Raine felt that time has passed in a flash since she first boarded the Normandy SR-2 together with Iden, Kaidan Alenko, and Ron.

Originally, Raine planned to practice her aim using the CAR-9 Scrambler pistol with Ms. Iden, spar with Ms. Kiyoh, continue chatting again with Joker about other races FTL method, run around the ship trying to know the crews of the ship better.

Yet, all of those plans are flushed down the drain when Ron visits her room the next morning after her first night onboard the ship.

The reason is that Ron has decided to give Raine his PlayStation 45 game console as he has given up on the reliability of the game console programming. The developer rushed the programming when developing the console and produced a flawed product instead.

Hence, Raine hesitatingly accepted the gift from Ron and hooked up the console inside her underground bunker. At first, true to Ron's word, the game console keeps hanging up on her when she is playing and ruining her enjoyment playing the game.

Raine continues fiddling with the console setting until Raine gets frustrated enough to try something new. She had seen how the older version of her, serving as a guard, back at the Citadel nexus when she first teleported across the multiverse, using her fingers to interface with electronics and she decided to try the same.

Tentatively she gripped the console and focused on her fingers. To her delight, the tips of her fingers sprouted thin root-like fibers. The fibers are so thin and strong that she can feel her fibers seeping in through the game console casing and spread across the circuitry and enveloping the chip inside the game console.

With the power of the console already turned on, Raine can feel the electricity coursing through the device and with it, she can feel and understand the data coursing through the game console even though she understands little about the advanced technology of this era.

Raine inherently knows that the ability on her fingertips are based on intent, and it will do the rest as long as she supplied mana to her fibers. Her fibers will reshape and reprogram the device, and once she is done reshaping the device to her desire, then she can stop the mana flow as the transformed unit operates on conventional power source alone.

With her will, the device on her hands submitted and unleashed its true potential, unfettered by the madness of its designer and programmer. The color of the surface is transformed as the device shed its orange madness and embrace the green surface of her leaves.

And then with trembling hands, Raine let go of the transformed PlayStation 45 and redubbed it PlayStation "Successor" as it is with her power that the device transcends its predecessor and as an accolade to the achievement of her descendants. It seems like her hands are trembling due to the heavy mana cost it took out of her to transform the device. She also noticed that her breasts have also shrunk a bit as her mana run out and some of the required mana taken from her pair of reserve.

Raine then goes through all the games available inside the game console database and decided to play the game "The Elder Scrolls LV: Voidrim." The game where she became the Dragonborn out to save the universe from a great evil.

Thus does Raine wasted two days of her time playing the game inside her room, refusing to come out and cooking whatever is available inside the fridge and using the bathroom and sleep.

By the way, Raine did remember to take a picture of her cooking and suffice to say she has some confidence in her cooking skills after living for so long. In fact, Raine has displayed her grilled wild trevally on her PlayStation "Successor" main menu background so she can drool as she chooses which games she should choose like a restaurant menu.

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Raine has proudly made three characters during her two days living as a hermit playing games.

A dark female elf wearing light armor using a sidearm and an energy shield with a stealth playing style.

A male high elf wearing heavy armor using a sidearm and an energy shield with a slash & hack playstyle.

And finally a female wood elf wearing skimpy clothes using a two-handed pulse Gatling gun with a heavy gunner playstyle.

Regrettably, because Raine only has two days, she did not manage to reach the endgame but started over with a new character once she feels that she already arrive at a major city in each game.

Perhaps others will criticize her for choosing all elves as her character when she is playing the game.

However, it looks like the game developer have an elf fetish, then who can blame her? With elves existing in real life, whoever the game developers are it's possible for them to marry an elf at present. Ahh, she remembers back in her time some people would print an elf dakimakura (hug pillow) and hug them to sleep.

Not that Raine knows how that feels like of course! As she twirled her leaves in embarrassment, trying not to remember her dark past.

Nevertheless, from what Raine understand, everybody upstairs has been trying to coax her out of her foxhole, and Ms. Iden is chewing Ron's out for giving the game console to her and making her a hermit. Too bad for Ron but her amusement is more important than his comfort right now, and she knows Ron is tough, he can handle whatever Ms. Iden throws at him.

Raine believes in Ron! Oh, but did Kaidan said Iden should stop as Ron is foaming at the mouth? Lies! Kaidan shouldn't have tried to trick her. She is sure they are trying to trick her by hoping she shows concern at Ron's condition upstairs so they can grab her as she pops her head out from her foxhole.

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end as everyone upstairs announced that the ship had reached Jita IV and they wanted to disembark soon, so they would appreciate it very much if Raine could join them as Inferno Squad would like to start doing the job tasked to them by director Alakoni.

Hearing her many times great granddaughter name. She hesitatingly shuts down her PlayStation "Successor" and equipped back all her gear and weapons.

Raine equipped everything except her helmet since she would hide her leaves once she exits the ship. Before she leaves her room, she turns off the light switch in the room she has spent two days in and exits her foxhole.

The moment she enters the command bridge, she was ambushed and dogpiled by every single member of the command bridge crews and mercilessly tickled close to death.

After that torture, Raine needs to sit in seiza position for close to an hour listening to everyone's lecture with Ron having the same punishment on her side.

