It tasted like vile, they had spoken about this possibility, while attempting to remake Main Core from the fragments that they had scoured from within Alexa's Consciousness Stream, whatever Core had done. It was thorough, they got some memory fragments, but none from Main Core's perspective.

So speaking about how it would affect Alexa, they had decided to force the issue, Alexa could force herself into her body, but they couldn't force themselves into that body.

Not really, they could send prompts to Alexa for a swap, and while sure in most situations Alexa would comply, she would act disgruntled and so, but she wouldn't really mind.

Alexa was that kind of kid.

But they needed a way to help her, really help her. She was still a little kid, "You are one too, you know." Alexandra had said when Ale brought the issue.

"It's different and you know it." Ale spat back, it was really different, Alexa was actually alive and not a simulacrum like they were.

They were a minor part of something big, way bigger.

So they planned, they found that….it was possible, Core guaranteed it, but it would be limited, perhaps one or two times…before they would fray away. They would need to burn part of their selves to do it.

And they wouldn't be able to be the one to go forward, they would experiment so much pain that it was impractical for the one to do it to go forward.

Neither Ale nor Alexandra knew how it would look, so when Alexandra did it…Ale…Ale wasn't sure she would be able to do it. The older woman had screamed in pain as golden light shone from her eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.

Then Ale saw her body covered in tears, and from those tears red sludge seemed to leak….In any normal time Ale would have thought it was blood, but….it wasn't. Blood didn't look that thick and sludge-like…

Before Ale could react, she had been shoved out of the Mindscape into Alexa's body. All she could do before seeing Alexa land within the Mindscape was fix Alexandra's appearance into a more normal one and leave her lying on the floor. That and hope that Alexa wouldn't undo it before Alexandra recovered.

"Stupid woman…" Ale spat as she felt her Consciousness Stream settle into the body, the shift from the body of Alexa into hers was slow and awkward, it wasn't helped by the water that was falling into her body.

Looking in front was the surprised and flabbergasted expression of Gloria Blackthorn, the brat who bullied Alexa into giving her all the information she wanted.

*Spit*

Ale hated her.

"How….how did you do that?" And within their mind, Ale could feel Alexa asking surprised, "I didn't…Alexa….ndra…?"

"Sorry…let…me…rest.."The voice of Alexandra faded away as Ale felt her pressence diminish.

"Let her sleep, Alexa; we will speak later, okay?" Ale sent inwardly.

"...is….is this Alexa's fault?" Alexa asked, Ale could feel the little girl start to cry.

"No, it's not. Don't worry about it…can you close the window, please? I need to speak with….Glory." Ale sent as she felt the last vestiges of Alexa's body fade away as she finished growing the last few centimeters.

She now stood almost forty centimeters taller than before, way taller than this brat who bullied Alexa.

"....okay….but Alexa still needs to speak with Glory, okay," Alexa said, nodding, "I'll take care of Alexandra for now…Alexa will nurse her back to normal! That's why you brought her in, right?"

…….

"Yes…. I'll leave Alexandra in your care," Ale said as she felt guilty for lying to Alexa…and relief when she felt the window into the Mindscape close, Alexa could peek any moment, of course, but the little girl wouldn't.

Alexa was that kind of girl.

"Alexa?" Glory asked in front of her, "Why….how….how are you this bigger? Your body….Alan said that your body had the right amount of weight for a girl your age…but you don't look famished or anything….you look roughly nine? Ten years old?"

"I'm twelve," Ale said taking one step forward and grabing Glory by her hand, the girl had attempted to poke at her chest, "And my name is Ale Saintsworths."

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"....you are not Alexa…." Glory said attempting to remove her hand, with little effect, "You are one of the other two that was inside Alexa?"

The eyes of the girl shone in purple light, Ale felt the wave of mana, but without knowing what or how it worked, it was impossible to fight it off.

They needed data on it…it was good that the origin of it was in her hands, wasn't it?

"Yes, and I don't like when someone manipulates my little sister for their own profit," Ale said, raising the girl with her right hand and placing the left hand in the stomach of the girl "Are you aware that Alexa knows exactly where and how dense your [Core] is? They are such a wonderful thing, the [Cores]."

Ale said as the girl fought and kicked when Ale lifted her up by the neck.

"...you shouldn't be this strong, does the Core Power change when another personality takes control?" Glory asked, the girl was attempting to set up a brave front, "No, that shouldn't be possible. Alexa lied about her Core power then? But what she did shouldn't be doable using other type of core power…"

"You don't seem to understand the situation you are in, so let me tell it to you straight," Ale said letting some of her tendrils sink into the flesh of the girl, "Right now, I'm pissed because you manipulated Alexa, she is a nice girl who wanted friends, and you used that as a way to get confirmation of what Alexa is."

"I have the right of know-" Glory started saying, but Ale pushed some nerves within the stomach of the girl to inflict pain, it was somewhat soon, but if she had read the [Blueprint] right, it would be somewhat similar to what she would feel in a few years…when she got her period.

"You have the right of nothing," Ale said, "Alexa fixed your body so you wouldn't die in pain, she fixed your body so you wouldn't wag your ass when you smelled the correct set up of chemicals, and then you still ask for more? Who do you think you are?"

Ale was not only angry about that, of course.

"Then, if that wasn't enough, because of you. Our older sister had to burn part of her Consciousness Stream to let me out because Alexa was too panicked about losing one of her first friends." The scene of Alexandra as she burned part of herself….

The girl had screamed in such an awful way…

"Because of you…." Ale wanted to rip this girl apart, rip that stupid Core she had apart….But she couldn't; ultimately, this girl was someone who was important to Alexa…and unlike Ale or Alexandra, she was….real.

