UNUSUAL BEHAVIOR.

Back when Nya was a captive of the Maja, her psyche was broken. She tried to fight it, but she was slowly overtaken by the madness of the experience, however, several fragments of the Nya persona, the strongest aspects of her, resisted the trauma. These pieces were all that was left of the mind of Nya Crimson, but when Merlin attempted to fix Nya's mind, these pieces, now somewhat self-aware, were what helped restore Nya's psyche, however, not all of them were able to fuse back into the main persona.

One fragment remained separate, and had since been trying to usurp control from the main persona.

A few months after Nya moved the Spartans to Vulcan, Nya met with Merlin down in a cavernous sublevel.

"Merlin, what's going on?" she asked

[There's something I want to show you.] the jinn said as she led her into the chamber

It was filled with dozens of Praxian birthing pods, but what was the focus of their attention were the seven perfect copies of Nya standing naked in a line.

"What the fuck is this?" she demanded

[While you were gone, I experimented with the possibility of cloning,] Merlin said, [these are the most successful results so far.]

She walked the line, inspecting each of the Nya clones, they all looked like how she had before her evolution, with only one arm

"Are they alive?"

[They are technically functional.] Merlin said, [but their minds are empty.]

"Why would you show me this?" she asked

[I have some ideas with what to do with them,] Merlin said, [but I'll need your help, what do you say?]

"I say this," she stabbed her arm into the chest of one of the clones, burning it from the inside with her blood aura, "There can only by ONE Nya Crimson."

As she was killing the first clone, the remaining six suddenly attacked her. Although outnumbering her, they were still outmatched and in the end, she slaughtered all the clones, violently and brutally with a savage grin on her face.

While this was happening, Merlin backed off, [ I don't know what's gotten into you Nya,] she said, energy crackling around her arm [but it ends n—]

She was interrupted when 'Nya' suddenly appeared before her and stabbed her arm through Merlin's chest,

"That wasn't very nice," she cooed, "sending those fakes to distract me while you neutralized me from a distance. Talk about rude,"

[Wh-wha…at … are y…ou?] Merlin choked, trying to disconnect from her body, but finding it impossible

"Hi… I'm Rias," she said with a smile as her eyes glowed pink,

Merlin tried to speak, but it came out as a jumbled mess of illegible sounds.

"I always wondered if you had a heart," she cooed as Merlin's body began to crack

She ripped her hand out of Merlin's chest, and her body shatters as it falls to the ground. Inside Rias' hand is a red and black orb, there is a pulsing light inside that skitters around the surface of the orb trying to break free.

"You look so cute like this," Rias cooed as she gently kissed the orb, "There's a lot of fun to be had here, and I don't intend to let you ruin it."

She tossed the orb containing Merlin into her Crimson Void and looked around, "Now this place looks like it could be a lot of fun."

* * *

Morgan was in her suite on the executive section of the residential level, sharing a shower with Valla.

"I just love a nice hot shower," Valla said as the steaming hot water rained down on them

"Who doesn't," Morgan said, "And there's a lot more privacy here,"

She grabbed Valla's ass, squeezing it as she pulled her close.

"Are you going to get me all dirty again?" Valla asked excitedly

"Yes I am," Morgan relied with a kiss.

A while later, the two of them are in the training room, a wide hall that had been converted into an exercise and training room for all operators.

"Y'know, when you said you'd get me dirty, this is not what I had in mind." Valla said disappointedly as she summons two batons made from nuform

"We need to stay in top shape." Morgan said, summoning her own batons

"But do you really want me to beat you again?" Valla said. When it came to being a vampire and utilizing phantasms, Morgan was superior, but when it came to basic combat ability, she still was unable to surpass Valla, who was now her physical equal.

"Today is the day I finally beat you." Morgan said

As they are about to go at it, Morgan notices something from the corner of her eye, a group of guys at the other end of the hall are ganging up on someone.

"Hey, what's going on over there?" Morgan asks

"Dunno," Valla shrugged, "it's probably some guy stuff."

"Let's go check it out," Morgan said

The two vampires approached the gathering of men, then, Morgan caught a familiar scent, and immediately rushes in,

"Out of my way," Morgan said as she shoved her way through

"You heard the lady," Valla said, "Move it, don't make me bite you."