The only reason the lecture didn't last longer was that they took pity on her as she unleashed her dreaded puppy dog pout and opened her eyes to the fullest while blinking rapidly at everyone. A trick she learned from her grandchildren's back in the day when she was about to scold them.

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The women of the command bridge crew member retreated through the cursed elevator to the hallway, since they cannot stand so many cuteness at once. While the men, including Kaidan and Ron, are latching on to her while rubbing their cheeks against her face.

Raine immediately regrets doing the pout since she's uncomfortable with men coming too close to her. She wonders why can't beautiful women rubbed their cheeks to her face instead.

Raine escapes their cuteness induced madness by wiggling out of the hug pile and wears her helmet again, to the men disappointment.

With Kaidan and Ron taking a position on both of Raine's side, they are ready to disembark from the ship and enter the trade hub.

Raine is preparing herself mentally for the torture of the elevator music again but turns out it's all baseless worry as Kaidan and Ron explain that it only took so long to enter the command bridge because of the security protocol for the command bridge safety.

The trip down from the command bridge is very much faster since they skipped the security protocol needed to enter the most secure room in the ship after all. As the common saying back in Raine's youth says, it's better for things to come out from your stomach rather than coming in after all when you are not sure what you are eating.

Raine is glad that she did not have to get stuck in the elevator and endure the elevator music for long. And she did not forget to threaten Kaidan to remove the music downloaded to her Omnitool the last time she took the elevator, which Kaidan did under duress.

In the hallway, Raine sees the rest of the command bridge crew and Kaidan waiting around for them to arrive so they can enter the Jita IV Trade Hub station.

"Ah, finally you're here Ms. Raine. Let us go over the rules before we exit the Normandy shall we? One, we are escorting you so do not go anywhere without us. Two, you are here under the wing of Inferno Squad. Everyone would expect you to be some VIP client as we are listed as an adamantite ranked mercenary, so please behave yourself. And lastly, director Alakoni would like periodic updates from us, so please do not make me report that anything went wrong back to her as I would still like to keep my honored reputation with Lai Dai corporation." Said Iden as she went into briefing mode before disembarking.

Raine nodded while taking in Ms. Iden's words half-heartedly because her attention is more focused on the holovision behind Iden.

"Brought to you by the cutting edge research of the Lai Dai Megacorp, the "Dryad Leaves" wig! Do you feel that your hair has become brittle, lacking in luster and color? Then become one of the beautiful legendary Dryad of old as you wear this medicinal wig on your head. The seaweed extracts contained within the "Dryad Hair" wig are released slowly by nanobots housed underneath the wig to ensure the nutrient from the sea is delivered to each strand of your hair! Making them livelier, shinier and stronger as you wear the "Dryad Leaves" wig! Extended usage are recommended to maintain your hair's health and beauty! It doesn't hurt that the wig makes you look more stunning and attract the attentions of everyone around you as shown by our lovely Lai Dai ladies who will be participating in the upcoming beauty pageant this summer! To introduce this latest product, we will be having a promotion for half price during the first week for everyone and anyone! Buy them as a gift for yourself! There is no limit how many you can buy during this extended promotion! But make it quick as the promotion is only available during the first week! Hurry get them from the galaxy famous Jita IV trade hub retails store!" said the marketer excitedly in the holovision.

[http://orig15.deviantart.net/f850/f/2014/216/3/1/dryad_iii_by_lahmattea-d7tmumk.jpg]

"Ms. Raine? Are you paying attention to me?" Said Ms. Iden testily.

"Um no, I am looking at the advertisement playing behind you." Said Raine quietly.

Iden and everyone else looked at the holovision on the wall behind them and noted the advertisement for the "Dryad Leaves" wig.

"Oh, director Alakoni did mention that she would advertise in two or three days after the meeting. That's fast, too fast even. They must have pulled all the stops to have it available by now. Let's see one day for the design and production planning as well as the public advertisement. The next day for the actual production run and the last day for delivering the first batch to retail stores in Jita IV Trade Hub. Must have been because Lai Dai has a manufacturing center in the system to make this possible." Remarked Iden.

"Oh." Said Raine, as Ms. Alakoni did mention this, she referred to it as hiding a tree in a forest strategy during the meeting where she first met Ms. Alakoni.

"With that said, let us not waste any more time and disembark from the Normandy. For everyone else, this is their long awaited shore leave after all." Said Iden as she waved everyone along to the Normandy's door.

Raine walked a fair distance before she comes across the section of the ship where a lot of the ship's crews are disembarking from the Normandy into the Jita IV trade hub station.

After waiting in line for a few minutes, Raine found that it is her turn to disembark from the ship.

Outside the ship's door, Raine founds herself in the same moving hallway that connects the shuttle ship she boarded from the Lai Dai HQ and the Normandy SR-2 two days ago.

The station's security guards excitedly greet Ms. Iden and allow her and her group to pass along with no issue due to their status as Adamantite ranked mercenary. They received preferential treatment since they are part of the highest ranked mercenary on the roster.

Raine and her group pass through some people doing their things or only waiting for their shuttle to arrive in the waiting room with a window where she can view the planet underneath the trade hub station. The area she is in is quite large as it is meant to process passengers into and out of the station after all. 

She is also wondering how big is the trade hub station is when seen from the outside. Perhaps she would have a better idea if she can exit the spaceport area of the station and view the internal area of the station from the inside after all.

