"[We are the light that shines science over civilization.]"

"A little pretentious aren't we?" [Billy] said while he stood beside Alexandra as the device powered up.

It had turned the screen black as soon as she placed the bracelet over the screen, and now it was loading up something else. These words had woven themselves on the screen as the device's screen went from pure black to showing the emblem of a bird holding a scroll in its legs.

The animal was spreading its wings wide as if it was trying to make itself look bigger, and while the words were quite impressive, Alexandra couldn't help but wonder.

"Are they really that relevant?" She asked to [Billy], since [Eleanore] was still sitting in a corner holding her head with both hands.

"I mean, they were before Core Powers became a thing, afterward…they are still important, and make no mistake, they are among the most powerful both politically and monetary wise, but…It kind of becomes a moot point when someone can show up to your main building and level it to the ground before someone with the correct power-type comes to save you, doesn't it?" [Billy] shrugged as he answered.

That was…a very fair point, while Alexandra understood the importance of good intel, she would rather have the power to destroy everything around than to know everything around. Sure, the second one would guarantee her success, but if she defeated her target either way… Wasn't indiscriminate power more useful?

"Oh, it booted up." [Billy] said pointing at the screen, it was…not the same one from before, and her bracelet was shining golden on the emblem of the bird. "Well, ask it something."

Now…what to ask…

"Who is Alexandra Saintsworths," Alexandra decided to ask that one first.

And what came out of it quite surprised her, as the front camera of the device projected a blue screen with the information; for a second, she had thought that it was another of [Core] 's projections, till [Billy] 's eyes followed the letters on it too.

That all but confirmed that this was visible to everyone else.

Alexandra Saintsworths:

Daughter of the ■■■■ branch, currently location unknown.

Age: ■■.

Height: ■■■ cms.

Weight: ■■ kilograms.

She is among the current batch of members from the clan who were given a test to prove their might and connection to the clan; her test consisted of being sent to a black site of one of our enemies to build a position within and climb the ladder. The test went haywire, and she was unexpectedly sent to a human experimentation site.

A rescue team was not deemed worth the effort since any scion of the Saintsworths should be able to escape by themselves no matter their age. The predicted results from the human experimentations are expected to awaken a Core Power within her, and she is predicted to use said powers to escape.

Effects on her psyche are expected to be minimal since she carries the blood of the golden eagle. She is expected to be capable of running for a spot within the main branch after she comes of age.

Important Notes: Her brother seems to have found out about the existence of Alexandra and is expected to cause problems. Additional guards are to be set up to prevent him from tampering with the results of her tests. She is to remain within her test at least till she is fifteen years old.

"...." [Billy] 's jovial mood disappeared as his eyes started reading the blue screen.

Alexandra didn't find it as interesting as she had expected, granted this all but confirmed the fake history everyone had thought of her, but…Alexandra had expected more descriptions.

"Do you have records of what the experimentations done to Alexandra Saintsworths were?" Alexandra decided to ask.

[Billy] made a weird sound and turned to her, while [Eleanore] covered her ears with both hands.

Weird.

No evidence of the experimentations has been found since there are still at least ten years till Alexandra is expected to escape the site. All the pertaining information is scheduled to be collected and used as collateral to take in a new company under the Saintsworths umbrella, as is the data on human experimentation, Core experimentation, and Mana experimentation.

*Crash*

"..." [Billy] summoned the cannon and shot it against a wall, destroying it and starting an alarm at the same time, "Override, Hermes 2731. Delay the construction crew till I give the go-ahead. Also, update Minion's Rhapsody status. From yellow to blue."

"...You need auth-" [Eleanore] started saying before a single glare from [Billy] stopped her.

"Not now, Cerberus, not fucking now." [Billy] said, lowering his arm and letting himself fall against the wall. "Go on kiddo, ask your things…I… I'm not sure I want to hear, see, or even think about them."

"I just wanted to make sure they didn't know what I could do," Alexandra said turning to the blue screen, it was…weird.

Knowing that anyone else could see them.

"Why is this format used? Why blue screens?" Alexandra asked, dismissing the previous ones with hand motions.

She wasn't surprised by the fact that the blue screens reacted to her moving them like that, she had done the same with the ones [Core] used.

The HoloProjector(Blue screens) was devised by the current Scion of the Main Branch, Alexanders Saintsworths. It was deemed by him that this allowed an easier integration of both the data being transmitted and ease of use. This can be personalized to your tastes, but most users of this network use the blue screen form.

There is no data on the reason why or how Alexanders came to use this format.

Interesting things all over the place.

"Can…can you ask them about project [Awakening]?" [Eleanore] said in a low voice from her corner.

"Are you real right now?" [Billy] snarled from the side, "You try to bind her Core, you abuse your position, abuse the trust she has for you. And then, after all of this, you try to get something from her?"

That was very…fair? Alexandra didn't have a reason to help her now, did she?

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

"What is project awakening?" Alexandra decided to ask, not to the device, not yet anyway. But to [Eleanore] and [Billy], this helped her test if this thing detected the questions that she asked it, or if it would answer anything she said.

