There are miracles waiting for me

Have a comment on my Labrys? Want me to be better?

Well, let me know, why doncha?

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PLAYER INFORMATION

PLAYER: Argent
ARE YOU AT LEAST 16 YEARS OLD?: I will be twice over in August
IF UNDER 18 YEARS OLD, PLEASE STATE YOUR AGE: n/a
CONTACT: aim – argentbast; plurk – argentbast
CHARACTERS PLAYED: None.

CHARACTER INFORMATION

NAME: Labrys AU name: Catherine Fujishima
CANON: Persona 4 Arena: Ultimate in Mayonaka, and Persona 4 Arena: Ultimax
CANON REFERENCE: P4 Arena and P4 Ultimax AND for Labrys
AGE: 16 – canonly she is 13, but spent about 12 years of her life in storage. Also she’s an android.
GENDER: Female – canonly she is female-type but only had the appearance of a woman. Barbie-doll physiology.
YEAR IN SCHOOL/FACULTY POSITION: 10th year
APPEARANCE: Labrys is 5’3” and is of a lean build. Her most notable features are her bionic arms and legs, which are clearly mechanical in nature. Without these additions, she would probably be around 100 pounds, but is more likely around 200 thanks to her bionic arms and legs. She is rather pretty for a girl her age, and has long blue hair done up in a ponytail. Her eyes are red. In terms of her outfits, she usually prefers function over form – emphasizing clothes she can get into and out of easy over fashionable styles and designs.

Image link: here!

A noteworthy difference from her canon appearance is that in canon she is all synthetic. In this AU only her arms and legs are, with her torso and head being fully human.

PERSONALITY: Labrys’ core personality is genuineness. No matter what she is doing—if she is fighting monsters, or having a good time with her friends—she must always be true to herself. Under most circumstances she is not deceptive in the least. If she feels angry, she expresses it freely. If she feels upset, she expresses that too. In part, this is due to her synthetic nature. In canon, she was constructed as a weapon of war which later gained sentience. From there she set aside the limitations and protocols built within her and started to observe the world. Being herself is the only thing that she knows how to be. At worst, this means her negativity and pessimism comes freely to the surface, and at best her optimism, hope, and loyalty will always be sincere and unshakable.

Another core personality trait is a sense of responsibility. A part of her training was to destroy other robots that were made at the same time in order to determine which one of their number would be most ideal for future manufacture. At first, Labrys followed these orders dutifully, knowing that it was be responsibility of her design to do so. Yet, as her consciousness developed and she recognized the individuality within her “sisters,” she started to doubt her methods. Instead, she altered her fighting style so the ones she was fighting against would be unable to continue the battle rather than outright destroying them. While still loyal to the directives of her creators, she also felt protectiveness to the ones she recognized as being in the same situation as her. This sense of responsibility continued on when she forgot her past and became a high school class president. Even in this fictitious role she took on the accountability and tasks as though she was a real high school class president. Not out of an obligation or duty but because out of a genuine love for the school and it’s people.

Related to this is a strong sense of right and wrong. She believes heavily in the ideals of good, and hates evil whenever she encounters It (and maybe people that rub her the wrong way). Her ideas of evil are a bit unique to her situation, however. To her, evil is intolerance and indifference to another person’s suffering or any action that causes harm for the sake of causing harm. For those that behave as they should, Labrys is a stalwart ally and protector. She’d willingly lay down her life and her being on the line for her friends. And to those that she doesn’t like, either because they were annoying or more usually because they have offended her, she will be staunchly defiant for as long as she considers necessary or when the threat has diminished.