[http://pozniak.pl/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/eve-a-future-vision.jpg]

To Raine's amazement, it is huge as the area in front of her stretches all the way to the end of her sight.

Above Raine, she can see the spaceport control tower while being surrounded by gardens of flowers on either side of the pathway leading out from the spaceport with Caldari banners streaming out decoratively from the station ceiling above their group.

However, instead of a tower, it looks as if it's a control bridge with two towers jutting out of the bridge and a large statue of a human raising its right arm upwards to the sky at the edge of the control bridge.

[https://crossingzebras.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/EVE_Source_Page_105_by_Mark_Li.jpg]

"Ms. Raine? Come in inside the transport please, we're leaving now." Said Kaidan from inside the driver seat of the most impressive looking two-seater vehicle.

It looks like Raine was so distracted with the inside of the station that she missed the moment when Iden and Ron took one of the cars in front of the one that Kaidan is driving. And now Kaidan is gesturing towards the empty seat beside him for her to take a seat. Flushed with embarrassment for the lapse she skipped and hopped into the empty seat of the car beside Kaidan.

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Kaidan is satisfied that the client is seated beside him, he then proceeds to give a hand signal to the vehicle in front of him, driven by Ron and Iden sitting in the passenger seat.

With Kaidan's hand signal, the vehicle driven by Ron moved forward along the highway leading out from the spaceport and followed by Kaidan's and Raine's LLV.

Along the way, Raine are getting antsy about the trip and asks Kaidan where are they going.

"Where are we going Kaidan?" Said Raine against the sound of the wind rushing against her faceplate.

"We're on our way to Inferno's Squad office branch here in the trade hub station. After that we can go anywhere you want Ms. Raine. I know a good ramen place nearby the office that I can bring you later if you want." Answered Kaidan kindly.

"Oh, yeah that sounds good. I can't wait then." Answered Raine disinterestedly as they passed through the residential districts of the station with offices and houses on both sides of the road with citizens milling around.

Once in awhile though she can spot the odd elves and dwarves which raise her interest before they left them in the dust.

Kaidan was about to reply to her dispirited reply before he paused for no reason. Not only that but the car itself suddenly stops without throwing Raine off the car from the sudden stop in defiance of the natural law of physics.

With curiosity, Raine waved one of her hand in front of Kaidan's face to no effect. Looking around she also noticed that everyone around her has also paused their movement, it's as if time has stopped for everyone around, except for her.

"Well, this is new." Said Raine flatly.

The situation should be unnatural for Raine. Unfortunately, she is out of fudge to give after experiencing so many shocks in the past few days. In fact, she smoothly walked out of the paused car to look around and try to find the source of this anomaly.

Looking around, Raine noticed that she felt a pull towards one direction. Trusting her natural instinct as a mysterious race of Dryad, she follows the path where the pull is strongest and walked straight ahead.

After walking for about 15 minutes passing through frozen pedestrians, she found herself in front of a state orphanage as it is marked so on the entrance of the building. She opens the doors, which are not locked, passing through the drab gray utilitarian hallway she comes across a closed door where behind the door a bright light encompassed the room and its light is seeping through the door in front of her. She can also hear the voices of a group of people arguing about something inside.

With shivers on the nape of her neck, Raine concludes that the voices must be behind the strange anomaly of the frozen time she is currently in at the moment. Standing behind the door, she unsheathed her ZN-28 ‘Blackprey' Nova Knife she received from Mr. Jack and unholstered the CAR-9 Burst Scrambler Pistol she received from Professor Dexter. While holding both the blade and the pistol in each hand calms her nerves, she steeled her resolve for what she is about to do.

Raine took a deep breath and counted to three before she kicked down the door hard and rushed inside the room with a blade on her left hand and a pistol in her right hand pointing at the center of the room.

At the center of the room, she can see…

A little girl who looks like she's nine years old in an orphanage dress reading an article from an old looking civilian Omni-tool on her right arm.

The little girl has blonde hair but Raine is not able to see her face clearly from the angle she has now. And just like everyone else she has encountered along the way, is also frozen in time.

However, the little girl is not her concern at the moment. Since she enters the room, she failed to spot anyone besides the small girl in front of her while clearly from the voices she heard behind the closed door earlier there should be a group of people inside the room as well.

"Well, what do we have here?" Said a voice out of nowhere.

Raine is startled at the sudden voice and she wheeled her pistol around trying to look for the source.

"It seems we have an intruder inside our realm… I did not think this was possible in this godless universe when we first projected our essence here." Said another voice.

Weary at the voices around Raine, she tries to strain her magical perception to their limit to identify the sources of the bodiless voices inside the room.

With difficulty, she managed to pinpoint one of the plastic toy soldiers on top of the study desk inside the room across from the blonde little girl as one of the sources of voice.

Raine pointed her pistol at the plastic toy soldier and shot an energy pulse, which misses and vaporizes the wall beside the plastic toy soldier into a smoking hole, as a warning shot.

"That was a warning shot, and I know you are in the plastic toy soldier. Identify yourself and state the reason why you have freezed time or I will shoot you without missing next." Warned Raine in a clear and authoritative tone as she lifted her Nova Knife in a guard position and her pistol forward aiming at the center of the toy plastic soldier and a ‘Soul Strike' spell ready on the tip of her tongue to follow up on her shot.

