Both [Big Sister] and [Golem] stood there in silence, perhaps Ale's title drop bomb had been too much?

"I'm sorry, let me ask this again, since I really need to understand this," [Golem] said as his form shifted, from his mostly humanoid and hulk-like form, to a more slender like form, he was still made mostly of rock, even if as he shrunk in size, he left behind a pair of piles of rock behind.

This form? This form seemed to be mostly out of gravel and some granite here and there. Was this his normal form? What was this one called?

"You…you got created? Willingly? Alexa willingly split her psyche?" [Golem] asked as he stad down in a sofa.

That way of phrasing it, it sounded as if it was such a wrong thing to do. Alexa…probably didn't even mean something from it.

"You make it sound like it's a bad thing." Ale said, shrugging, stuffing her hands into her hoodie pockets, "She isn't that…Deliberated with what she does."

"That is not what we asked," [Big Sister] said from the side, "What you have, what you all have….you can't make that up, believing that Alexa did something like that…Believing that Alexa could…"

"Alexa doesn't want to create these kind of situations," Ale said before [Big Sister] said something that she would regret, "Our brain matches our body, our perception of the world matches what we can interpret from what we see, Alexa noticed that as she moved from body to body, when she made my body she noticed that she could perceive other things, when she made Alexandra's body she noticed she had a more clear understanding, if grim, view of the world."

Ale also had those memories, so she knew this as a fact.

"She merely elaborated on it a step further, settling our Consciousness Stream as an independent thought process and ensuring a more seamless integration. You can't expect her to keep the same level of understanding at all times; that wouldn't work without extensive body modification." Ale said, pulling out her cell phone and walking towards the TV screen in her living room, "Here, let me show an example."

The next part would be tricky, she navigated her phone menu into the connectivity menu and linked to the smart TV, and sending the blueprints of Alan and Glory's former brain blueprints into the TV Ale continued, "Here, this is a blueprint of a six-year-old brain from a [Female], this one is capable of understanding and processing as much emotional intelligence and a maturity level of someone around 20 to 25-year-old." The brain schematic was…complex, to say the least, and did tell nothing to [Big Sister] and [Golem] since they knew nothing about how a normal brain should look.

It was a 3d image that spun and highlighted some parts of the Brain.

"And this is Alexa's Brain schematic…or well, what her brain looked like the first day she met [Eleanore], minus Main Core." Ale said and sent the Blueprint of the [Brain] that the original Alexa [Blueprint] had, "See the lighted areas? The spots that light like a Christmas tree?"

The image of Alexa's Brain showed more activity overall, while the other showed less activity.

"Alexa…thinks more?" [Big Sister] asked confused, "Are you sure?"

"Well, first of all, rude." Ale said pointing to [Big Sister], "But that is not the issue, [Golem]?"

"....Alexa has a greater development potential." [Golem] said, sighing, "The other brain has less activity and probably is less able to develop and learn since it is already set up for life."

"Ding dong!" Ale said giving a thumb ups to [Golem], then frowned and stuck her hand back into the hoodie, her character was turning into a stupidly happy one like Alexa, she was supposed to be the broody teenager, not the happy-go stupid girl, "As [Golem] said, Alexa has more potential to development if she keeps her brain like that and grows at a steady pace, which means she needs a way to deal with her [Adult Stage] and [Teenager Stage] form."

"Wait a second, when did Eleanore have the time to tell Alexa about DID?" [Big Sister] asked suddenly. "She meet Alexa in the recruitment, right? That was just some questions, then the next day was the induction and team met up, by that moment we met you in this form, and Alexa showed us the grown up form….So by that moment…"

"....Alexa already had Main Core from the beginning," [Golem] stated, not ask, but stated, "Right?"

"....Yes." Ale said, nodding, "Main Core has been with Alexa from the beginning, so really, as Alexa would say. It was Main Core's fault."

It was always Main Core the issue…or the scapegoat.

"Eleanore did a good one, huh," [Fan Girl] said, sighing, "So you had it from the beginning….meaning…how far can you remember? How far in Alexa's memories can you look?"

How far?

"All the way, from the beginning, Alexa, Alexandra, and myself have access to all the memories since Alexa had use of reason." Ale answered.

"So you remember a time before Main Core?" [Big Sister] asked, "Before the Saintsworths stuck that thing in Alexa's head?"

….

"There was nothing before Main Core," Ale answered narrowing her eyes, "Main Core was with Alexa even before Alexa became Alexa."

"Even before she became Alexa…." [Big Sister] repeated the words as if tasting them, and grimacing she added, "Are you sure she didn't become Alexa because of him?"

….

"Even if that was the case," Ale answered with measured words, "You all are for the better because of it, and let me tell you. It was not because Main Core, if anything Main Core always said the same and wanted two things."