If it was the second, then she would really need to be careful of what she said after all, at least with people around.

"....It is a project that was set up long ago," [Billy] said with a sigh, he had been waiting too before answering, probably for the same reason as Alexandra, "It is not my tale to tell, but of Eleanore, Gabriel and…I guess Vulcanus now."

"It was…an orphanage at first." [Eleanore] started speaking, "One that wasn't shit, we got beds, food, clothes, and toys to play with. We were moved to one of the nice parts of the city and all they asked of us was some blood samples now and then."

That seemed….nice?

Alexandra wasn't that sure what to think to be honest, it was more or less what she had been given, with less things going the other way. Well, taking into consideration the fact that she had to work, perhaps it was more the things she needed to give?

"We didn't question it, we street kids didn't have many things going for us. Most of us ended up on the streets because of accidents or because our parents couldn't afford to keep us; we ended up in orphanages because we weren't lucky." [Eleanore] said, standing up, "We just weren't blessed by fate."

Fate?

What is fate?

"Everything was good, till it wasn't." [Eleanore] sighed, turning to stare to the side as if looking somewhere far away. Was her [Core Power] also allowing her to see through walls?

"One by one, older kids got picked up to move into other rooms they said. They would go to a bigger facility for bigger kids, they said." [Eleanore] smirked at the words, "We didn't know better, but some kids didn't like leaving their friends behind. So Gabriel, Edwards and myself asked to be moved together."

Edwards? Who was Edwards? Did Alexa or Ale meet an Edwards?

"And so we moved from 'The Mistress in Waiting' orphanage to R&D Substation 4. It didn't even have a real name." [Eleanore] said while laughing bitterly; Alexandra did not find it particularly funny.

She liked the number four, it was her number. Or Alexa's, but same thing.

"There they experimented on us, attempting to force us to awake a Core to their liking, and when we didn't we got sold to the highest bidder. It was hell, day in and day out they experimented on us, fed us weird food. Made us nibble at rocks and crystals at one point even." [Eleanore] shook her head as she retold the story.

To be honest, Alexandra found those descriptions boring, those were kiddy tests.

"Some had it better, some had it worse. Gabriel was thrown within a bird enclosure, he was supposed to awaken a Beast Core, he somehow managed to awaken a Core, but it wasn't the one they wanted." [Eleanore] said shaking her head, "Then Edwards…poor Edwards…."

"That is enough, Vulcanus is the one who should tell that story." [Billy] said from the side, "Yours and Gabriels is enough to tell what that god-forsaken experiment was."

"Fine," [Eleanore] said, "Project Awakening was a means to find a sustainable way to awaken Core Users, but it failed. The project was shut down thanks to the efforts of a Hero who later retired…"

[Billy] didn't say anything, but the way in which [Eleanore] looked at him was telling enough.

"It was human experimentation, the project was shut down after the project became public and those affected by it got sent away to other orphanages, most of the kids ended up finding each other and formed under the banner of one of the kids who got affected the worst." [Eleanore] said shaking her head yet again. "We promised to forge a better place for others, to make sure no one else would try again. To forge a better place."

"And so..." [Eleanore] said, "Haephestus' Forge was born."

Very, very interesting (not).

"Fine I guess…" Alexandra said, turning to the notebook, "What information do you have on Project Awakening."

Project Awakening:

It was an experiment to attempt and stimulate memories of a past life in subjects in an attempt to trigger the generation of a Core. Subjects were selected with extreme care as to find those whose connection to Mana seemed to be the best. In case of them having a family that wasn't amenable to the testing done, they got expedited, and the test subjects got redirected into orphanages under the umbrella of the company at the helm of this experimentation.

The experimentation was done under the leadership of the Mystic Institute for the development of Humanity's Awakening. The company was scheduled to be raided after more proof of their evildoing was found and verified, the company was spooked after a Hero (Hermes) raided it and released the test subjects.

Any chance of it being fully investigated was then further destroyed when one member of the Saintsworths got involved.

As the presence of a main branch member made a soft touch difficult, the whole project was then burned, and the apprehension of the mastermind was not achieved.

[Name of the Saintworths member that got involved: Andre Saintworths.]

[Relevance: Former head of The Saintsworths Conglomerate, retired.]

Retired?

"Retired?" Alexandra asked to the terminal.

Andre Sanitsworths retired shortly after his son turned five, when he started showing the hallmarks of a genius. He decided to focus his remaining life on finding the best education possible to nurture him into the greatest inheritor to the golden eagle.

 

There are records of both of them visiting multiple R&D sites, both taken over by the Saintsworths in an attempt to correct evil experimentation and others searching for ways to turn the world into a better place.

"That is a lie." [Eleanore] spat as those words manifested in the holoprojector, "Andre left his throne because he feared that he would end up being incriminated, and his bastard of a son isn't better. The apple does not fall far from the tree."