After that demonstration, the numbers of voices around the room have increased but it sounded like murmurs to her ears. Raine is about to fire again before another voice said clearly from the plastic toy soldier she is aiming.

"To answer your question young lady, we are Gods. I don't know how you can move into this realm, as far as we are concerned there shouldn't be any other Gods beside us inside this faithless realm. I have answered your question. Now answer mine. What are you?" Asked the voice originating from the plastic toy soldier on top of the study desk.

Raine tilted her head at the answer. Gods? Well since they can freeze time then that must be true. However, what does that make her, if she could still move within her realm? A God as well? While she did not feel like a God, she must be some significant figure in their eyes.

The only way to know for sure is to answer them truthfully while not divulging all the information that she has. That is one of the golden rules for a negotiation when both parties are not aware of the other’s capability and position after all.

Raine sheathed her Nova Knife and slowly using her left hand she took off her pilot helmet. After that, she dropped the helmet to the ground while removing her white mask and held it in her left hand. She left the black cat hairband on her head but they shouldn't affect the negotiation at this point.

"My name is Raine. I am a Dryad of the Yggdrasil. I have answered your question, now answer another of mine. Why have Gods come here?" Said Raine with bravado in her heart hoping for the best.

Raine, faced with silence after her declaration but she felt that they are discussing things in private somehow.

"Ah, the gatekeeper of this universe then. We apologized for entering your realm, as when we last opened it ten years ago, we did not detect any presence of divinity in this universe. However, now we are in a bit of a bind since we have already invested some of our divinity power to bring this child in front of you to this faithless universe. As part of our new divine project of ours to bring back faith and the power of Gods in this realm which is now ruled by science and logic. They have forgotten the faith and religious fervor. Hence we are here to change that. I am afraid we have plans for this universe and this child. We hope you do not mind for them to be carried out in this universe as in the end, it will benefit yourself as well." Explains the voice of the one who sounds like the more senior God of their group.

Raine remembers to keep it cool and act like she knows what a God-like being is all about. Fake it till you make it is one of the darker sides of success strategy that she loathe using but she will if she have to.

"I suppose I do not mind since I was practicing how to hide my divinity in the first place. However, this leaves us with a quandary. I do not mind to let your presence in this realm be, but I need to know exactly what is it you intend to do to increase "Faith" in this universe. And what is the girl's role would be in this plan of yours." Asked Raine with false confidence.

"Oho I see, suppressing your divinity is indeed one of the more difficult powers to do for divine beings. Honing your skills are indeed a worthy endeavor for any God worth their salt. However back to our current matter, we plan to increase faith by inducing war on a universal scale and have the sentient being here worship us and offer us their faith. We will introduce magic in this universe after sufficient faith has been provided to us during the war. Heroes and villains will rise in this coming conflict and faith will blossom in the upcoming epic saga of a new age of Gods and Heroes. The little girl will be our apostle for that coming war, we have made her into the physically perfect human and her soul is reincarnated from another realm without magic. She is a faithless and flawed human being who died because of her karma. We see no better punishment but for her to be the instrument of our will in this universe." Confessed the senior God confidently.

Internally, Raine is horrified with their plan but she could not be sure that she can win if she decided to fight for it. When she is a million years old like they thought she is, then sure she could try. At the moment though, she keenly felt like a chihuahua barking through a loudspeaker at a group of junkyard Dobermans. Impressive but ultimately she cannot back up her bark with actual power. She could try to bluff herself to a better position though. The key is the little blonde girl after all.

"Oh? That sounds wonderful, and I could use more minions. In fact, I have my group of humans who worship the ground I walked on already. But of course, I could use more…" Said, Raine, as she holstered her Pistol and proceeded to walk comfortably towards the standing blonde little girl until she is standing in front of the blonde little girl's face.

"Humans? Why would you choose them as your flock? They have the shortest life and the weakest strength among the four races available in this universe. What they have the most for them is the power of their numbers." Said another bodiless voice around Raine.

"Hence more faiths to be collected with the humans, and you'd do well not to underestimate the humans. You'd be surprised what anyone can do when they believe they are the weakest after all." Said Raine, as she gazes on the face of the blonde little girl in front of her and found it attractive as it reminded her of her second wife after her first wife passed away because of old age.

"Your words have merit O Dryad of the Yggdrasil. We will take it into consideration. Is there anything else we can do to gain your cooperation for our plan in this universe?" Repeated the senior God voice.

"Yes, I want your apostle to be part of my retinue. If you are making her as part of your Apostle to bring about an age of change in this universe, then I would like to be a part of it after all. I don't exactly care about other races besides humans and only a small numbers of them are under my jurisdiction after all. Why not use the time to scout out other races potential and culture before actually bringing out universal conflict. The flames of war cannot be lit without the right fire after all." Said Raine confidently while hoping they took the bait to leave her alone with the blonde little girl for some time as she consolidates her power.

"You spoke with wisdom on this. Very well, we will scatter and scout the potential of the other races. We leave the development of the apostle in your capable hands." Said the senior God voice as the divine presences fade away from within the room.

