A man in a stylish suit stroked his chin as he pondered something in his lavish office. After a few moments, the lights dimmed and a second figure appeared, this one clad in a skinsuit that showed off his well-toned physique.

“I heard there were some rather unfortunate… occurrences. Our gambit failed and I lost some good men.” Said the second man.

“Indeed, good men were lost, but you’re not the only one that suffered a loss. I lost my precious test subject!” Said the stylishly dressed man in frustration.

“Pah! As if that can compare to my losses!” shouted the other man, “I’ve lost more than just men, my entire empire is at risk thanks to you!”

“Now now, calm down Devin. I’ve already thought of a way to cover up both our losses and our trails.” Said the man in a suit.

“Oh? What do you propose?” asked Devin.

“Well, after looking into things I believe that the ‘person’ who interfered with our operation is most likely the very same one that escaped my public research centre a few months ago.”

Devin looked at him in shock and asked, “How did you come to that conclusion? Are you sure?”

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The man nodded with a massive grin as he said, “I’m certain… here are images taken from the labs.” He brought up several holographic 2D images of a little girl with white hair and purple irises.

“… and here is a recording of the feedback from the medical droid I hacked into…” he continued as he brought up another screen with a white-haired, purple-eyed beauty in a red dress.

Devin compared the images and stepped back in shock as he said, “Yes, even the facial structure is very similar… Even though her growth clearly exceeds the several months, she is most definitely the same person.”

The man grinned and said, “Exactly! I propose we take her to court for ‘theft’.”

Devin looked at him aghast and said, “Impossible, not only is she situated in the slums – and therefore outside the reach of law enforcement – but she is also actually innocent. If she were to reveal the truth, then everything you’ve built would start to collapse.”

The man’s grin widened as he said, “I doubt she’ll stay in the slums forever, especially now that she’s made contact with Tanya Smith. I also doubt she’ll want to let the world know what she is… if she was smart enough to become the leader of a local gang, then she’ll be smart enough to know that revealing her true identity is anything but wise. I’ll give John Neeran a call, he can fill in the gaps.”

Devin gasped, “John Neeran!? You can’t be serious! You know what that’ll cost!”

The man laughed lightly and said, “Believe it or not, he owes me big time. It will cost me nothing this time round.”

Devin gawked at the man, standing in silence with wide eyes. After a few seconds he stormed back into the shadows and vanished. The lights brightened back up and the stylish man was left alone with a big grin on his face.