Despite this defiance, however, a very large part of her being is full of doubt, misery, and despair. Although she knew that she was following orders, a part of her hoped that when the trials of fighting were over all of her sisters would finally have the chance to be. Unfortunately, this was not the case as the next phase would be to release Labrys’ latent potential. Suddenly the misery of the situation, and the fact that she personally destroyed her one and only friend on the island, became too much for her to bear. She sunk in a deep, dark misery at the depths of human cruelty and indifference at the scientists that created her. To quote her thoughts at the moment: “I don’t want to fight anymore. Can’t they see that they are in pain? Can’t they see that I’m in pain? I just killed someone who I called a friend. A friend who trusts me with their memories. I cried and they did nothing. They just smiled and were amazed. Amazed that a piece of machinery like me can cry. Please someone! Please make them stop! I don’t want to do this anymore!” This experience was so traumatic that she was frozen in the pain of her own situation. Not wanting to experience this loss, she willingly fractured her own consciousness to take on a new life. Even when she accepted her own past and remembered where she came from, the pain of her past was always with her.

Ultimately, despite everything Labrys is full of a sense of hope. In the darkest moments of isolation and a past that would never let her be what she was, she found some friends that liked her and cared for her. Even in the moments where she had discarded her being in a fake hope of starting another life, she was given what she needed. They managed to tackle the shadow of her hate and her past and in the end were able to move on. She holds tightly to this hope. A gentle innocence that the world is full of possibilities and wonder and that there are people that are worth keeping.

She didn’t have to be alone. She had a family. She was home.

AU Differences: Canonly, Labrys is a machine that was created to be a living weapon, she lived an isolated existence and spent years without contact with normal people. This version of Labrys is human wasn’t as isolated as she grew up. Living with humans for instead of on her own has given her opportunities to develop her personality and sense of self and her understanding of herself with other people. She has a natural inclination to support and befriend other people that treat her well. Thus, Catherine is friendly and amiable to anybody who is nice to her, but still is not without a tendency to playfully tease and poke fun of others, while getting quick-tempered and frustrated of jerks and people full of themselves.

POWERS/ABILITIES:

PRIMARY ABILITY: Metallic mimicry/metallic absorption/regeneration: Catherine possesses the ability to absorb any and all metals into her body. In human form, this has no noticeable effect; however, she also possesses the ability to transform her living organic body into a metallic one (stainless steel). In addition, any excess metal that she has available readily replaces any injuries or damage that she may have had earlier.

In a metallic form, she possesses the following attributes:
- Increased physical durability
- Increased stamina
- Eliminates and greatly increases her resistance to most toxins, chemicals, and disease
- Reduced need for food and air
- Resistant to corrosion, cold, or heat

Her physical strength and physical speed would have no noticeable difference.

Negative effects include
- Increased body mass (doubles her weight)
- Susceptibility to magnetism
- Weakness to electrical conductivity

Secondary ability: Bionic arms and legs As a result of physical augmentation to increase her strength and speed, Catherine has also had hydraulic arms and legs installed into her body. While originally no better than super-powered prostheses, Catherine’s regenerative abilities kicked in, modifying and fusing these limbs into some of the advanced artificial limbs in existence. Not only that, her nervous system also accommodated giving her a diminished sense of touch and awareness.

The bionic limbs provide her with the following abilities:
- Increased physical strength (600-800 pounds lifting ability)
- Increased running speed (15 to 20 mph, reduced in metallic form)
- Increased jumping ability (20 – 25 feet in the air, 40 feet across, also reduced in metallic form)
- Resistance to corrosion, cold, or heat in her limbs
- Her nerves have become a cybernetic network that allows her to access computer systems with her hands (she has never used this)

Weaknesses include:
- Increased weight. Not entirely noticeable in her legs, but her back has felt the weight of 50+ pounds of artificial arm weight pushing down on her.
- Breakable (While her metal absorption ability and regeneration has spread to her extremities, her arms and legs are much more difficult for her to heal than the rest of her body, requiring the metal used in restoration to directly touch the injury)
- Artificial and complex systems (Her regenerative abilities can heal basic physiological damage, but cannot repair complex mechanics like the hydraulics)
- Her limbs have lost the ability to change into another metal at will. Any changes made to the composition needs to be done intentionally
- Her limbs have lost the ability to return to an organic state (Though she tried it once and it really, really hurt).
- Her limbs feel, which means any damage done to them sends signals just as a real damaged limb would. Becoming metallic numbs the effect, but doesn’t remove it entirely.
- Susceptible to magnetism and EMPs (though EMPs will not cause a total system shutdown – her brain still works after all).