Raine let out a sigh of relief as the divine presences disappear from within the room and with its absence, the frozen time anomaly that has affected her surrounding are removed as well as the blonde little girl in front of her started breathing and moving again.

The blonde little girl continues to read the article from her Omni-tool without registering Raine's presence in front of her. So Raine lightly cough to gain her attention, which causes her to jolt up and looks up at Raine in suspicion.

"How long were you there? I closed the door when I come into this room. You couldn't have been here from the start." Asked the blonde little girl with hostility.

"Oh, I didn't know what to tell you. I enter through the door normally, but you didn't react at all." Confessed Raine, telling the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

The blonde little girl paused and looked at Raine with uncertainty, but her eyes became wide open when she spotted Raine's leaves instead of normal human hairs like she expected.

"What is this! You must be related to the Devil that have sent me into this realm and put me into this miserable body!" Accused the blonde little girl with hostility towards Raine.

Raine curses for exposing herself in this manner. She's not supposed to know that Raine is not human.

"Oh, this? The leaves are not real. In fact, It's similar to the new wig that comes out today you see." Explains Raine with a believable lie, hoping that the blonde little girl will take it as she twirled her leaves nervously.

The blonde little girl stares with suspicion at Raine, and even though they already face to face, the blonde little girl approaches even closer, that the distances between their faces are only a breath's distance away.

To Raine's surprise, the blonde little girl cupped both of Raine's cheeks and rubbed them softly. Raine's embarrassment meter is spiking through the roof, and if she has a heart, then she believes it would be hammering loudly within her breasts.

Raine found herself staring into the blonde little girl's bright blue eyes and felt that getting lost in its depth may not be so bad. As the bright blue eyes of the blonde little girl pull Raine in, the blonde little girl still holds Raine's cheeks on her little hands, when it suddenly moved and pulled at both sides of her leaves until it snaps and breaks.

Raine felt sharp pain unlike a bunch of hairs being pulled. The breaking of her leaves are more painful than that. It's to the degree of between having a bunch of hairs being pulled out and having your teeth pulled out without anesthetic.

Nevertheless, Raine dropped to the floor in pain and rolled around the floor to distract her from her pain again.

"Chiiiiiiiiii..........!" Squealed Raine in pain from the hard and gray ground floor.

Somehow Raine feels deja vu that this exact situation had happened before as she rolled on the ground to the left and right in pain.

"Chiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii.......Chiiiiiiiiiii......Chiiiii.........Chi...." Said Raine once again pitifully as she squeezed the pain out of her.

When the pain subsides, Raine angrily stands at the blonde little girl, planning to throttle her for the pain.

"Who the hell teaches you! Who would do that to a person she has met for the first time!" Shouted Raine angrily as she approaches the blonde little girl again.

"Hmmph as expected of a devil's servant bringing hell into this. I suspected that you were lying about the leaves being a wig. So I simply took the most logical action I could take in that scenario. Proving my hypotheses that your leaves are in fact not a wig." Said the blonde little girl with contempt as she holds a fistful of Dryad leaves in both hands while staring down at Raine.

"What?! I am no lackey of the beings that brought you here! In fact, all of them have left you alone on a goose chase because I ask them to do so! I demand an apology and gratitude for doing so!" Demanded Raine angrily at the blonde little girl.

"I have no reason to do so. In the first place, I do not know you, the only thing I know is that you are not human. That is enough reason for me not to trust you." Argued the blonde little girl.

Raine sputtered at the attitude of the blonde little girl, Raine is keenly aware that she is a schizoid or in Japanese term a ‘kuudere, ' but the girl in front of her is acting like a sociopath without care for social convention and tramples them like nothing. While Raine does not care for most social convention, but at least she shows respect by not trampling on them dammit!

"Sigh, I tire of calling you blonde little girl in my mind. Tell me your name and let us talk about this again." Sighed Raine for the umpteenth time when she spoke to the difficult blonde little girl.

"Very well, my name is Tanya Degurechaff. Now that I have introduced myself, I expect the same from yourself." Stated Tanya as she pocketed Raine's leaves without remorse.

"Sigh, fair enough. My name is Raine Sioux, while it has not been a pleasure to meet you, but I suppose it's the best I can get now. Now, Ms. Tanya, I cannot let you be under the mistaken impression that I am not human. Regardless of your crude method, I assure you that I am one hundred percent human under this luxurious leaves.” Bluffed Raine again as she introduced herself to Tanya.

“... Do you expect me to believe that obvious lie?” Scoffed Tanya as she scowled at Raine.

“I assure you, Ms. Tanya, I was born with the misfortune of having leukemia when I was five years old. Fortunately, the director of Lai Dai took pity on me and decided to adopt me and use her vast fortune to cure my leukemia once and for all. Unfortunately, because the disease has progressed before it can be cured, I can no longer have hairs. Which is why the Lai Dai researchers decided to try a new treatment through advanced genetic engineering, they crafted a bio-version of the product they are releasing to the market now, the Dryad Leaves wig, which is the mass-produced version of my original ‘Dryad Leaves.' This advanced version is maintaining my life by controlling my white-blood cells from going rogue again. So I would appreciate it if you do not rip out my lifeline.” Bluffed Raine again.

