A Bioweapon's Rhapsody

In the end Ale ended up crying like a little kid for almost thirty minutes, all the while complaining about all her grievances, that is to say, the stupidity of the hate that Melissandra Singh had toward them, the stupidity of how they ended fighting against what should have been impossible odds.

How she did her best and barely managed to get a win... Sacrificing her arm and good part of her nervious system... And then the fact that it was all for nothing as Melissandra Singh pulled out that stupid move at the end.

Not that her words meant anything since Ale had spent most of her time crying and saying her complaints in a barely understandable language, she had made sure that her words weren't understood too, just in case.

"There there," All the while hitting (With not enough force to hurt) the woman that was patting at her back. "You feel better now?"

Did Ale feel better? Yes.

Even if it was stupid, she hadn't actually said anything, merely said her complaints in a cipher code that ensured the important information wasn't leaked.

"Yes," Ale said, nodding and using their control over their body to fix her appearance and the ruined clothes she had (Only hers, of course), "Thank you, Miriam Eversoul."

"You can call say only Miriam, or Mimi if you want even," The woman said smiling at Ale, "Now, the important bits. We need to think what we are going to do about you."

"Me?" Ale asked, thinking about that tidbit, they were apparently in a secure laboratory, meaning there should be security and defenses to be overcome.

Would it be dangerous?

"I am fine," Ale said shaking her head, "You don't need to worry about me."

The woman sighed at that statement, "Even if you share the Saintsworths name and are indeed the little sister of that Blonde manchild... There are things that privileges and name can't give you, this is one of those. He may rule over all Terra Nova, but he does not rule over all that is of the Saintsworths."

How could one rule over a planet but not over a corporation? Actually wasn't his title as CEO? Then was that only to show?

"No, it isn't because of that," Ale said shaking her head, "Alexandra sent us here, if she sent us here, then it means that either we are in a safe place, or in a place that we can get out without getting hurt."

Ale was sure of that, it was the power she had gotten after making her Wish, there was no way that it would put them at risk. Ale wasn't sure what [Wish] had Alexandra asked, but the fact that the very first thing she did with her Core Power was use it on Ale...

It meant that it was a power she asked for the sole sake of saving them. Not to save herself, not to destroy their enemies, but to save Ale and Alexa.

"There is absolutely no way that we are at risk for being here." Ale said nodding, "Of that I am sure. We may not be entirely sure how Alexa asked her Wish, or why it is what it is... But I am sure that Alexandra would never ever put us at risk."

"...Well, even if you are sure." Miriam Eversoul said, sighing and pulling out her weird cylindrical communicator, "Fair... But we still need to find an entry point for you that can explain how you got here... If we can get that, I can deal with everything else."

They needed an entry point?

"What about where I arrived?" Ale asked, surely Alexandra left them in a place that accounted for that?

"You arrived outside my office," Miriam Eversoul said pulling out a new image from the device.

[Main Core, can we hack into this?]

[Starting data uplink and download...]

[Starting handshake...]

[Handshake sucesfu-]

[-...What the hell is this? Who is this?]

[Main Core?]

[-Identify yourself, you are an unknown datastream within the Saintsworths Conglomerate mainframe database.]

[Main Core sever the connection.]

[Data stream recognized... Sending Id: Host is Alexa Saintsworths.]

[-...Greetings, Mistress, this humble one is Albireo. What can we do for you?]

[...Can you log our entry into this facility?]

[-Right away, any preference for the time of entry?]

"What time would be more convenient for our entry?" Ale asked, somehow had found a sapient AI within the network, and... the stupid thing recognized Alexa as an administrator? Ale really would need to delve into that.

"The sooner the better, but I guess that around noon?" Miriam said.

[Log our entry around Noon, a moment where there isn't much people and when we can better excuse it.]

[-Your will shall be done.]

[Thank you.]

[-Don't mention it, literally. We aren't supposed to talk to you or Master yet.]

[...So long you don't snitch on us.]

[-Deal.]