Future Development :

Currently, Catherine is a beta-level mutant. With future development and training she will be able to do the following (starting from most likely to least likely at her current level).

Be able to alter the metallic form of her body at will (extremely likely). At present, her body is set to “stainless steel.” She can alter the structure of her body by absorbing different types of metals, taking on their properties as she desires (lead – reduced effects of radiation, aluminum – reduced weight, etc.).

Be able to alter the metallic structure of other metals she comes into contact with (very likely). With later refinement, she’ll be able to alter the physical structure of other metals to anything that she has an excess of in her body (reinforcing rusted metal with stainless, corroding a lock with iron oxide, etc.)

Be able to use her inorganic body to interface with other technologies (likely). She presently is not aware that with training she may very well be able to use and interface with other machines. With training and practice, she may be able to access these devices on a more intuitive level than anyone manually controlling it.

Be able to make physical alterations to her body as she desires (very unlikely). Her regenerative ability is currently restricted to maintain only her normal organic form. With increases in power and in training, she’d may one day be able to alter her own shape to something new, like other limbs, or even a new body shape.

Be able to alter her body composition to an even more mechanized one (extremely unlikely). Continuing from the above, Catherine exceeds her physical once again by fully embracing artificiality. This would allow her to alter her physical structure into any technological innovation she can conceive and has a working model of, such as weaponry, rockets, and armor.

AU HISTORY:Catherine was born in Trenton, New Jersey, a half-Japanese half-American child of Susan Steele and Staff Sargeant Hyuga “Hugh” Fujishima, who was stationed as a flight instructor at McGuire Air Force Base. Unfortunately, she never knew her mother, as she died giving birth. The exact reason wasn’t known, but she had unusually high levels of iron in her bloodstream. Fortunately, the newborn baby was fine. She was given the name Catherine as one her mother’s final requests.

Hugh Fujishima, Catherine’s father, was apparently a warm and amicable person, but apparently became distant to his friends and, most notably, the newborn girl after the death of his wife. Catherine’s memories of this time were few, but they were lonely. She remembered spending time with nannies and with the children at the day care. She laughed during playtime, and told stories that she saw n TV, and tried to spend life as much life as she could as a little girl, but mostly she waited on the barracks for her father to come back home. She tried hard to make her father happy, becoming orderly and disciplined, and the perfect model of a military girl. Usually it didn't work, but there were days when they would spend time together. One of Catherine’s favorite memories was a trip up to Coney Island and spending the day playing bumper cars and riding the Ferris wheel. For the most part Hugh buried himself in his work. Maybe he felt lost. Maybe he was angry at his daughter. Only he would ever know.

Eventually, he started to neglect his work and started to spend more and more time at the bar. As those dark days became darker, he began to become more and more lost. As he became more disheveled, he became more and more angry. His performance suffered. He went on probation. His frustration was brought home too, and he would yell at Catherine with venom and rage. Sometimes it was about a mistake she made. Sometimes it was because she wasn’t living up to her potential. But mostly, he was just mad. One day, Catherine had enough and yelled at him. To this day she doesn’t remember what she said. Whatever little fury that he had restrained that he held back snapped and he hit her across the face. Shocked, alarmed, and scared, Catherine ran away from home.