When Morgan had shoved her wat to the center of the group, she found the source of the scent, her sister Astrid.

"What do you think you guys are doing ganging up on my sister?" she snarled at the group

"Hey, butt out," Astrid hissed at her

"We were just talking," one of the bigger Spartans said, he was an orc with greenish skin and was full head taller than Morgan, looking down at her with folded arms, "We were offering her some workout tips."

"I bet you were, Kona," Valla sneered at him. She knew of this particular orc, he was a notorious player who hit on every girl he came across, he had even tried to hit on her once,

"Y'know what, this isn't even worth it." Kona huffed, "Let's go boys, we've got real work to do."

As the gathering dispersed, both vampires turned back to Astrid

"What were you thinking consorting with those guys?" Morgan chided, "every one of them is a known player who use girls for sex and dumps them,"

"Why do you think I was talking to them?" Astrid snapped, "I was horny and I wanted to fuck. Is that what you wanted to hear?"

Morgan scowled at her sister, "What's with the attitude?"

"You just cock-blocked me," Astrid snarled, "I was this close to getting a gangbang, do you know how hard it is to sell a gangbang to a bunch of dudes if it wasn't their idea?"

"We were just trying to look out for you, Astrid," Valla said

"Yeah, well don't." Astrid said, "I can look out for myself."

She stormed away, leaving the two Spartans flabbergasted,

"Can you believe her?" Morgan fumes

"Yeah, I knew she was a slut, but still, those guys are bad news," Valla said

"Don't you start too," Morgan said

"What? It's not really a secret, everybody knows that Astrid is a massive slut; she even admitted to it a couple times." Valla shrugged

"What happened to her? She was such a sweet girl before."

"Then she ran away from home and lived as an outlaw," Valla said, "that kind of stuff changes a person."

"Why is everyone changing all of a sudden?" Morgan huffed

"People change," Valla said

"I'm glad you haven't changed," Morgan said caressing her arm

"No, but I will be changing out of these clothes in a few minutes, care to join me?"

Morgan was tempted, but sighed, "No, you go on ahead, there's something I need to do."

Morgan tracked Astrid's scent down a hall to a supply closet, judging from the slurping and gagging sounds coming from the closet, Morgan figured that Astrid was already engaged, so she opted to wait.

Several minutes later, a young Spartan, probably fresh from boot camp exited the closet, adjusting his pants, he was shocked when he notices Morgan standing there, but the glare in her eyes told him that he should be elsewhere very fast, so he ran.

Morgan looked inside the closet to see Astrid on her knees, she was topless and was cleaning cum off her face and hair with tissue.

"Need some help?" Morgan asked softly offering her face towel

"Do you really want to?" Astrid asked taking the towel, "it's gonna get all gooey,"

"You can keep it, for next time."

"Okay, thanks," Astrid said slowly as she used the face towel to wipe her face.

"I came to apologize," Morgan said

"Yeah, you should," Astrid said putting on her shirt

"Not about chasing off those guys, for judging you," Morgan said

"Oh,"

"It's just that, with mom back, things are starting to feel like old times, and I expected you to be the same innocent little girl you used to be."

"I wasn't that innocent," Astrid said, "You just never caught me when I was being naughty."

"I was just wondering how you got this way," Morgan asked

"What way?"

"Well, a…"

"A slut?" Astrid suggested with a raised eyebrow, "you can say the word 'slut', we're both adults here."

"I just don't understand how you can be so comfortable with it,"

"I came to terms with it a long time ago," Astrid said, "it's not like I'd expect you to understand, you've never has sex with a guy."

"I've had sex with guys before," Morgan defended

"Right," Astrid said sarcastically, "You could've fooled me, with the way you and Valla have always been hanging off each other since you met."

"I used to sleep with the guys in my squad when I first started out as a Spartan," Morgan said, "I'd get horny and they were always available,"

"So you used to sleep around?" Astrid said, "bad girl,"

Morgan shrugged,

"While I was an outlaw, I spent some time in a pleasure station," Astrid said, "you don't hang around a brothel for a few years without picking up a few habits."