"Only two?" [Golem] asked, interested, "That sounds oddly specific."

"He was a simple thing, there is a reason why Alexa always called him dumb." Ale said back nodding at [Golem], "The first was simple, follow the main directives given by the Mainframe Server."

"And those were?" [Big Sister] asked in reflex before covering her mouth.

They did remember that Alexa just told everyone she had been raised as a weapon right? Ale smirked, "[Eat, Grow, Evolve]"

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

"Eat…grow….evolve?" [Golem] asked slowly, "That was what Main Core was ensuring? An state-of-the-art technology capable to interface with your mind…and they enforced those orders?"

"Yes," Ale nodded, "First one is easy, [Eat] you gotta eat to replace biomass lost in testing grounds and combat, so that was understandable."

Both [Golem] and [Big Sister] recoiled at the words, such squeamish meat sacs….

"The second is easy to explain, we were raised to become the best possible version of ourselves, and to achieve that we needed to [Grow], is the same reason Alexa said that she would have killed [Eleanore] if it came to it, since one can't grow if they are [Terminated]," Ale stated.

[Golem] nodded at that, "Can respect that," Of course he could, any sane person would.

"What about the last?" [Big Sister] asked, "Not like you can…you know…evolve, shine in white light and turn into something…..ah…."

Ale smiled brightly at that mental image; she couldn't help but imagine how cool it would look to pull that out in a combat setting, preferably while she uses that apparent boost to finish someone and sheath her Katana as her enemy exploded…

Yes, she would make sure to make that stupid Katana.

"[Evolve], is tied to the first previous two, one needs to grow first to be able to evolve. As we adapt to our enemies and their stratagem, we become better at adapting as we learn more about them. And as Alexa has said several times, our [Power] benefits from our understanding." Ale said raising her hand and letting her [Arm-Mament] come out as her hand shifted into the [Claw] setting, "The first one is more important for that very same reason, we need biomass and energy to get the materials and fuel to produce these changes, so to [Evolve] we need to [Eat] and to eat we need to [Survive]. Ergo….the most important directive for Main Core to impose upon us was, [Eat, Grow, Evolve]."

Ale could respect that.

"And the other?" [Big Sister] asked, "You said there was two things that Main core enforced."

….Right…Ale said that, what was the second…What was the second?

"To obey the Saintsowrths Overlords…?" Ale asked, confused, "To be honest, we didn't know the Saintsworths were a thing before coming out, and everyone and their auntie found a problem with the name Alexa picked."

".....The name Alexa picked?" [Big Sister] stood at that, "You didn't….Alexa picked her name? Why? from where? Why that name?"

That was one too many questions!

"Calm down Skye Venti," [Golem] said raising his hand, "Let her speak, Ale. This is important, if Alexa didn't knew the relevance of that name…why did she pick it?"

Why?

Well that was easy, because it was the name on the [Blueprint]? Not really. But then why? Had the Blueprint come with a name?

No, Main Core had picked it hadn't he? He did say something about going into search and calculation mode…

"Let me…let me check the memory file," Ale said closing her eyes and diving back into the older days, days that Alexa didn't bother searching, neither did Alexandra…and of course, Ale also hadn't bothered searching, she soon found the memory file of the event, and the logs of what Main Core had done.

The exact moment when [Teach Baking] had asked Alexa for her name, how main Core had said that he would find the name….

There was a prompt, a search prompt, but a prompt nonetheless, something that pinged an internal module, one that Alexa recognized as one of her databases, one that she still had tucked into the back of her mind. One she could access in the same way.

[Query: Name for host.]

[Searching….]

[Reading host blueprint.]

[Reading host identity.]

[Evaluating….]

[Answer: Host's name is Alexandra Saintsworths, twin Sister to Alexanders Saintsworths. Current CEO of The Saintsworths Conglomerate.]

….

"What the F-" Ale said aloud, being stopped short by [Golem].

"Language," Who merely stated that.

"Ah, right. Sorry…I found out why Main Core gave us that name…And while we had already been told why…It came as a surprise since we didn't believe it was the truth before." Ale said thinking about how Alexanders had come with that silly stupid lie of Alexa being his Sister. Ale had thought that it was an excuse to stay near Alexa for some weird reason, some weird interest that Alexanders had about them as a test subject.

But….it was encoded straight into her Blueprint? No, the subprocess verified Alexa's identity, didn't it? How? What had it read?

Ale had seen the diagnosis and it scoured her whole body, and even went as far as checking her consciousness stream, she wasn't aware they had diagnosis for that!

"What was it?" [Big Sister] asked somewhat worried.

"Well….Do you remember Alexa's older brother?" Ale asked, getting a nod from [Big Sister] and a confused look from [Golem].