Her father found her the next morning, huddled up and hiding under her bed. He smelled horrible and looked worse. Apparently the entire night he had been looking for her. They talked, then. Hugh finally told his daughter that he was sorry. He explained how much he had missed her mother and how he was messed up. Catherine didn’t say much until then, but said one word. “You must really hate me.” Hugh looked alarmed. No, of course not, he said. She broke down and told him of everything that happened and how she felt so lonely. This was when he said the words that she would never forget: “Catherine, dear. You are loved. When the moment your mom found out about you, she was the happiest she ever was. When she felt the baby kick, she’d jump up and do a quick twirl with the biggest smile on her face. She had so many good dreams for you. And she’s watching you right now, straight from heaven.” Catherine listened, the next part becoming a close second in the deepest part of her memories. “And I love you to. You are honest and brave. You are willing to stand up to me when you see wrong. This is good. Never lose that sense of purpose. No matter what, always be true to you.”

After this incident, Hugh requested time off for leave to get his affairs in order. He returned to his grandmother’s home in Himeji, Japan. And while learning Japanese was hard (which was made worse by her Jersey accent), but she was the happiest she was in a long time. By the time she was nine, she even started making friends. Unfortunately, these times were not meant to be. The day she found out she was a mutant started innocently enough. She was thirteen years old and was listening to one particularly boring lesson on English grammar (that made sense to her anyways). While she was bored, she looked down to the shining metal of her seat. She always liked the look of the chrome on seats, and decided to see if she could grab it and keep it for herself. When she did, she felt a rush of air enter into her hand and suddenly the chrome on the chair had vanished, leaving a dull grey underneath. Curious, she looked at her hand and saw that part of her hand had become metallic. She was startled but when she easily flexed her fingers she thought this was great. She showed her friends and over the course of the day, she tried seeing how much of her hand she could make metal.

By the end of the day the entire school and the principal knew that she was a mutant. Both Catherine’s father and grandmother were called in. Catherine, for her part, had managed to get both of her arms, almost all of her left leg and part of her right foot completely solidified. Worse, she had no idea how to remove the effect. The principal and several of the teaching staff recommended that the family would take Catherine to a New Moon Medical Center in Kyoto, which had a ward specifically for “furiku.” By the time the family had managed to bring the girl to their medical center, she had absorbed into herself the chrome off of the family car and three other ones that were unattended across the gas station (she was bothered that she wasn’t fully metal).

The “center” as it turned out was a high-tech medical facility founded by the Kirijo Company. As a sign of good faith, the doctor there was even able to offer Catherine some medication to undo the metallic body that she possessed. The doctor quickly turned to Hugh and her grandmother to explain that the practice should be taught, as it would often be difficult to rely solely on medication. They agreed to leave Catherine there for some basic tests and train her to control her powers. Catherine’s family, hoping that their daughter could have some sense of normalcy, decided to leave her there. After all, what could happen within two weeks’ time?

They never saw her again.

The process to train her ability to shift from organic was hard, but doable. The Kirijo group was nothing if not scientific, first measuring the limits to the amount of how much she could absorb. They also assessed how long she would be able to maintain the form (they stopped her at three days straight). They also provide her with tests to assess any changes in her physical ability, stamina, and strength. At first, Catherine wondered if all of this was strictly necessary, and wanted to go home. The doctor’s assured her that she would go home soon, and that the two weeks were almost up. She started to count the days.

The truth is the entire operation was a front. Certainly the Kirijo group was conducting research to assess mutant ability, but the entire operation was a front. While they weren’t lying about releasing her in two weeks , they also had started to make plans to kidnap her for their own secret project. As she was going back home in her personal helicopter (courtesy of Kirijo) she found herself landed on an island that she never saw before. The next thing she knew, she was taken to a huge underground area that looked like a futuristic prison. Still reeling from the shock of everything, they had no problem shoving her into her own holding cell.