Morgan was shocked, she thought it had been outrageous when she had been sleeping around with the guys in her squad, but Astrid was literally fucking random strangers for money by the hundreds. That was a whole other level of casual sex, her sister was beyond just a simple slut, she was a full on nymphomaniac.

"You don't say anything, but I can still see the judgement in your eyes," Astrid accused

"Sorry," Morgan muttered, "It was just surprising."

"So I take it the guys in your squad weren't very good," Astrid asked, "is that why you're into girls now?"

"I'm not into girls, just Valla" Morgan replied, "Sure, the guys made me feel great, and I always came a bunch of times, but that was it; I didn't feel anything else for them. With Valla, it's completely different, sex with her is always the best, because I love her."

"Well my experience has been different," Astrid said, "That moment when a guy cums in me, that feeling is indescribable, it's like something in me just feels right. That's why I take the sex wherever I can find it, to have that feeling again."

Morgan started to chuckle, "Look at us talking about our sex lives,"

"Yeah," Astrid joined in, "It's so weird. I still remember when how awkward you got when I asked you about boys."

"Hey, I wasn't any more experienced than you at the time," Morgan chuckled

The two sister shared a laugh for several moments before taking a breath,

"This was fun," Morgan said, "the two of us just talking,"

"Yeah, it is," Astrid said as they continued to reminisce.

As they continued talking, that ran into Nya,

"Hey mom," Morgan greeted

But Nya didn't reply them, she seemed to be talking to herself,

"Mom?" Astrid called

"Oh, Morgan, Astrid," she said, just noticing them, "what are you two doing here?"

"We were just talking, are you feeling okay?" Astrid said

"I'm fine," Nya said shrugging off the question, "I was on my way to look at the progress to my new Excalibur."

"Mind if we come along?" Morgan asked,

Nya hesitated for a moment before relenting, "Come on," Nya said, "Let me show you momma's newest toy."

Because the distance from the central tower to the primary constructor bays was quite far, a tram system was devised by the R&D Department.

The constructor bays were massive, each bay was big enough to fit a fleet of a dozen Paladin-class warships and several accompaniment vessels, and came with dozens of constructor modules that could literally 3D print whole ships at once using byte nanoparticles. It was the most advanced industrial complex in the known cosmos.

The construction of the new Excalibur was underway, so far they had finished the primary rafters that made up the infrastructure of the ship, and were now constructing its innards.

"By the time this is done it's gonna be the most advanced Excalibur yet, outclassing every one of the others in our service." Nya said as an odd smirk creeped its way onto her lips, "it's gonna be soo much fun."

Only Astrid caught a glimpse of this odd behavior, and it was starting to form a pattern.

"This really is spectacular mom," Morgan said in awe

"I know it is," Nya said, "Imagine what I could do with that thing? I can't wait to get my hands on it."

"Well, if you'll excuse me," Astrid said as she backed away from them

"Where are you going, poppet?" Nya asked

Astrid's eyebrow twitched, something it did when she felt uncertain, "I-I have a date with a strapping young researcher who is doing some very impressive things with body enhancements."

"Oh," Morgan realized

"Alright, be safe," Nya said, "And don't tire the poor boy out; if he works for me, he's on a deadline."

"No promises; this ass just don't quit." Astrid smirked as she slapped her ass to make it jiggle.

Waving goodbye to her mom and sister, she walked at a brisk pace away from the constructor bay. She felt bad for lying to her sister after they had reconciled, but she just could stay there any longer.

For weeks now, Astrid had been observing unusual behavior from her mother, normally she would've dismissed this as her mother being weird, but ever since she had been added into Nya's court as a Sage, she felt power constantly flowing into her body. It had done wonders to her sex life, but it also boosted her psionic abilities, like her sensitivity to souls and other spiritual energies, and whenever she was near Nya, she felt… off, like she wasn't herself.

No one else seemed to have notice these oddities, so it could just be that Astrid was being paranoid, but her paranoia was what kept her ahead when she was still and outlaw… well, her paranoia and her nymphomania.

With her conflicted feelings, she sought the only person she could turn to in this situation; her mentor, Kiva.

Kiva was in the new terrarium, Nya had installed when she began renovations, she really had a thing for nature. Kiva was sitting on a bench in a gazebo by a large pond and enjoying the tranquility.