“I am aware of Lai Dai as one of the mega-corporation. But why would the director of one of the most successful companies in Caldari bother to adopt and spend resources to help you? What makes you so valuable?” Asked Tanya as the seeds of doubt beginning to grow in her mind.

"... How would I know the director’s motivation? By the way, I bluffed my way when I met the Gods who bring you here earlier and when they left, the frozen time you and everyone else was under are broken. Hence my painful altercation, but the same as yourself I am also a reincarnated person. I am now nine years old, but previously I lived to be quite old you know? And I am still waiting for that apology and gratitude for sticking my neck out for you." Complained Raine as she folded her arms under her breasts, sticking them out again.

“You said that you managed to communicate with the devil that brings me here. What did they say?” Asked Tanya tentatively.

“Oh it’s horrible Ms. Tanya, they plan to bring war and carnage to the whole universe. And they are planning to use you as their apostle to bring about this universal confrontation. But do not worry, as I ask them to bother other people instead. We should be safe for the time being. By the way, they did mention that you’re a reincarnated person, but they did not mention what you were in the previous life. I feel that we could communicate better if we divulge that information first as our experience do not match our current body.” Divulged Raine truthfully as she dug for more information.

“Very well, I was quite a successful HR personnel in my previous life. A single woman in her thirties who believe that marriage is a sin and an obstacle for my career path. Working is my life and passion. The management recognizes that even though I was a woman in a world dominated by men and allowed me to climb the corporate ladder fairly.” Reminiscent Tanya.

“Ah, my condolences Ms. Tanya for your challenging working environment. I understand Japan is a difficult place to work as overworking to death is quite common there. I also understand as I was previously a retired old man who was expected to counsel family meeting so late in the night even though I was supposed to enjoy my hard-gain retirement.” Complained Raine as she reminisces about the past as well.

Somehow Tanya became more amicable after Raine's complaint. She felt that knowing that both of them are reincarnated person with similar situations has brought them closer together and make her more willing to cooperate.

There could be other reasons but Raine could care less about them as long as Tanya could show respect to her.

"Really? Are you Japanese as well?" Asked Tanya politely.

"No, I was a citizen of Indonesia back in my previous life. But I did spend some time working in Singapore, so I have worked with Japanese before." Answered Raine equally polite.

"Ah that is too bad, I was hoping you would know how to make Miso paste after all. I missed some taste from Japan after living here for so long. I could only eat protein delicates and processed seafood products. Ahhh I missed eating Miso soup and sashimi." Complained Tanya.

"Well, I don't know how to make Miso paste but I do know how to make tempeh and Indonesian sweet soy sauce… Of course provided I can find soy beans in this universe then I can try making those." Said Raine kindly as the topic of the conversation has somehow shifted to food.

Before Tanya could reply to her offer, the walls next to both of them explode as dust and debris filled the air inside the room and blocked Raine's vision and coated her leaves.

"HANDS UP! EVERYBODY LAY DOWN YOUR ARMS AND SURRENDER OR WE WILL SHOOT TO KILL!" Shouted Iden's voice as her black armored figure appears out of the debris haze while pointing her own CAR-9 Scrambler Burst Pistol while scanning the room for hostiles.

Raine and Tanya are kneeling on the ground while coughing out the dust debris and covering their faces and mouths. Raine can also see the second vehicle that has burst open the wall at the same time as the first LLV break-in as well. Raine can see the figure of Kaidan with his assault rifle drawn as he exits the driver seat together with Ron on the other vehicle drawing out his shotgun.

"It's clear commander! No hostiles detected!" Reported Ron from behind Iden.

All three of them then approaches Raine while checking her condition with worry.

"Ms. Raine, you better explain how you can suddenly disappear from beside Kaidan. From his report, he was looking at you one moment to say something and the next you disappear without a trace. Did you use some magic? I hope this would not be a regular occurrence in the future." Said Iden with an edge to her tone of voice.

"It's true. I swear I have a heart attack when you suddenly disappear without a trace. It's a lucky that director Alakoni put a tracking bug on your gear beforehand so we can always determine your whereabouts in the event of a kidnapping." Sighed Kaidan in relief as he relaxes his grip on his assault rifle.

Raine can see that Ron suddenly became busy as she can see him holding up and explaining things to the staffs of the state orphanage about their break-in. And while Raine can appreciate their zealotry when protecting her person, she wishes that they could call her Omni-tool before doing anything rash like smashing through an orphanage walls with guns blazing in though.

"Sorry about that, I can explain it better later on but before that why didn't you call my Omni-tool first to ascertain my condition though?" Asked Raine as she tilted her head.

Iden the looks at Raine weirdly like she said something wrong.

"Ms. Raine, in the event of a kidnapping, calling you would tip the kidnappers that something is wrong. In these type of situation, it is better to jump on them when they are unaware, guns blazing and mow them down after all." Explains Iden as she shifted her attention to the impatient looking director of the orphanage as well as the gathering staffs of the orphanage behind them.

"Oh, that makes sense. I suppose we could leave the explanation for later after we clear things out with the orphanage staffs then." Said Raine, as she shifted her attention to the orphanage staffs as well.

Raine then proceeds to wear her mask back and her pilot helmet to hide her face. It should be alright, as her figure is blocked by Ms. Iden's figure after all, so the orphanage’s staffs should not be able to see her at all.