"We don't know that. Besides, he hasn't actively been involved in any illegal experimentation as far as we know, and he did work in helping alleviate the pressure from the ghost cities and even managed to contain the ants, didn't he?" [Billy] said from the side after he read the information too.

He did a what?

Who was this person? He sounded like someone interesting.

"How many sons or daughters does Andre Saintsworths have?" Alexandra decided to ask.

Andre Saintsworths had multiple offspring across his life. The most successful being Alexanders Saintsworths, current CEO of the Saintsworths Conglomerate. The newest iteration of the Saintsworths Clan on Terra Nova.

 

There is no way to confirm any other daughter or son of Andre Saintsworths without blood tests. Those tests are restricted to the current head of the Saintsworths and as such, only Alexanders Saintsworths has true evidence of any other offspring of Andre Saintsworths.

 

The current whereabouts of Andre Saintsworths are unknown.

Well, that was…convenient.

"Fair, I guess." Alexandra said reading the last part, at least this meant that the only people that could deny her bloodline was the guy who had given her the way in. Since the other was god knows where.

"Well, this was nice and all. But I guess it's time I did what I came for." [Billy] said dusting off his pants and standing up, "Rhapsody, Haephestus' Forge is willing to be your blade against those that did you wrong, but we need evidence of who they are and what they did. As payment, we only ask that you use your new means of acquiring information to ask one thing."

That seemed….fair? Not that Alexandra had any intention of fighting against her former employers. Or owners? She wasn't quite sure what her relationship with the Saintsworths was at the moment.

"Find out what they know about [The Scrambler]." [Billy] asked.

That was…easy?

"What does the database know about the scrambler." Alexandra asked.

And for the first time, the thing didn't spit an answer instantly.

Not enough [Authority] to peruse that information.

 

To increase your [Authority], please provide the database with information that it doesn't have or get an administrator to increase your allowance of data.

 

Nearest administrator: Alexanders Saintsworths.

"Well….that is that." Alexandra said as she read the words on it, she had half expected it to answer the question and was in turn thinking of excuses to not go against the Saintsworths.

Not yet, anyway, not before she found out if she could defeat Alexanders and his… girlfriend.

"Of course they know something," [Eleanore] said from the back, she had some fire back in her eyes again, even if those same eyes were doing their best to not look in Alexandra's general direction.

"We suspected they knew something, with this, we have confirmation about them knowing something." [Billy] said eyeing the notebook. "Can I have that for a second?"

Alexandra nodded and took the notebook and gave it to [Billy], as soon as the older [Human] took the notebook away from her, the device powered down and the emblem on her bracelet powered down.

The device rebooted and returned to normal half a second later.

"I knew this could happen, but seeing it…" [Billy] said as he plugged a device into the notebook. "Nothing, so this confirms it. They used a Tinker Core to make the network and they are probably using an organic network, since I can't interact with it nor can my network crawler."

The what now?

"So?" [Eleanore] said, rearranging the things that had been thrown around when [Billy] almost ripped out her neck.

"So we are as we started, we have access to something that gives us nothing. And that if we abuse it will probably blacklist Alexa from accessing it, so we can't even do that." [Billy] sighed at that, "Unless you have something valuable enough to risk Alexa's birthright?"

[Billy] had said that last part in a challenging tone.

"I know, I will not ask her to use it. Not that she would listen to me…" [Eleanore] said in a low tone.

And she was right, Alexandra wouldn't listen to her, not after what she tried to pull.

"... I'm sorry." [Eleanore] said yet again, not that it changed anything.

"It's fine, as Main Core said before. We really don't mind." Alexandra said, this was this, and that was that.

She had enjoyed their banter before, and speaking with [Eleanore] had helped her in some aspects. But her attempting to bind their [Core]?

Her attempting to summon Alexa to do so? That was different.

"Rude! [Eleanore] attempted to be rude!" "...She attempted more than that, but yes."

"I only came to report that, is there anything else that you need me for?" Alexandra said standing up and preparing to leave, "If not I need to go. Tomorrow Alexa has classes."

And if Alexandra knew something, it was that Alexa needed to sleep.

"No, that was all…" [Eleanore] said turning to [Billy].

"Run along, you brats need to sleep to grow big and strong." [Billy] said waving her off.

Rude.

"I'm perfectly big and strong, thank you very much." Alexandra said puffing her cheeks, Alexa and Ale may not mind it, but she very much minded.

"Sure you are big girl," [Billy] said dismissively, "Now run along, I need to drag Cerberus to Vulcanus to have a serious talk about boundaries."

Right…

"Do you need this back?" Alexandra asked, pointing to the notebook.

"Nah, you can have it, I will ask the other Minions to deliver a PC to your room later. It will link itself to your notebook, that way it will allow your notebook to have more processing power. Also, it will help us attempt to hijack the Saintsworths network better." [Billy] said with a malicious glint on his eyes.

Yikes.

She would never, ever, let him know about Main Core…Or his true form anyway. But for now, Alexandra left the half-dilapidated office. She had a few hours of sleep ahead of her and classes tomorrow…

At least Alexa would be the one dealing with those.

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