The facility was a personalized battle arena intended to assess the effectiveness of mutant abilities. The scientists that ran the facility were nothing but scientific. After a while, eventually everything became routine: in the mornings began with exercise and a light meal, afterwards two of the cells would open and the two mutants were supposed to fight until submission. After the fights, the combatants would be cleared for medical services and everybody would have nothing to do except talk to each other. Most of the people that had been there a while didn’t speak much, while the newer ones (including herself), would talk about as many things they could think of to pass the time. When the evening when another battle occurred and then a more substantial dinner was provided. The arena itself seemed to possess and alloy that completely nullified mutant powers, making escape impossible.

The first time Catherine was chosen to fight, she refused flatly. But the scientists had planned on that inevitability. When one combatant refused long enough, a super powerful stimulant would enter the chamber, forcing the combatants to enter a battle rage. An antidote would only be provided when one person was victorious. While Catherine eventually found out that her metallic form protected her from the effects, the other combatants weren’t so lucky. In the case of one particularly brutal mantis mutant, her left arm was completely severed despite being metal at the time. When the scientists showed no indication that they were going to stop, Catherine entered a terror-induced fear. She picked up her still-metallic arm and beat her combatant to death with it. Horrified at the prospect, she immediately went to one corner and expelled what little of the breakfast she could actually stomach. She immediately passed out.

When she woke, she found out that her arm had been replaced with a mechanical one. Catherine was alarmed and confused. Why did they do this for her? She posed the question to the cell mates. None of the new occupants were able to answer, but one of the old ones provided an answer. She was a young woman in a cell above her that would answer only to #24, and a brutal psionic. She let everybody in the cell know that the purpose of this fighting was to determine who would be the best candidates for a team of “Anti-Mutant Suppression Weapons.” Apparently, there were members in the Japanese government who started to few Japan’s growing mutant population as a source of concern, and aligned themselves with a group of Kirijo radicals who sought to find a scientific method of enforcement. They also made money on the side showing the mutant battles as underground rumble matches, earning some additional money on the side. While #24 was feeling chatty, she also informed everybody that by the end of a three-month cycle. They would pick the four strongest to exit the arena as new enforcers, while those that scored below half would all be exterminated in a grand melee. One where all the “failures” entered into the middle of the room and aggression gas would be used until all but the mutants with the strongest wills to live were left. Those that survived would continue on to the next cycle, in a never ending hell of battle and death. There was no other way to get out. Either fight and win, or lose and perish.

Nobody in the arena talked much after that.

Two cycles went by, and Catherine and #24 started talking more telepathically. She seemed to have come from the states as well – only she came from California, the other side. She had a tragic story where she was a popular girl at school only to have her reputation shattered when they found out that she was a psychic. At the time she could only predict a sentence or two of what people would think, but the damage was done. She took the first plane out of town and winded up in Tokyo. Apparently, the Kirijo radicals were the strongest there, and she was quickly picked up. Catherine found solace in her presence, and hope that she’d be able to advance. Unfortunately, while #24 was a powerful psychic, most of her powers lied in prognostication and communication, but not in telekinesis or suggestion. For most fights, she could determine ways of defeating her enemy quickly, but for enemies that she couldn’t overpower (like Catherine), she would have no means of defeating her enemies. Before Catherine came, she had taken part in eight cycles.

#24 told Catherine of many things, and she spoke of her experiences. Within the mindscape of her new friend, Catherine saw the sun and sky again. They would walk among the park and see the memories each other had. Most of the time, they were of Catherine’s life. #24 preferred not to share more about herself than she needed to. She found herself trusting her implicitly, and hoped that one day they both would be able to make it out.

As the battles continued, the rules and conditions became more aggressive. She lost her first synthetic arm to another fight of a mutant that refused to fight her, and when she woke again found that both her arms were fitted with new bionic arms. Catherine was crushed. Having one arm was bad enough, but when both were synthetic, Catherine had her first crushing blow. Were it not for the intervention of #24, she would have fallen well below half for the cycle. She found that she had adapted quickly to battle. With each fight that she had, she started to learn how to end fights quickly, to use her mass to her advantage, and how to use her new limbs to great effect. She was getting good enough that even #24 was having difficulty keeping up with Catherine.

