A Bio-Weapon’s Rhapsody

As it turns out, the virtual machine was very much needed.

"[Explain how the encounter with Test Subject MS devolved.]" As Vulcanus started to ask the important questions.

Ale had managed to gloss over how she dealt with the zombies outside the fake laboratory, some close quarter combat and a few practical examples of what her [Arm-mament] could do was all that it needed.

She did say that Beatrice Starcroft didn't got involved into the fight to the annoyance of Empress, Ale guessed that she may be at odds with whoever Beatrice Starcroft's parents were. But then again, these were members of a Super villain organization after all.

"Main Core, prepare the Virtual Machine, we will start the show." Ale sent the prompt inwardly and felt her awareness accelerate for a second as she was pulled to the side and felt the connection between the virtual machine and her body solidify.

It was... weird, she didn't think it felt like this when they did it the first time, but then again. As Core and Main Core had said, their stability had improved more since those times, as it seemed they didn't need to do the Maintenance routine anymore.

Perhaps this was a side effect of that?

"The encounter moved as one would expect." Ale's body started speaking, "Test Subject MS started with mental suggestions and some illusions being projected."

Ale was planning to sell most of it as illusion games and the like, that was within the boundaries of what a normal [Mind core] user would do... she hoped.

"[Illusions? Elaborate.]" Vulcanus said nodding.

"She prepared a fake scenario where all those that I trusted betrayed me in an attempt to break my psyche." Ale's body answered with a frown, "People I trusted came and backstabbed me, my brother selling me to the laboratory, Eleanore escaping the contract and using her power to bind me down as a tool for her enjoyment... The works."

That got a few frowns and the more enthusiastically than needed shake of head from [Eleanore].

"How did you manage to escape it?" Empress asked with azure light shining on her eyes, was that mana too? "And are you sure this... girl is truly dead?"

"I pulled out the Arm-mament and started attacking everyone in sight." Ale's body said with a shrug, "As how I am sure if she is dead... I can't be sure. I was not there for that."

"[I assume it was at this point that you got hit with the secondary power of test subject MS?]" Vulcanus said as he pulled a tablet and fiddled with it for a few seconds, "[This was sent our way as evidence that it could be possible for your return to be delayed.]"

Turning the tablet her way it showed a short clip of one arm turning into ash. It was... not her arm right?

Ale was not sure.

"Basically, yes." Her body still answered without much worry, "Test Subject MS said something that made... it made it as if [The World] was against me. The air burned, the ground felt as if it was rejecting me... And my own body refused to listen."

That... was perhaps a little more poetic than Ale had expected, was there something off with the virtual machine copy of her?

"Then under all of that, the call of-" Okay that was enough!

Ale accelerated her awareness, killed the process of the virtual machine and jumped back inside, she would go through the logs later, but for now.

"- someone, before I could even understand what was happening I was waking up in a new place." Ale was... glossing over many details at the moment, but it was not a lie what she had said.

"[Truth]" Thank you [Eleanore], for doing something useful with your life for once.

"I found out that more time than I had expected had passed by and that I wasn't even in the same city anymore then." Ale said and before worrying about what was happening, she accelerated her awareness again.

This time she did not fully copy her whole psyche, instead she took a snapshot of what she wanted for answer for determined subjects, then fed that into the VR and set up her emotional responses for those subjects.

This time it would not be a full copy, but closer to a simple chatbot with access to emotional intelligence.

"[That place being?]" Vulcanus asked, just in time for Ale to sidestep from her own body and let the chatbox answer.

"I am not entirely sure," Her body answered, Vulcanus turned to look at [Eleanore] who nodded back at him. So that read as truth too, good. "It was something made by my family, a secret project of some kind, I was told it would work as a school and that I could study there if I wanted."

"That checks up with what we know then." Empress said nodding and turning to [Vulcanus], "The Dragon is making his move sooner than we expected."

The Dragon?

"It could be a plan to distract us too." Hydra said afterwards, "She may be telling the truth, but if they feed her with lies she could be telling the truth she knows and still say lies."

...Dang it.

"Eleanore guarantees my answer as truth." Her body fought back before Ale could stop it. She had set that up beforehand, yes, but not to be used under these circumstances!