"Astrid," she said smiling warmly, "What brings you here?"

"I need advice," Astrid said as she sat on the bench as well

"What's troubling you?"

Astrid told Kiva about her growing concerns and all the odd things she's seen her mom doing when she thought no one was watching.

"Honestly, this is a tough one," Kiva said, "It could just be Nya being Nya, your mom's always been a little odd. But it could be the effect of the mana core, mortals aren't supposed to have that much mana in them for a reason."

"But it's more than that," Astrid urged, "there's something seriously off about her."

"Alright," Kiva said, "let's perform an augury."

"A what?"

"You say there's something off with her spiritual energy, an augury should tell us if it's true or not." Kiva said as she stands up

"I've read all the adept books you have; how come I've never heard of an 'augury' before?" Astrid questions

"I didn't learn it from a book," Kiva said, "I developed this technique myself from observing the oracles."

"Them I've met." Astrid said, she still remembered the weird vibe those women had

"Not a lot of people are gifted with 'the sight'," Kiva said, "Oracles are an extremely rare type of astral adept. They can peer into the depths of hyperspace and are able to prophesy the future, look into people's minds and even see other planes of existence."

"Whoa," Astrid gawked

"I wanted to be one when I was younger," Kiva said sighing wistfully, "unfortunately this gift also robs them of the ability to harness mana for anything else, so they're pretty much useless as adepts."

"Yikes,"

"Yeah, I never did qualify to be an oracle, but I had stolen some of their texts and used it to create my own personal mage-craft." Kiva said,

"As expected from a grandmaster like you." Astrid bragged

"No one else knows about this." Kiva told her, "As my student, I'd wanted to teach it to you one day, when you were ready."

"We don't have time for one day," Astrid urged

"We need somewhere private where we won't be disturbed." Kiva said

"We can do it in my room," Astrid offered

"Okay, I'll also get some stuff we need for the invocation and we'll be all set."

* * *

"Good lords, these are a lot of sex toys!" Kiva exclaimed as she stepped inside Astrid's room. One wall of her room was adorned with a collection of various sex toys in all forms, shapes and sizes collected from all over Hyperion and beyond. Kiva was most shocked to see something that didn't seem to be made for a humanoid anatomy prominently displayed on a shelf above her bed.

"I'm what you may call an avid collector of curios." Astrid admitted

"These are definitely curios alright," Kiva comments as she sets her box down on the floor. "have you used every single one of these?"

"Do you think I have that much free time on my hands?" Astrid replied, "Besides, I think every sexually awakened woman in the cosmos should have a few stashed away,"

"I'd never even heard of sex toys until after I ran away," Kiva said, "they weren't allowed in the Theocracy,"

"Huh, I thought the elves whole thing was to make as much adept babies as possible," Astrid commented, "I wouldn't have figured they'd have something against sex?"

"The Theocracy isn't very tolerant of a lot of things," Kiva said, "homosexuality, contraceptives, sex toys, promiscuity, and the like were all frowned upon."

"Really? Because the way they dress their women, I figured they'd be fucking like rabbits."

"That kind of wanton behavior was not allowed because it trivialized coitus from the sacred rite that it's supposed to be." Kiva explained as she started to set up, "Only the 'right' kind of relationships were allowed, anything that didn't lead to the birth of stronger adepts or strengthened a family line was not needed. As you can guess I wasn't very popular; a lesbian elf who had no intentions of marrying just for the sake of having babies."

As Astrid helped her set up for the ritual, she looked at Kiva, she knew a little bit about her harsh training growing up, but to be ostracized from her society just because of who she was… Astrid couldn't even image what it was like.

"Hey," Astrid said, holding her hand, "at least your very popular here? You've got a loving wife and everything."

"Yeah," Kiva said, blushing as she looked down at her ring, "Let's get this ritual started."

A complex circular diagram was drawn on the floor and four scented candles were stationed at each of the cardinal points, then the two adepts sat on their meditation cushions while facing each other.

With their eyes closed, they synchronized their breathing as Kiva started to chant in the ancient elven language.

Around them, the colored smoke from the candles started to sparkle.

"Now Astrid, focus on Nya," Kiva instructed, "only you have noticed these inconsistencies, so only you can reveal them."