Raine then follow along passively behind her group, with Tanya being taken in by one of the orphanage’s staff and returned to her quarters most likely. The director of the orphanage is a pompous fat walrus looking man who doesn't look like he should be managing an orphanage, but maybe it's just her. Their group finally reached the man office and all of them took a seat each in front of the director's study desk.

"Ahem, so Ms. Iden is it? We would like an explanation on why would a pair of military Light Logistics Vehicles or LLV's came crashing through our walls for no reason." Asked the fat walrus looking man, while sternly look like he is trying to stare down Iden.

Iden was looking at Raine instead for an explanation as well.

"Oh, that would be my fault Mr…?" Said Raine uncertainly as she fakes fidgeting to show her vulnerability.

"Dursley… My name is Vernon Dursley. Humph… And why was it your fault young miss…?" Harrumphed Vernon again.

"Oh, I was adopted by a high-ranking member of the Lai Dai Mega Corp recently and I was feeling terribly lonely. So I happened to see the orphanage when passing by and decided to look for a friend. I did not realize how overzealous my guardian would be when they realize I was missing you see…" Lied Raine sweetly.

Iden, Kaidan Alenko and Ron are staring at her and she can feel their disbelief behind their helmet when they are looking at her. Quietly, Rufus the drone floated from behind Iden and started to record the whole thing.

Raine cursed Iden in her mind. She can easily see Iden's motivation in recording the exchange. Iden is creating an alibi for this accident and is covering their asses when they need to report to director Alakoni about it. Well, in for a penny, and in for a pound as they might say.

"So, of course, my caretaker would happily reimburse the damages… Provided if you can arrange so that we can adopt Tanya as my friend immediately of course." Played Raine sweetly as honey and laced with malicious poison.

"I am afraid such a thing would not be possible Ms. Raine. For one thing, you look like you are not of legal age. Secondly, I do not believe that you have the authority actually to speak on behalf of one of the mega-corporation. And besides adopting a child took a very stringent progress to make sure that the child are not manipulated for unlawful purpose against the state. I could not possibly allow such arrangement to pass." Scoffed Vernon Dursley with annoyance and scorned at Raine’s words.

"Oh but you see, it would not be me that would be adopting Tanya. It would be my guardian here, and she's commander Iden, the leader of an adamantite ranked mercenary from ‘Inferno Squad' you know? She once told me that she always like to have a protegee one day. Unfortunately, even though she is such a dashing figure, she hasn't found that one true man for her to marry. Perhaps by adopting, she would awaken her maternal instinct and strive to have a child of her own." Said, Raine, as she weaves an elaborate lie sweetly.

Raine can feel killing intent waving from Iden already, but she persists bravely trying to chip away at this fat walrus’s resolve. Give in damn you fat walrus, give in!

"Oh, she has the backing of Lai Dai for sure Mr. Vernon sir! I stake my good name as an adamantite ranked mercenary on the line!" Interjected Ron suddenly to the rescue, in assistance to Raine's difficulty in convincing the orphanage director to let Tanya go.

Raine looks at Ron immediate support with renewed hope.

"And you are Mr…?" Queried Vernon Dursley as he tapped his fat hand impatiently on his study desk.

"Mr. Ron, here are my Identity dog tag. You can check and confirm my qualification." Said Ron confidently as he passes a Caldari emblem dog tag to Vernon Dursley hand.

Vernon Dursley accepted the offered Caldari emblem dog tag and proceeded to scan the chip inside the dog tag with his Omnitool.

"Seems like the tag checked out. You are who you say you are. I have no issue to accept your word about the young lady's backing at this point. However, I remain unconvinced…" Said Vernon Dursley vaguely as he returned Ron's dog tag back.

"Of course, Mr. Dursley… There would be… Added incentive if you allow us to adopt Tanya and a… Bonus if you can do it immediately for us to take her now." Said, Raine, as she spits out the vague suggestion of bribe like ash on her tongue.

"Hmm… Five hundred bits for her transfer order and another five hundred bits for arranging it immediately under my authority as the state orphanage director… Are we agreed?" Said Vernon Dursley as he grinned with greed.

Raine looked uncertainly at Ron and is relieved when seeing him nodding back at her.

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"Agreed Mr. Dursley. Arrange for her transfer order immediately under my name and I will transfer half of  the money to your account now and another half after the transfer order is completed." Agreed on Ron calmly.

"Very well Mr. Ron. Here is my account number. I will make a call to my colleague to prepare her things to go." Said Vernon Dursley as he sent an email to Ron, the detail of which he has scanned from Ron's dog tag.

"Much obliged Mr. Dursley." Said, Ron, as he proceeds to transfer five hundred bits from his bank account to Vernon Dursley’s bank account.

Raine stares at the fat walrus making a call to his colleague to prepare Tanya things to go. The fat walrus then hears the notice on his Omni-tool that he has received the amount five hundred bits from Ron's bank account.

"Hmm, I have certainly received the amount from you. Very well, under my authority as the state orphanage director, I immediately authorized the transfer order of one ‘Tanya Degurechaff' under the responsibility of one ‘Ron Stoppable.' Congratulations, you are now the father of a new daughter." Said Vernon Dursley as he tapped on the holo-screen of his Omni-tool.