"Eleanore guarantees you tell the truth you know as truth." Empress said back shaking her head, "And we know you know that too. Cerberus told us how a version of you may have listened to how her Core power actually works."

Dang it! Dang it! Dang it to the seven planes of hell and back!

"..." Ale's body didn't react, Ale had not set up anything for this! So with a grumble she snatcher back the control back and killed the new pseudo virtual machine too, "Then what. Do you expect me to allow [Eleanore]'s full brunt of her core power to work on me? I will not."

Ale said glaring back at that girl with horns, Empress. She was becoming an issue.

"Nothing like that," Empress said shaking her head, "I just meant to say that you should be aware that the Saintsworths now know how her power works, as thus. They could have fed you a fake narrative so you could lie to us."

...Oh?

"[We believe you could be... a plant, albeit an unwilling one.]" [Vulcanus] shook his head, "[Usually we would get Cerberu's to check for sure, her Core Power is perfect to find out plants.]"

Unless the plant is the leader of the organization~

"But that is not possible with you, and this is a waste of time. As Gabriel probably said before you sent him in a pointless mission." [Elder] complained from the back, "Rhapsody is clear, she almost died for us. You made a brat die for us Edwards."

"[There was no way for us to know how the mission would develop, there was no evidence to suggest-]" [Vulcanus] started to say back.

"Cut the crap." But [Elder] stopped him cold, " I did not complain to Vulcanus. I complained to the man behind the machine."

[Elder] walked forward, towards Ale, then before he was too close turned his back to her and stood in front of the other Lietenants and [Vulcanus].

"I know there was no reason to think anything like this would happen, if I thought something like that I would have pulled Rhapsody back." [Elder] said shaking his head, "But this? This inquisition? It's wrong and you know it too Edwards, is it not because of that same reason we got Gabriel scouting the wasteland right now?"

He was doing what? Wasn't that... dangerous? Ale had seen plenty of the so-called megafauna when coming back, and just by the long-distance scanning results... it was mayhem.

Almost all the flora and fauna was to some degree or another a Core User. And going like that with a normal body? That was madness.

"[...He wanted to go.]" [Vulcanus] said back, "[He wanted to work on his Core and evolve it further. After crippling his Core the only way forward is..]"

"He wants to do an infusion?" It was Empress the one to answer the untold question, "Idiot, he could have asked me and I would have loaned him one of my minions."

"You know Gabriel, he does not like depending on others." [Elder] said shaking his head, "So, was that enough? Are you satisfied now? If Rhapsody was truly a plant she would have stabbed me in the heart already."

What?

"What?!?!?" Ale asked jumping away from [Elder], "I would never!"

She, of course, didn't fear retaliation or anything, but she didn't want to be misunderstood, not after working so hard to get back here.

"It's okay kiddo." [Elder] said smiling at her, "If I truly thought you would do that. I wouldn't have let you have one of my masks."

Ale turned to look at her newest bracelet, she hadn't detected any kind of malware, trojan, virus, or software of any kind that would be hostile to her... But there was a trace of foreign mana that was being purified at the moment. Was this from [Elder]?

"[I never doubter Rhapsody.]" [Vulcanus] said first, "[But some clarification was needed. This... was not what we expected, there is still the question about the SOS I got.]"

"Ah right, kiddo, do you know who called and pulled Vulcanus to your position?" [Elder] said, turning to Ale again, "Apparently someone sent a high-powered SOS and pulled Vulcanus into that fight. Gabriel also confirmed that someone teleported Vulcanus there. Albeit he isn't sure how."

"... I don't know, before I was knocked unconscious, only myself and Melissandra Singh were in the area." Ale said shaking her head, so [Vulcanus] had been there? No. [Vulcanus.exe] had been there.

But Gabriel Light had confirmed it? So he was also near? Ale cursed her bad luck, if they had arrived earlier...

"She passes." Empress was the next to talk, "I think it's unfair that she gets to know most of our Core Powers while keeping hers secret though."

"Same." Hydra also chimed in, this time with less words though.

"Eleanore?" [Elder] asked turning to [Eleanore].