Astrid focused, picturing the Nya that had come to rescue her from the elves and the subtle differences that she's been seeing recently.

All of a sudden, both adepts screamed as they were assaulted by a visions.

They saw a woman who had the face of Nya sitting atop a pile of corpses, laughing whilst drenched in blood. Around her, the Capitol of Avalon was burning as hundreds of Excalibur ships rained fire from above. She seemed to be reveling in the carnage around her when all of a sudden, she stopped and looked down at them,

"And what are you two voyeurs doing here?" she asked,

Before they could make sense of what they had just witnessed, they are both thrown from the vision and are back in the physical world, falling off their cushions and onto their backs, breathing hard.

"What… was… that?" Astrid demanded panicked

"I don't know," Kiva said, sounding scared, "that's never happened before,"

"What? Getting sucked into a nightmarish vision, or being seen by the subject in that vision?"

"Both," Kiva said, she sounded genuinely scared, "Whatever we just saw it was powerful, it could still sense us intruding within its dreamscape."

"Are we in trouble?" Astrid asked

"I don't know," Kiva said, "Whatever that was, she's connected to Nya in some way."

"So, what do we do?" Astrid asked

"We need to talk to Merlin." Kiva said with all seriousness. "she's the only one who would be able to identify it."

"Great," Astrid sighed, "no one has seen her in months… except mom."

* * *

"Mom's the only one who sees Merlin these days," Eli replied Astrid, they were currently in his living quarters in the Obelisk, "she's down in the vault doing some secret project."

"She's always doing some secret project," Astrid said, "ever since we moved here. Aren't you curious what it is?"

"Of course I'm curious," Eli refuted, "but her new servers are deadlock sealed, beyond secure. They are locked up tighter than an elf's panties; I couldn't get in even if I wanted to."

"Then come with me," Astrid said, "You're the only one smart enough to get past her security measures, I mean… you built them."

"Well, that is true," Eli said with a smug grin,

"I think there may be something wrong with mom," Astrid revealed, "she's been acting weird lately."

Eli turned to her, "you've picked up on it too, huh?"

"You knew?" Astrid asked incredulously

"Of course I could tell she's been acting not like herself lately." Eli said, "But I just reasoned that she was under stress of becoming a civilian contractor."

"If we talk to Merlin, we can be able to know for sure," Astrid said

"Getting in by force is a no go," Eli said, "her vault is also deadlocked."

"You keep using that word, deadlocked?"

"Yeah, an absolute security system that incorporates both the strongest alchemical magitek; Merlin, Kiva, Mom and I came up with it when we moved here." Eli explained, boastfully, "there's not physical way in without access."

"And only mom has access," Astrid guessed

"Well, only mom has full-access." Eli said, "There are three keys that give you access; the command cyphers, the biometric scan, and lastly the oral password. Mom has primary access and is in possession of all these keys, but as a contingency, I gave each of us secondary access with our own back-up keys."

"You lost me?" Astrid said

"We can use the emergency keys to trick the system into letting us in," Eli said simply, "I have the secondary codes, Morgan is the back-up voice command, leaving you as the stand-in for the body print."

"Body print?" Astrid said

"Yeah, you do realize you look almost exactly like mom don't you?" Eli stated, "in some cases, you could practically be her twin. Though we'll still need Morgan's help if we want to get in."

"I'll handle that," Astrid said, "Mom is having a meeting with Terror tomorrow on Avalon, right? We'll go then."

"Alright," Eli shrugged,

That night, Astrid was feeling so anxious that she couldn't sleep, so instead she went on the prowl. Roaming the halls at two in the morning, when only a skeleton crew for the night shift is active, Astrid happened upon two members of said skeleton crew, and convinced them to follow her to the terrarium.

Inside the gazebo she had met Kiva in earlier, Astrid was on her knees before the two young men, with their dicks in her face.

"You guys are really impressive." She gawked at their size, they were hardly the biggest she'd ever seen, but still impressive none the less.

She kissed the head of one penis, tickling it with her tongue as she stroked the other. She started to lick both dicks, moving from one to the other, until they were both slick and glistening with her saliva, twitching as they reached full erection.

"I'd say they're hard enough now," Astrid mused to herself, "what do you think?"