Of course, there were many more fights and rivalries that occurred here. Catherine continued to learn to stand her ground, and defend the mutants that had losing streaks from the ones that had big egos. She was encouraging and kind, but started to feel a twinge of guilt. There was also suffering and anxiety in every cycle: some fell to anguish over their situation, while others feared their losing streak. Others two was scarred by the terror of the grand melee, which was truly a grim festival of carnage of death. Even Catherine wasn’t unaffected: with every win she had, she knew that meant that the person she defeated was one step closer to the Grand Melee. This bothered her, but she always set it aside in order to try to make it out alive.

The real change happened after the end of the ninth cycle. After waking up from her medical examination, she found that her legs had also been altered much like her arms. The scientists apparently had taken a real shine for her, as both her biology and even her altered limbs were proving highly successful in advancing prosthetic design. And unlike the time she lost both her arms, she saw her legs with excitement and enthusiasm. She knew that aside from a lack of energy weapons, her biggest weakness was speed. With the new limbs she found that she had both speed and power in spades. On mutants that could attack from a distance, she’d tighten the suspension to quickly jump to her target, and the new legs allowed her to move much quicker in her metal form. For the first time, getting in the top four seemed like a real possibility.

She fought, and she fought well. But unlike the time that both her arms were removed, #24 was oddly silent. It wasn’t until the last week of her 10th cycle that she finally spoken up. “You’re going to win.” She said, finally. “Hey, that’s great! I’ll be sure to try to help yah when I can.” To this, #24 only had one thing to say. “Just know that what is to come is not your fault.” Those words bothered her, but she didn’t think of it much.

She fought, and she won. Finally the four were brought onto a conveyor belt and brought up to the winner’s circle to claim their reward. No sooner did they get there, though, were they greeted with a shock. Entwined around the top of the arena were cycles of winners encased in stasis tubes. Some of the ones Catherine remembered, while others were ones she had never seen before. She couldn’t count them all. Of course. It all made sense. How could the scientists trust them to do as they behaved? For years they were forced to fight and win without free will. Perhaps they were brainwashing the ones in the tubes? Or maybe they were cloning? She wasn’t sure, but all she knew that they were seeing their fate.

Below, she could hear the grand melee starting but the sound of a metal cylinder clamping down on them took precedence. In the darkness of the tube, she heard gas vents pour something inside their dark enclosure. She had to think fast. Quickly, she shifted her body to her metallic one and reached down on the ground. With all of her concentration she drew in the metal of the elevator into herself, causing some hasty air vents. She whispered for everybody to keep low and breathe in shallow gulps, and they complied. When the scientists came to check in on them, the four of them exploded from the containment on the scientists. Caught completely unawares, the scientists booked a quick retreat to try to start their defensive procedures. One of the other victors told the three of them that they needed to destroy the generator to the facility. Without any knowledge of what that looked like, the four of them opted to just destroy as many sciency-looking things as they could find.

The mayhem that they caused was immense, and once they were able to destroy the generator, the safety protocols that prevented mutant powers had vanished. Even more alarming, the antidote to the enrage gas had not been properly administered, and an army of mutants started destroying the arena. Now, most people would have tried to book a retreat, but Catherine knew there was only one person she had to save: #24.

Catherine found #24 wandering through one of the passageways that seemed to have a slew of armed guards forming a protective barrier. Unfortunately for them, their bullets were not able to penetrate her metallized body and she plowed through them. Holding close to #24, who was holding her head painfully, as well as her side, which was bleeding out. they made their way through the various hallways until finally they managed to get outside. The stinging light of the bright sun hurt more than any memory of it ever did. Once outside, the destruction coming from the other mutants was apparent. The entire complex was lighting up with energy beams and explosive fireballs. While still not safe, the running patrols were attempting to contain the damage more than looking for two loose mutants. They ran for what felt like an eternity, and ended up on the coastline of the beach. #24 was panting and out of breath. Catherine looked to side to side, hoping to find a coconut or something to eat. No sooner did she do this did #24 screamed.