"...she spoke the full truth, I have no issue with her." [Eleanore] merely said, "... I have no such right to find issues with her."

You are damned right you have no leg to stand on.

"Okay, so... are you okay kiddo? You aren't wearing your suit, so I can't get your vitals." [Elder] said turning to Ale, as if everything before this hadn't happened.

"I'm fine." Ale said nodding, "My... brother helped me."

"Right, the delivery guy." [Elder] said nodding, "Must have some crazy pull to manage that."

That was one way of saying it, Ale sighed.

"Do you know who my... brother is?" Ale asked, she got some shakes of head here and there. [Eleanore] didn't shake her head, nor did [Vulcanus]. Which was... fair.

"Doesn't matter." [Elder] said with a shrug, "He cares about you enough to dive into such a dangerous location, and is probably looking for you when that should have been our work. As far as I can tell, I owe him a drink and food. If he ever needs a [Tinker Core] for help tell him to call me."

"That won't be necessary." [Eleanore] said from the back, "Not for him."

"It's only polite Lena." [Elder] said dismissively, "Eleanore, you are better than this. Just because he is a Saintsworths..."

"He is more than a simple Saintsworths!" [Eleanore] screamed back, earning herself some raised eyebrows from Hydra and Empress.

"... Even if that is the case, that is Rhapsody's blood and flesh family." [Elder] said shaking his head, "And they care enough to get her treatment so expensive that it reversed an entropy mana failure event."

"That's what it's called?" Ale said looking at her hand, "Entropy Mana Failure Event? Can Entropy even fail?"

As far as Ale knew, it shouldn't be possible, one just didn't... turn off Entropy, that was a law of thermodynamics.

"It's what I am calling it, since we didn't knew something like this could even happen. From what the readings we got tell, the mana seemed to work in reverse and pull with it your body into the more base forms." [Elder] said shrugging, "Why it moved your body toward Ash is anyone's guesses, it matters not. What matters is that your brother helped you come back to us, so whoever he is it matters not and will not change how I look at him."

"Even if that person is Alexanders Saintsworths?" Ale asked.

"... That would be close to impossible." [Elder] said laughing, "Good example, but the chances that Alexanders fricking Saintsworths cared for anyone that wasn't him are as possible as me turning into a youngster tomorrow."

I mean... Ale could probably work that one out, she would just need to reshape his body and extrapolate what his blueprint would look like at an earlier stage, then execute and be done.

Not like how it would require her to reconstruct from scratch his whole body, as it was what she would need to do with [Golem] to fix his situation, since [Elder]'s Core didn't affect his body, that wasn't an issue.

"You are serious... You can't be serious," [Elder] said turning to [Eleanore] and asking, "Is she telling the truth?"

"My power no longer affects her, but she is speaking the truth. I got confirmation by... external sources within the Saintsworths." [Eleanore] sighed, "Her Brother is the Dragon of the Saintsworths."

"... So he probably won't need a [Tinker core]'s help huh." [Elder] said nodding, "Did he say anything about the armor I gave you?"

"... I don't think so?" Ale said going into her emails and messages, there wasn't anything from Alexanders on those topics, "Should I... ask?"

"She is the Sister of the Calamity Dragon?" Empress was the one to speak next, "... This... does not look like a spawn of the Calamity Dragon, she is so... feeble."

"I beg your pardon?" Ale asked mildly offended, "I am no spawn of a dragon, calamity or not."

Besides, that name was a little too cool for someone like Alexanders, she could understand the people calling him Dragon. The man liked to hoard things, but Calamity? That felt kinda rude.

"... Some did call Thadeuss a Calamity." [Elder] added from the side, "And if his son is called a Dragon... No wait, that would make you a daughter of Thaddeus Saintsworths? Did he have a hidden lover?"

[Elder] sooner rather than later started devolving into the logistics of Ale's birth, which was... kinda hilarious, since no matter how he went about it, the answer would be wrong.

As Ale was not a true sister of Alexanders, that spot was reserved for Alexa.

But even so, it felt kind of... warmth, the conversation moved away from doubts and questioning Ale to such silly topics. This was one of the reasons why Ale had returned here after all.