They nodded their heads enthusiastically in agreement,

"Now who wants my pussy and who wants my ass?" she purrs, running her hand over her body, on her crotch was the red crest of Nya's court,

For the next two hours, Astrid enjoyed being sandwiched between both guys as they pumped her pussy and ass with vigor.

By the time they had reached their climax, Astrid was so high off her multiple orgasms that she didn't even comprehend when they warned her, she just mumbled a semi-conscious response. With a final thrust, both dicks went deep, shooting their thick cream into her depths.

"You guys came a ton," she moaned as they set her down, "It really filled me up,"

She sat down on the bench to catch her breath.

"Glad we could be of service, Ms. Crimson," one of the guys chuckled

"If you play your cards right, I might need your services again in future," she winked, "alright, you guys should get back to work."

"What about you?" the other guy asked,

"I know my way back to my room," Astrid said with a grin

"Well, uh… call us again, if you ever want another go?" they said as they pulled up their pants, but they had to get back.

"Oh I will," she grinned, she then grabbed her discarded nightwear, now stained with sex, and proceeded back to her room, with a trail of cum still running down her leg.

* * *

The next day, as soon as Nya left for Avalon, Astrid, Eli and Morgan made their move.

"So, what do you need me to do?" Morgan asked. Shortly before her midnight tryst, Astrid had spent the better part of an hour convincing Morgan to help them.

"After I deliver the command code, you just have to say a simple voice command." Eli explained

"But won't it be keyed to mom's voice print?" Morgan asked

"I added yours as a back-up." Eli said, "You never know when we might need to get in there?"

"This is actually kinda exciting," Astrid commented, "I've never been down here before."

They proceeded down to the sublevel and came across the security door,

"Damn," Morgan whistled looking at the door, "This is a big door."

"Alright, let's do this." As he went up to the gel console. He took out a tablet from his coat pocket, then inputted some commands and then held the screen to the console, one of the lights on the console flashed green some moments later.

"Astrid, you're turn." Eli said, moving out of the way

"A-alright," Astrid said as she stood where Eli had just been, from above, the sensor node began to scan her, as a second light flashed green moments later

"Morgan, you're up." Eli said

The eldest child stepped in front of the console as is spoke,

[PASSWORD PLEASE!]

"Huh?" Morgan turned back to Eli

[PASSWORD PLEASE!] the console asked again

"Dammit," Eli remarked, "She had it set to Praxian. That's actually really clever."

"I don't speak Praxian," Morgan hissed in replied

"It's something like; 'Morgan.Astrid.Eli' if my pronunciation is correct," Eli reasoned

Morgan cleared her throat, "Um… M-Morgan.Astr-rid.Eli?" she said awkwardly.

For a few moments nothing happened, then the last light flashed green,

[PASSWORD CONFIRMED] the voice said,

They all heaved a collective sigh of relief as the complex locking mechanisms started to turn on their own, and the massive door opened up.

"I have never been more tense in my entire life," Astrid says letting out a breath she had been holding.

"I'm so glad the secondary access was still accepted," Eli said, "if mom altered one of the security keys, she could've taken the backups out completely."

"What would've happened if that had happened?" Morgan asked out of curiosity

"We would've triggered the automated security system, and would've likely been gunned down by plasma autocannon turrets." Eli replied, "unless mom added something even deadlier."

"What?" Astrid said, "why didn't you tell us that before?"

"I didn't think it would be an issue," Eli shrugged, "besides, you would've been way more nervous –and more likely to mess up— if I told you our lives were in danger beforehand."

They walk into the lab and the first thing they notice is that it's huge, this one chamber is the size of the R&D level in the tower. It is filled with machines and contraptions of Praxian design, along with dozens of screen projections showing designs that Nya was working on.

They split up, to look for Merlin, and Astrid discovers a separate room, once she opens the door, she lets out a yell that quickly attracts Eli and Morgan

"What's wrong?" Morgan asks as she arrives

"Oh my god." Eli gawks as he looks inside

The room is filled with bodies, dozens of corpses that all look like Nya, strung up and dangling from the ceiling by chains and hooks. Each body was displayed differently; some were missing their heads, some had their chest cavities emptied, some had been ripped in half,

"What the fuck is this?" Morgan demanded as Eli threw up to the side

"Why would mom have this here?" Astrid asked, looking green herself.

