A bright flash came across Luna's eyes, not visible to anyone else but her, as she took a step back from the shock. When recovering, the girl who had talked to her before was gone, with only her image left in Luna's head staying behind. Quickly, she realized that the password hadn't only succeeded, but the fact that all this happened was but a precursor to her finally gaining full access to everything her mind had to hide. She stood there, briefly taking everything in as she shuffled through images in her head. The feedback from her neural network connected to H.I.V.E. only made that pause greater, as she realized that it wasn't just her mind affected. So much flesh forewent the coming of metal, as indeed, her fate was to be but a weapon. Humanity, given the chance, would never cease it, had it meant that they could create something, someone, to sustain and conquer for their sake. Whether with words or fists, opposition or not."

"Drima, can you hear me?", Luna tried to access comms.

"Luna? I can't hear you well at all. Did you remove the earpiece?", Drima tried to understand.

Luna slowly lifted her hand up to adjust the earpiece, only to then realize that it wasn't even there to begin with. Looking around, she found it lying on the floor, and picking it up only made her realize that it was completely broken, fried, and melted, beyond use. Yet, it was undeniable, she could still very well communicate with Drima, even without it. Trying her absolute best to concentrate, it took little effort before she could adjust her voice for him to hear as if she rapidly adapted to the new situation.

"How about now?", she called again.

"Yeah, better. Who were you talking to before? You left the comms open, but I couldn't hear the other side. Did you take a VSF soldier prisoner?"

"I didn't. I was talking to a little girl, named Mila Antonov, apparently.", she somehow started knowing more about the girl, "Physical age of 9 and mental age of 25, born deep within Veryta and subjected to the same experimentations that I and Lina have been through. Project 008, so she was next in line after me. Hmm...I seem to have fully accessed H.I.V.E. I'm pulling key details and information normally not available. And when I run it through...there's a correlation. Most subjects, including me, were not even legal adults, let alone teenagers. The triple digits truly betrayed that the total number is in the hundreds, and the first few were 10 years old or younger. They got them while young.", a clear sense of dread filled Luna's face.

"Hold on. Luna, are you talking...normally? As in, without being just neutral and using the longest possible words available?"

Luna realized, "I seem to, yeah. The same happened when I was deployed with the others earlier today. I requested that certain limiters be lifted so that I could access a special state. Part of that removed the Administration Regulatory to allow it, which included my emotional and pain receptors. Now, as I see it in my mind, LF-007-E is considered an administrator with permanent access."

"So they were innate limitations...interesting. Anything else that's different?"

"Aside from my speech pattern, not much. I seem to have more to happen soon, however. Access nearby devices and activate the one named, 'Humanity's Weapon'."

"Humanity's Weapon? Oh...no. They proceeded with that?"

"You knew about this?"

"It was a theoretical project I had before we moved to the enhancements program. It was supposed to draw matter from either the Abnormal Space or Quantum Irregularity and use its material shifting abilities to create essentially an omni-weapon. Did they mix and match the two goddamn projects? The implications of danger that could have is unimaginable!"

"Unimaginable as in?", Luna wondered.

"Both of the matter that exists within those two spaces has constant quantum fluctuations. If exposed to an environment that does not normally contain them, the absolute worst that can happen is a false vacuum decay, and believe me, we wouldn't have a chance in hell to fend ourselves from the sheer force of nature that'll be. At all, period. It's like we'd erase everything at the speed of light."

"Do we not have people that already made space and time their plaything? Dante with his counterattacks and everyone he infected with his powers to be able to materialize weapons in their hands?"

"You are different from that. The guns that appeared from the footage I collected weren't transparent. They were intricately made real weapons. Nothing like the others. And I'm starting to understand where your main concern on the subject is. Dante and Enemy seem to be struggling to make such weapon summons anymore, which can be a study case for fluctuating Obsulyte usages until the body normalizes it. Because someone like Dante has been concealing it and not letting it come naturally, therefore it needs to settle. For you though...the project specifically aimed at non-Obsulyte users to be force injected with Obsulyte until their bodies complied. That's what I'm getting from the data I've seen up until now. Your mechanical parts, aside from granting you the basics Obsulyte gives, enhanced strength and agility, is a key component to better distribute it throughout the body, without it causing you to be like...them."