And like that the connection was cut, Ale was left with a data dump with some maps and a few credentials to use. Also the full Blueprint of this place... And by the size Ale was not sure where it fit, as far as she was aware the map and dimensions of this place didn't match with any of the maps she had about the area of activities that [Elder] had given them.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"Can you give me that device for a few seconds." Ale said extending her hand toward the weird crystal screen that Miriam Eversoul had been using.

"Sure, but I don't have games or anything. And while it can be used by third parties, most of the important functions only answer to registered users within our system." Miriam Eversoul said, but Ale was ignoring most of that, instead she focused on streaming the data she was getting from Main Core.

She needed to make a scene to excuse what she had allowed to get, navigating the multiple menus while Miriam Eversoul looked from the side was nerve-racking. But Ale managed.

"There," Ale said after getting to the correct screen that showed the log of entries and exits, and updating it so it would show the modification that they had gotten thanks to that weird artificial intelligence that was inside this local network, Albireo, was it? "I logged my entry around 1:34PM, would that suffice?"

"How..." Miriam Eversoul asked taking the device away, all the extra screen fizzled away only leaving the last one, with way less options available, only showing the log of entries and where it had happened. "Well yes, this works quite well. Now we only need to get you to the outside..."

[Warning, about to achieve maximum entropy level.]

[Nanite Integrity about to arrive to maximum allowed safe limit.]

[Mana flesh integrity about to achieve lifespan.]

[Host is recommended to take preventive measures.]

"Hah?" Ale was almost stun locked when she found those warnings. A quick check of her own resulted in several diagnostic programs returning the same warnings.

For some reason, the integrity of the nanite swarm that she could control directly was failing; the nanites just... didn't make replacements. The older ones were already failing.

The only ones that remained and were still working as normal were the Mk1 nanites, the ones tied to [Core]. The ones that Alexa had direct control, all the subsequent generations that they shared control over were just... not working.

A quick prod at her own flesh found that the flesh was also arriving the natural end point, or in a nutshell.

Her body was dying.

Ale didn't panic, not now anyway, it was not... Death. Or well [Death], it was more that she wouldn't be able to continue controlling the body...

[Core, what is this?]

[So, you are saying that so long my identity is one tied as a part of Alexa, any body that I make will end like this?]

[What about Alexa?]

[Give me the saturation level of this attack.]

[Receiving data dump from administrators...]

[Uploading to visual receptors of host.]

[Saturation: 70%]

[Saturation speed increases progressively faster and faster. The host has around 12 minutes before the saturation level arrives at 100%.]

Ale turned to look at her hand and moved the damaged parts into the point of her finger, as she did that, the point of her pinky finger started to turn black and slowly discomposed into black ash that seemed to evaporate as it fell.

"...Are you okay?" Miriam Eversoul said as she seemed to notice something, "What happened?"

"A side effect," Ale said sighing, "Sorry, it seems that the attack made against me was stronger than expected. I will not be able to remain long in this form."

"Do you need medical assistance?" Miriam asked as she pulled a test tube and dabbed a cotton swab on her pinky finger, stuck that in the test tube, then pressed a gauze against her pinky finger and stuck that in another test tube. "Actually, don't answer. We are seeing Vivian no matter what you say."

"You will go see it, with Alexa." Ale said smirking, "Before I leave, can you give me the coordinates of this place? I will need that data to return home."

"...I... Don't think that will be easy." Miriam said, pulling out the weird blue crystal screen she had been using, "Input your home address here and see if you can return."

Ale took the device and quickly wrote the address of the apartment building they lived in.

She also used the few still viable nanites she had control over to download the software of this thing and stuck them into the Information Core for later perusal.

"....Address not found?" Ale read aloud, that was impossible. She then moved the controls of the map app and zoomed out to see if she could see the district that she knew. "What is this?"

Ale said as the map of the area around them was visible to her.

"That is our city," Miriam said shrugging, "I know, weird design."

What Ale had found as she scrolled away on the map was a star, a nine-pointed star. The whole place was built in the form a nine pointed star, it seemed that each point of the star was its own separated district. But it was beyond reason or doubt a city all right.

It wasn't THE City in which Alexa had been moments prior.

[Main Core, search all databases, correlate this image and plot a route back to Haephestus' Forge.]