It was then that they heard a familiar voice,

[GOOD MORNING, MISTRE… YOU ARE NOT THE MISTRESS.] Merlin's voice sounded hollow and happy, like she was completely empty

"M-Merlin?" Eli asked, "What happened to you?"

[HOW DID YOU ENTER HERE WITHOUT THE MISTRESS' APPROVAL?] she demanded

"What's wrong with her?" Morgan asked her siblings

"It sounds as if she's been reprogrammed." Eli suggested, knowing himself how impossibly difficult that was to do

[WHO ARE YOU?] she demanded, [YOU HAVE TEN SECONDS TO TELL ME WHY YOU ARE HERE BEFORE I OBLITERATE YOU.]

"Um… w-we were sent b-by the mistress," Eli stammered thinking fast, "She, uh, wants us to test you."

[TEST ME?]

"Uh, yeah," Morgan said quickly, "The mistress wanted us to see how useful you are moving forward."

[VERY WELL,] she said [WHAT ARE YOUR TESTS?]

"First we need to see your primary processing core," Eli said, "Where is that?"

[ON THE MAIN CONSOLE.] She replied

They went to the main console, which held the most gathering of screen projections and they saw it, an orb as big as their hand had been wired into the console.

"Here it is," Eli said, "this must be the primary core for her android body, she must be trapped inside here. And these modifications must be keeping her docile."

"But why would mom do this to Merlin?" Astrid asked

"It makes sense. If something was wrong, Merlin would've been the first to notice and would've tried to stop it."

"Can you fix her?" Morgan asked Eli, "get her out of there?"

"It'll take me a couple of minutes," Eli said, summoning tools out of nuform, "But in the meantime, keep her distracted; we don't know what she could do once I start."

"Alright," Morgan and Astrid nodded

"So Merlin," Astrid started, "What's with all the bodies in the other room?"

[THOSE WERE THE REJECTS.] Merlin explained, [THE FAILURES FROM THE GEMINI PROJECT THAT COULDN'T DO WHAT THE MISTRESS WANTED.]

"And what was that?"

[THEY COULDN'T THINK. THEY WERE ALL LACKED HIGHER BRAIN FUNCTION, AND WERE BASICALLY BRAINDEAD, THE MISTRESS DID NOT LIKE THAT.]

"Almost there," Eli urged

"Work faster," Astrid hissed

"I'm going as fast as I can," he hissed back

"Why are they in pieces?" Morgan asked

[WHEN SHE DECLARES THEM A FAILURE, THE MISTRESS LIKES TO BREAK THEM HERSELF. SHE OFTEN SPENDS AS LONG AS POSSIBLE KILLING THEM, AND THEN SHE ALWAYS PLEASURES HERSELF AFTERWARDS.]

"Okay, eww, I didn't need to know that," Astrid grimaced, "Okay, Merlin, final question; do you know who the mistress is?"

[OF COURSE.] Merlin beamed through the intercom, [THE MISTRESS IS THE ULTIMATE LIFEFORM, THE PERFECT BEING. SHE IS THE SUPERIOR ITTERATION OF NYA CRIMSON; RIAS PATRELLI.]

"Who?" Morgan asked

"Got it!" Eli declared as he ripped the orb from its housing and wiring, the lights in the lab suddenly flickered.

[WHAT HAVE YOU D… #$%^&*(IUYTGFRGHJKIO(*&Y^T%R$FGHJI!] Merlin screamed before everything went dark

"Did you just break Merlin?" Astrid accused panicked,

A second later, the lights came back on and all the screens reappeared.

[Kids…] Merlin called weakly, over the intercom

"Merlin, we came here to help you," Eli said, "What happened to you?"

"Yeah, something is wrong with mom and then we find all this?" Astrid demands

[Kids… run.] she warned, her weak voice filled with static [She's…]

"Well, this is unexpected," Nya's voice calls from behind the three siblings. At the sound, they each freeze and slowly turn around.

Nya is standing in front of the only exit, with her arm at her hip and a chillingly wicked grin on her face and her eyes bright red, "you kids are in a lot of trouble."