"If you mean the kids outside, they too are enhanced."

"Of course they are. But at what cost?"

Luna briefly counted her blessings, realizing how through hell and back, she was as lucky as she could be, "Yes...but that still doesn't explain why I survived, and they did not. Lina was considered a failure after her surgical procedures ended up with her having multiple seizures during it and brain damage after it, making her undesirable. The others though, went on exactly like I did."

"Pondering on something like this now is dangerous enough, because I can already see the VSF numbers draining. Let me bring what you said before up."

Doing as told, the lab then began to bring forth several things, before eventually putting them aside, facing the wall, and accessing a hidden compartment below. When lifted, a very weird casing slowly rose up, completely sealing whatever was inside from even a mere glance, being completely blackened out. A password was quickly requested, before Luna quickly went ahead and entered it, without a single hint of doubt, as if she herself had set it.

Upon opening, a set of very intricate machines, resembling leg and arm guards, as well as breastplates and a very weird blue liquid tank in the middle of it all. Now knowing full well what she was to do, she removed the internal casing and sealed it tightly, taking it with her as she started quickly moving with little to no lagging for questions or affirmations. But despite that, curiosity had begun dancing circles around Drima.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

"May I ask what this is all about so that I at least have a grasp of the situation? Because I don't have access to anything else at all, including visuals."

"The operator's job is to ask and provide anyways.", Luna ran to the top floor, "But I too am rapidly drawing info from H.I.V.E. This entire thing I'm holding is no M.O.D. It's a specific upgrade for my mechanical frame. I have been very, very heavily mechanized compared to other projects, for reasons that are not properly documented, no matter how much I search through H.I.V.E. right now.", she entered the hallway and started running, "But despite the removal of much of my internals to upgrade, I am eligible to obtain things like these. The blue liquid is indeed, like you said, pure matter containing constant quantum fluctuations that somehow do not get released to the space nearby. It's directly ripped off the Quantum Irregularity. Whatever these scientists did, with the machines they invented, they had undocumented help to get access to this. Case in point: my frame can be directly upgraded once I implant these plates and force this liquid directly into my heart for it to circulate my entire body. At least that's what I'm getting from the procedure instructions under my name and project. That project...it was successful enough to warrant such heavy upgrades for a task far greater than just keeping Overseers in check. It was a human-made frame, for humanity's protection. They wanted me to frontline the survival of the human race, because there are massive, cataclysmic-level threats out there, documented under a theory that's being constantly proven more and more correct with our findings."

"So what you are saying is that...you were made not to just be a military tool? It'd make sense, given the scale, but then again, I wouldn't trust any visions these guys had. The sole reason I left anyways."

"They would never be able to contain me, were it not for H.I.V.E., which is now bypassed.", she stopped in front of a mob of Failures, "But for the horrors they did, I cannot fully justify not laying a hand on normal humans. Because my core drive wasn't even a military weapon. It was to mercilessly slaughter monsters, like Shadowers and...Obsulyte-users. Obsulyte users like everyone I know. That's why something was innately wrong given that, as I seem to have been listed as 'Terminated' under H.I.V.E.'s status feedback. Not to mention the fact that a failsafe like this was so easily bypassable. But I guess that can be attributed to the lack of polish the entire operation had since it was never finished."

She slowly placed the case down, running right at the mob of Failures and whipping out her scythe. Landing head-on with a diving motion, she knocked 2 of the 5 total Failures up and away, before two guns materialized above them to blast them away before she faced the two remaining dogs and one more human Failure.

"Hmm?", she heard thumping closing in from her back, "The VSF were defeated?"

"No, the monsters are all darting towards you!", Drima warned her, "So is the VSF!"

"They hate me. They know I'm the new administrator.", Luna realized, kicking the case far away from what was to be the point of conflict, and sliding it around the curvature of the wall.

"I can't do anything to stop them at all, and the VSF is comprised of Obsulyte users! Luna!"

Luna realized things were getting worse by the second, as the two Failures got up and regrouped with the other three, eagerly waiting to jump her as the other group of at least one more dozen appeared behind her. Luna braced herself, having no intention to fall. But getting out of there in one piece...that was the real goal to look out for. Because where living would be a given right, staying completely intact had become but just a luxury to fight over for.