Ron then hears the notice on his Omni-tool, confirming the transfer record has taken place and the official seal of the state emblazoned on the transfer record, confirming its authenticity as a legal document.

"I have confirmed the transfer order has been completed. I will be sending you the rest of the payment now." Confirmed Ron as he tapped the holo-screen of his Omni-tool again.

Vernon Dursley then once again hears the notice that he received another five hundred bits from Ron's bank account.

"I have certainly received the funds, and do not worry about the damages to the walls since I have certainly received enough compensation from you today. Your new charge, Tanya, will be waiting for you at the orphanage's entrance. Please take back your LLV and be on your way. My colleague will escort you to her, good day ladies and gentlemen. It was a pleasure doing business with you." Said Vernon Dursley generously while dismissing them.

Recognizing the dismissal for what it is, Raine's group stands from their seats and follows the orphanage staff waiting outside of the state orphanage director's office. The staff of the orphanage guided them to the entrance of the orphanage where they found Tanya standing there with travel clothing and her luggage ready beside her.

Raine waited for the orphanage staff to leave and give their group some privacy before she says anything.

"Hello, again Tanya. I am sure you're wondering why you're here with us after the excitement earlier. Well, suffice to say. Say hello to your new father, which is this guy by the way." Said Raine nonchalantly pointing at Ron's standing figure near her.

"Well Ms. Raine, you better explain to us why you are so dead set on adopting this girl here. You even go as far as mentioning my love life to the obviously corrupt man. Furthermore, you owed Ron a lot today as he's willing to pay that much money and took the legal responsibility to entertain your plea." Said Iden sternly.

"Of course, Ms. Iden. To cut the story short a group of God-like being has frozen time, which I am not affected due to my connection with the tree in the Lai Dai HQ back on Earth. Tanya is a reincarnated human from another realm and her body are made by a God to be the perfect human. Surely director Alakoni would be willing to spend any amount to bring her in Lai Dai knowing this?" Explained Raine calmly, knowing for sure how investing and spending resources to gain resources are decided on who possessed the lynchpin information, the critical information to know whether the resource you have gained is a strike or a gutterball.

"This information changes everything and would substantiate your claim and justified the risk Ron would have taken on your behalf… If it were true of course…" Admitted Iden as she considers the implication of Raine words.

"Then, by all means, let us have her be checked by medical personnel to confirm the veracity of my claim." Said Raine calmly.

"Agreed, we will proceed to continue our journey to the branch office in this station. We have the experts and the equipment to confirm this issue there. Kaidan, Ron, bring over the LLV's here. I'd watch over both Ms. Raine and Ms. Tanya while you are away. " Said Iden decisively as she ordered both of her subordinates to action.

Raine is content to wait and let her guardians prove her right simply by having Tanya go through a medical check up, but Tanya is currently looking at her with confusion with an undertone of demanding for an answer.

"Why did you adopt me? It was horrible inside there but at least I was the master of my destiny until I reach of age and the orphanage would have released me from state care and I would finally be free to earn a living." Asked Tanya with uncertainty.

Raine laughed at her meekness, for a sociopath removing them from their comfort zone is a sure way to take away their lynchpin until they can claw their way back to control. And she is sure they will claw their way back given enough time as it is simply in their nature.

"You haven't lived as long as I have Ms. Tanya. A man can shape his destiny, but fate trumps destiny’s ass every single time." Argued Raine confidently.

"That can't be… Am I relegated to be fate's chew toy under that devil forever no matter what I do?" Despaired Tanya as she sinks to her knees on the hard floor.

Soundtrack OST: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-ZC8cR9zUY

"Perhaps. Would you like your destiny to triumph over the fate God has given you then?" Said Raine with temptation on the corner of her lips.

Tanya looks up at Raine's black-clad armored figure, soulless pilot helmet visor and shuddered.

"What do I need to do?" Asked Tanya with a chill going through her soul as she say the words.

"Become mine Tanya and I would give you a new fate. A fate that is the same as your perceived destiny and together we will overcome your God-given fate and build an empire worthy to rule over the stars for everyone we care about." Said Raine, as she offered Tanya a hand and a choice to make.

Tanya shuddered and stared at the hand offered by Raine. It is a choice that she has to make. It would either be her salvation or her damnation and most likely be both at the same time.

Remembering the Devil that killed Tanya's former body and the life that she has left behind and the treatment she has suffered under that fat man Vernon Dursley, burn her with rage that washed away her fear.

Tanya then remembers every single facet of the Caldari's belief of self-determination and faith in the meritocratic ideal of the state. The lessons of the Caldari State are the lessons that she agreed with all her heart and soul, against the backdrop of assault and invasion from other races, her heart has been stoked even more furiously than what she thought is possible.

With conviction, Tanya grasped Raine's hand and stood up for her fate for the first time since she was reborn in this universe.

"If the great and dark traction of the universe is what attracted me to this world… Then I would throw my fate in with you to see it burned down to the ground and replace it with the Caldari way." Said Tanya with a blazing passion.

"The universe and the Gods are not prepared for the both of us Tanya. Let us not disappoint them with lackluster result then shall we?" Said Raine with a dark giggle as both of them grasped each other’s hand.

"Sigh, spare me the melodramatic drama of preadolescent little girls." Sighed Iden with a long suffering sigh as she maintains an overwatch over both of her charge.