She was glowing in an eerie purple and looking over at Catherine in a cold malice. “Fight me.” She said, her eyes narrowing. Catherine stalled. “What, why? We don’t hafta fight no more.” “Fight me.” #24 repeated. Catherine was vexed. “The… gas… it…” And suddenly, everything made sense. When the barriers fell, the aggression gas was still in the area. Not only #24 injured in the battle of the melee, but now her mind was being attacked by a powerful aggressive drug. And with her injuries… “I can’t. I won’t.” For the first time, despite her new enhancements and all of her training in fighting, she couldn’t bring herself to fight your friend. “THEN YOU WILL DIE.”

The battle was aggressive, and pitifully short. It seemed that #24 had held back much of her offensive psionics for most of the cycles. Perhaps she knew what was going to happen. Still, she was severely injured. Even though it took Catherine a while to break through the new attacks, the first good smack on #24’s side was enough to force her to the ground. Yet Catherine felt no joy from this victory. She fell to her knees. The one friend she had during all of this hell was fading in front of her, and there was nothing she could do about it.

#24 waved her over. At first, Catherine was fearful, but then the thought occurred to her that she would live alone. She moved closer to her dying friend, as quiet and as meek as the time that Hugh hit her all those years ago. Instead of attacking her, though, #24 raised her hand to stroke Catherine’s hair. “I’m sorry.” #24 said through a pained smile. “I wish I could go with you.”

“I wish you can come with me.” Catherine said through sobs.

“Hey.” #24’s eyes closed a second before creaking open a bit. “Stay here, with me. Just a while.”

Catherine did. And as she did, she recounted the times they walked within the mindscape of the park. They talked about their hopes and dreams, and all the things they do when they get out. It was painful. Catherine dropped her head down as her mouth lost her voice. Within this display of grief, #24 opened her eyes one last time. “Hey.” She smiled. “Don’t cry now. You have your whole life ahead of you.” She closed her eyes and laid her head against the sand. “You are loved. I… love… you…”

Those were the last words she said before her lifebreath was released.

Catherine stayed there the entire night, clutching the lifeless body of her dead friend. She was so focused on her paling face that she didn’t even notice the large black airship coming out of the sunrise.

~*~*~*~
Prologue:

Catherine was dazed and stared blankly throughout the ride. She barely noticed the bald man talking to her. Of course, the plan was to inform the Japanese government of the facility, though the ones responsible were no doubt have fled, along with any important research. None of this mattered to Catherine. Her mind was distant, and she replayed those moments over and over again.

“She really cared for you, you know.” The bald man said, breaking out of her reverie.

“Who?”

“The woman you were with.” He paused. “I’m assuming she was the psychic.”

Catherine took a moment, unsure how next to proceed. “Uh… yes. She was.”

The man didn’t smile, but returned in a warm and matter of fact way. “Her cry was very loud and insistent. She sent a message from almost half the globe over. That is no small feat.”

Catherine just nodded.

“The message, too, was rather specific. ‘Save her.’ Was what she said.”

Catherine looked up, eyes glistening.

“I won’t claim that this is the choice you should make, but we would be happy to accommodate. Though I am sure that your present circumstances would make choosing a decision hard, but please, allow us the opportunity to let our rest and recuperate. You have been through a lot.”

Catherine bowed her head. She had her misgiving about this place. The structure and movement reminded her of The Facility. But if #24 wanted her to be here…

“I… never knew her name.” She said at last.

“It was Hope.” The bald man said. “Hope Fields was how she addressed herself.”

Catherine smiled as she lowered her head, tears flowing from her eyes.

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