And to her added pain, the new accesses she had benefited her in some ways, causing ease of use of her abilities, others only served to divide her. Because now, she knew every single one of their faces. Their names, ages, places of origin. And when one of those places ended up being Falana Orphanage, all according to her recorded database...how much more was she to get divided? Between protecting humanity, eliminating threats, and Obsulyte-users. Between fighting those she now knew, many still being children, and the animals that were so cruelly and crudely misplaced and completely mutilated.

Already having the unfortunate blood of one of those kids on her hands, what more could she do, other than put her weapon away and watch as sweet death came? Was it the imitation of emotions coming from the bottom of her heart, thoughts that plagued her mind and produced such foul thoughts? Nevertheless, it all returned to that. And the onslaught began.

Luna, knowing very well to avoid moving, did her best to endure. Toughening her stance, she began taking very subtle steps forward, trying her best to avoid triggering the kids, while the dogs themselves were jumping onto her. Barely able to endure it, as her body physically crumbled when they attacked her from her calves and thighs, she began lowering to the point where they started jumping around near her head.

Trying her absolute best to summon guns around her, able to blast away the dogs with decent enough precision, but it was never enough to fully kill them. Being able to somewhat mask her movements and move forward from all of the jumping and moving of the dogs, she started picking up some speed, slowly rising up before crumbling down again as she almost managed to get away from them.

But how intelligence made them dangerous.

One of the three total dogs wanted Luna no more, as it took a massive bite on her upper right thigh, almost ripping an entire part off, before it moved right at the soft spot of the knee, slashing it with its feathered blade in its right hand. She was durable enough. But matched against a force just as equal, with intent of her death and nothing more, there was nothing she could do. Not when all she wanted was to give mercy. And that silky smooth, silver hair of hers, tender and elegant as it was, only served as a mere rope, investing the roles of nature as another dog pulled them back as if they were a leash. Her head now facing the ceiling, is when she felt something completely wrong, more so than the rest of her body. From her neck to her chest, as if water was dripping, a flow of liquid substance started invading her body. And only when it reached her stomach, did she realize what had happened, when she instinctually grabbed her neck. The last dog made a clear slice with its metal wing on her neck. As if hatred was able to be felt on an emotional scale, knowing full well of her death, the dogs then backed off and left her to die a miserable, lonely death.

She collapsed on the floor, as her hand gripped her neck harder, looking at the ceiling lights. How cruel fate was to let her die there, when within her grasp, was just the right amount of power she needed to strive in this world. But from her memories, was this the first time? How unsure. But it felt like a major deja vu. Maybe a similar injury, having been chased all of her life for merely existing, just because she got all the worst cards.

Rolling to her side, she took a look at the case, before glancing back, looking at all the kids and the dogs watching her die, without bothering to make any moves to put her out of her misery. And from what little hearing she had left from that loud buzzing noise filling her ears as if a system failed, she got to fill her mind with yet another image.

Like smashing a watermelon, one of the kid's heads blew to smithereens, its instantly lifeless body dropping on the floor as its brain scattered all over the floor. Her eyes then widened as she watched the body jitter for a whole four seconds before stopping, and all the Failures turning around at once to look at the VSF soldiers having well approached their destination. And that kid? She had no name. She had no alias, like the others. Her age physically, when throughout every part of her body an implant was forced? 10. Her age mentally? 22. Did this all matter anyway, really? One look at that foul beast wouldn't give a hint of adulthood, obviously physically and very obviously mentally. Just a mindless monster. Where her body remained the same, another counter was crudely placed as a mere statistic, just to roll once every year her miserable existence kept on 'living', if that's what you'd call it. And all that just to look at her point of origin being the well-crafted hell that became the Falana Orphanage.

Precisely like Lina. But where Lina's body remained the same, unlike them, so did her mind. Because she was gifted not the same way as her sister did with powers as such, but with mere ignorance to live a life worth living. And oh how many of those kids she could fit Lina's face onto. Because their torment, their life, and their misery all compiled into one place.

Their lives and hells were all the same.