[Warning, data triggered an alarm.]

[Search blocked. There is a lock in the data, no search can be made.]

[There is a note within the lock. All questions about the Aquila project are to be directed to a supervisor.]

"That is why I was asking you how you arrived here." Miriam Eversoul said taking the device back, "You stand in the Crown Gem of the Saintsworths, the pet project of our Evil Overlord."

The pet what?

"Welcome to Project Aquila, the first city designed as a space station that can take to the stars..." Miriam Eversoul said in the blandest tone possible, "I still don't think it will work, but at least the facilities are nice."

"...This... This whole place is a city... and you plan to lift off?" Ale asked as the saturation percentage continued growing, she was now arriving at the 90%. "Are you mad?"

"We all have asked that of Alexanders," Miriam Eversoul said nodding, "The energy needed to make a whole city lift off, the amount of time it would take for it to achieve escape velocity without destroying the buildings or flattening the inhabitants. Nothing of this project is practical. And no sane man would ever claim that it was, the mere fact that all the buildings would need to be capable of withstanding the void of space is enough to give nightmares to the architects building those same buildings."

Was...was that blonde asshole actually mad?

"But..." Miriam Eversoul said, sighing, "The same could be said about most Core Powers, there is no logical reason why someone can manifest a body armor capable of letting them fly, lift tons of weight, and allow them to breathe in space. But even though all of this should be impossible, [Superforce] is capable of doing all of this."

... That was... kind of true?

"The same could be said about you actually." Miriam Eversoul then pointed to Ale, "There is no logical reason why a marble should be able to transform the body of what looked to be a five-year-old into a teenager, give them their own personality and sense of self, besides their own set of memories. DID or not."

"The means of how I get this body and the means of how my psyche works are not the result of Mana or Core." Ale pointed out, "But I get your point. Core Powers should not work like how they do."

"As such, we have no way to stop this madness." The woman sighed, "At least Alexanders isn't mad enough to try to lift the City while we are still in construction, he does test the engines from time to time. So that is that... But yeah, reason why I was asking you how you got here is because of this, you are in the most secret location known to mankin. Only way to get here is by the use of a Teleportation Core user who is registered to the Saintsworths, or one of their gates."

"Gates?" Ale asked they were in a floating city in god knows what ocean, how could a normal gate get them here?

"Yeah, that is what the blonde manchild calls them. He embedded the effect of a Teleportation Core power into an arch, so when you walk through it you move across space to the matching pair." Miriam Eversoul said pulling the image of a weird tunnel, "See here? That is the gate. There are some rumors that claim that Alexanders has a more complete version that can dial to a particular gate, but there is no way he wouldn't be showing off if he could do that. But yeah, these gates allow you to go from one side of the world to here, it's how most of the people come here and leave without knowing they moved halfway across the globe."

That seemed... excessive.

[Warning, saturation levels close to 95%.]

[Do you wish to remain?]

[Y/N?]

Ale of course didn't answer that ominous prompt.

"Well, thank you for the talk, and sorry about the blouse." Ale said standing up and stretching, "But that's about all the time I have, see you when I see you."

Ale started the process to return to Alexa's form. For some reason it seemed to hurt, that was not normal... Ale would make a note to never allow the Saturation to get that high.

But she did pay attention to how it was going, her body started to shine in blue light and she noticed the mana meter going down. So [Core] was taking over and refreshing the Blueprint huh.

Meaning... most of the organs and flesh was useless. So perhaps if she refreshed her own Blueprint...

No, she wouldn't risk it, not with over 90% of Saturation. Perhaps later.

"Take care of Alexa," Ale said as the blue light started to cover her face, with that said, she closed her eyes and allowed her consciousness to sink to the back.

As she was falling back into the Mindscape she couldn't help but feel the embrace of Alexa's gargantuan Consciousness Stream around her. Ale gave it back a hug and felt how a part of that gargantuan Consciousness Stream leaked back to the place she had been before.

Ale had many things to think, but for now?

For now she would relax and see what would happen later, she needed to pay attention to the real world, in case she was needed, in case Alexa found herself in trouble.