"You asked who we are." Ale said throwing the girl against the floor, "We are many things…But let me tell you the abridged one."

"You are rude for one," Glory said standing up and looking at her in defiance, she placed a hand into her belly as if searching for wounds, "What did you do to me?"

"Nothing much, I just made some finishing touches to what Alexa started. I also made sure about what we already knew, your Core hasn't any aspect of the [Mind Core] type or [Reinforcement] type." Ale said walking out of the shower and with each step she took, Glory took one back, "We are a weapon."

"A weapon?" Glory asked confused, "Not a monster, but a weapon?"

"Monsters are living things," Ale said shaking her head, she flared some of the mana they had and her set of clothing materialized atop her, the stupid fungi underwear too, Alexa would love the fact that they had that back.

"....That….that shouldn't…" Glory said as she staggered back.

Ale was wearing her set of sneakers, short pants, shirt, and jacket. Her normal attire, the only thing that was missing was the bracelet and mask. They didn't want to risk making too many of those without understanding how they worked.

"Monsters are living things," Ale said walking towards Glory, with each step she took, Glory took another one back, soon Ale was standing in front of the naked girl who was now against a wall. "We are not, we are a thing."

"....not a monster…but a thing?" The girl asked confused.

"You didn't expect that one, did you," Ale said, smiling at her; she could see her own reflection against the wall.

A cold dead gaze and a serious expression, she was filled with hate against this girl… A girl she couldn't afford to kill.

"We were made as a weapon in a Saintsworths laboratory," Ale said, this girl could see their Consciousness Stream, the most dangerous [Core User] they had encountered so far, and one she wished nothing else but to kill.

She was sure she could deal with Alan too, before he was able to control his [Core] anyway.

"We were made as a weapon, trained from our creation and tested against other biological weapons," Ale said nodding as the face of the girl turned a shade of white, if only that was enough for her to die… "Any day we couldn't kill, it was a day we wouldn't eat. Any day we failed a [Test] it was a day we didn't eat."

"...that….that….No Saintsworths….No research laboratory would do that!" Glory screamed, attempting to stand but being forced down by Ale, "That…that is…"

"Isn't humane?" Ale asked in a mocking tone; Glory nodded at her, so Ale continued, "But we already established an important fact."

"....Oh…no…." Glory took the cue….that was why Ale hated smart [Enemies].

"It's only inhuman if your experimental subjects are [Human]," Ale said nodding, "And you said it yourself didn't you?"

Glory's eyes started watering as her lip trembled and the strength left her body.

"You said it too…Alexa….is….not….[Human]...." Ale said as she allowed the girl to fall onto the cold floor, "And while Core, Alexanders, and even we said the opposite…You…her friend…said that she wasn't [Human]...and even bullied her into telling you her past."

"I…I…" Glory seemed to become aware of what she had done. But that didn't matter, not to Ale anyway.

"You used the friendship that Alexa gave, she has shown you more of her powers than to anyone else, you are probably the only [Human]," The word tasted like bile to Ale, this is what a [Human] was? Disgusting, "Who is aware of what Alexa can truly do, some people suspect it, some think that she will need to grow her [Core] more to be able to do, what she did to you…Are you even aware of what she did?"

"....What?" Glory asked confused. "What…She….made me [Human]?"

Ale couldn't help but bark out a laugh at that, a hearty laugh at it; she even went all through the five stages from a small low laugh into a blown-out maniacal laughter.

"She rewrote your genetic code, took what was there, and made sure you would trigger a [Core] without pain; she set you up for success. Your [Core] is probably at least four times as dense as it should be. No one will believe you just triggered a [Core]." Ale said shaking her head, "I don't think I would be able to take a sample from it from how dense it is."

And she did try, but it was probably impossible for her, not unless Alexa left some of the Mk1 nanites to her…since she doubted Core would allow it.

"And even with all of that, you still had the gall to rip out your friendship with Alexa?" Ale found it ridiculous, why? No one had even attempted to take advantage of Alexa before. What had…

"....Yeah, it's weird…" Ale said aloud as she narrowed her eyes at that, "Why did you attempt to do that?"

Why had Glory suddenly attempted to do that? Why had she attempted to break her friendship with Alexa over something that stupid, there was no reason.

All she had made was make Ale and Alexandra angry, if anything the only one that was hurt was Alexandra…and Glory from Ale throwing her around.

"What motivated you to do something this stupid?" Ale asked, kneeling beside Glory and placing her finger atop the girl's forehead, "You must be aware of how nasty our [Core Power] can get; you did see Alexa's tendrils invade your boyfriend's body…and then your own body."

Glory's eyes opened wide as her lip started trembling, the girl didn't attempt to move away though, not that Ale was stopping her, she hadn't extended any tendril into the girl quite yet.

She was just calmly poking her forehead with a most mundane finger. Was it her smile?

How Ale was smiling at her? Or how Ale was looking at the naked girl? Ale wasn't sure, but she was sure as hell that she would get the answer out of this girl, what was a little trauma between your sister's best friend and you anyway.

"Main Core, start new subprocess. Start analyzing all available data of Subject: Gloria Blackthorn."

"[Notice: Starting new subprocess, what resources shall we analyzed?]"

"Pulse, breathing, sweating, all vitals available; search for any indication of falsehood or stress. I want to know if she lies and when she lies."

"[Notice: Starting new process, building required programs….done. Starting analysis.]"

Ale couldn't help but smile inwardly, at least the new Main Core wasn't as sassy as before….it was also not alive. And that made her click her tongue, that would be a hard talk, how does one explain death to Alexa?

Ale hadn't even thought about that before Core did what it did to Main Core….This….this would be more troublesome than dealing with Glory wouldn't it?

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