the gentle and calming one he always had. I was so shocked my body was petrified and I stopped trembling from the pain, his words were like a knife repeatedly peeling off layers of my heart.

His voice had always been able to soothe me to sleep because that was His power. He was their lapdog, He was the one to inform them of our location, He was a traitor. To let me escape and be saved by Him, it was all their plot.

I can’t fathom why, probably just to experiment more with me one last time before I died, while also making sure that I wouldn’t rebel. As soon as his call was over, I used what little strength I managed to scrape up and instantly made my arm pass through his heart.

His face was a mix of surprise, rage and something else, something I didn’t recognize. As His life faded away, I brought Him closer to me and embraced Him. I gave Him one last kiss, a tribute to the little slice of real life I obtained thanks to Him.

His blood on my arm slowly became cold and dried up, but I didn’t care. I slowly walked without a destination while thinking about my country and the government. Ugly feelings I never experienced before blossomed in my heart.

I vowed to kill them, down to the last one of them. I would spare no one, there would be no mercy and there would be no way back. It would not matter how much of my life I would use, not a single one was going to escape my wrath.

I was done being someone else’s plaything, so the first thing I did was go to the next appointed safe house He had prepared and wait in ambush. Whether I killed them or I fled, they were going to notice nonetheless, so why give my prey a chance to escape?

After I killed the group of pursuers, I drove toward the airport and got on an airplane directed to my home country. The plane was shot down before it could land, but using my training and my powers I saved myself without complications.

The moment my feet touched the soil underneath I was surrounded by agents, both with and without powers. It didn’t matter, sooner or later I would have to kill them too, so I didn’t care. The only problem I had during the fight was dodging the snipers’ attacks.

Still, they were no match for me. The reason I was alive even now, was because my power was one of the strongest. The other old models were the same, we were the cream of the crop, elites. In exchange for not using their lives as fuel, the new models were inherently weaker.

I briefly wondered who was more pitiful because, at least, we would spend less time as slaves of the government. I even had the chance to experience a near-normal life. Casting such thoughts aside, I shook my head and proceeded onward, I was done here.

After that it was a repetition of hiding and hunting, blurred memories of countless homicides. None of them begged, none of them showed emotions or care toward their fleeting lives. It was their duty, so it didn’t matter to them.

I wanted to change that. During my time with Him, I understood just how precious life is, that is why I will destroy the government. We are not their playthings, we have our own lives and they have no right over them.

Somewhere along the way I began coughing blood, but it was just a minor thing. Months passed and fewer groups tried to stop me, they had realised how futile it was, but the groups always consisted of powerful people.

I even had to kill some old models, but my resolve didn’t waver, it only got stronger. When I was done with planning and preparations, I was ready to take on the government. A network of sewers ran all over under the city, and even under their base.

I made my way through them for about two hours before I was even remotely near the government. It was at that moment that agents began appearing in front of and behind me, it seemed like they weren’t all that stupid.

I fought and fought, but the end was nowhere in sight. Then, I tasted something bitter, rotten and with a trace of something metallic. I had trouble breathing and the pungent odor of the sewer was stronger than ever.

I realized I had fallen face first in the dirty water flowing in the sewers. What I was tasting was the combination of that water and my own blood. The water was especially cold and I could feel something missing inside of me.

Time seemed to pass slowly, so slowly that I had enough to think back on my entire life. It was a harsh one, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. The chilling cold of the water slowly crept inside my body, freezing it. I could feel something pulling my conscience away.

Then, everything went dark.