"In the mission for the theater guy we encountered a…potential client," Ale said recounting the encounter, "He claimed to be Alexa's older brother. He gave us this and the proof of being a Saitnsworths."

"Oh yeah, the delivery guy. I got a report about him, he has been delivering things from time to time, has a website. He live streams his stunts and only picks whatever he wants and seems to amuse, not a Hero but not a Villain." [Golem] said shrugging, "People already guess that he is a Saintsworths since only they are crazy enough to pull some of the stunts he has done…and since he seems to have access to Saintsworths endorsed parking lots."

Of course he would…

"Well…Main Core knew him, so that's why he told Alexa her name was Alexandra Saintsworths, or Alexa for short." Ale said, turning to them, "And we all thought the whole older brother was a way to keep Alexa in his area of influence."

"Why would you think that?" [Big Sister] asked confused, "We thought that he was the reason you managed to escape from that human experimentation site, that he found about Alexa and pulled some favors to help with the escape."

At that, Ale couldn't help but bark a laugh, Alexanders? Helping them? For free?

"No," Ale said, shaking her head, "He may be the reason why they don't put Alexa back…or try to, not that they would succeed, but he didn't help."

Of that, Ale was sure that if Alexander wanted to help them from the beginning, he would have pulled Alexa out when they met.

"What makes you say so?" [Big Sister] asked, "Family always look after each other, Saintsworths or not."

Ale knew that, that was in the definition of family after all, was one of the reasons why Alexa and Ale envied people with family even, no one was there to help Alexa, or protect her, even those within [Haephestus' Forge] who should have their best interest in them, they only did so because they worked for them.

And one of them almost made them sign an unfavorable vow enforced by a [Core Power]. The other? Well, Ale still hadn't a good read on [Vulcanus], but at least [Billy] seemed to be on their side….for now.

"Because he was one of the people we fought in combat testing," Ale said, shrugging. "It was fighting him that triggered our [Core Formation] event."

And the reason P4 evolved into Alexa.

"Or well, if we look at it that way, that is the reason we managed to escape?" Ale said tilting her head to the side, returning her hand to normal and grabbing her chin in a thoughtful manner, "So he did help us…I guess? I would have liked him if he hadn't cheated as much in that fight, though, so don't get me wrong. If we had as much freedom as we do now, we would have won even if he cheated."

If it was against the same Alexanders as it was that time, she wasn't sure of the current one. This one seemed to have mastered his [Core Power] quite fast; Ale hadn't noticed that many disturbances in the mana wavelength, compared to other people anyway.

"....I beg you pardon…but…you….fought against him? And he didn't recognize you?" [Golem] asked raising a hand, "How is that possible?"

How could it not be?

"Wasn't your appearance how he knew you were his sister?" [Golem] added as clarification, "Even from where I stand it is obvious you have links with the Saintsworths."

Oh, right, the whole 'Only a Saintsworths can be blonde' thing, that was one weird thing to think about. Wasn't blonde hair just achievable with some genetic tampering? Implying it wasn't a Saintsworths thing would mean the whole planet was victim to some degree of genetic tampering. And that was too much hassle to keep up.

That reeked of poor worldbuilding.

"Well…We…didn't look like this then?" Ale said shrugging, "Alexa only took that form while escaping, you can't seriously expect someone with Alexa's form to withstand…what did Gabriel call them? Bolters?"

"....THEY SHOT YOU WITH BOLTER ROUNDS?!?!?!?"? [Big Sister] screamed while standing up and rushing to Ale's side, lifting her hoodie and blouse and prodding her all over as if to make sure she wasn't wounded (She wasn't, this body was just made!)

"Not really….there were also lightning traps, fire traps, ice traps, underwater tests, races, and all kinds of tests." Ale said, shrugging, letting herself be checked up; it felt nice, even if it was somewhat weird, how [Golem]'s face turned to the side; Ale could still detect the direction his mana wavelength was focused…which was also in that direction; why?

If one could see in 360º why would they concentrate all of it in one direction?

"And so, having a body like yours or Alexa would be counterproductive to survival." [Golem] said nodding, "Anything Skye Venti?"

"No wounds," [Big Sister] said, "Her skin is flawless, she doesn't even have scars or anything."

"Of course not, we only make perfection." Ale said nodding, "Scars are counterproductive; there was this one test subject who would open older wounds…it was annoying because they could and would pounce on any former wound, be it in flesh or metal, so we had to purge so many materials and rebuilt from scratch several times…"

Ale had hated that one, or well. P4 did, not that they knew what hate was. But it did dedicate extra computational cycles to find a solution to that one…which was merely rebuilding the body to a new one after every encounter and purging any part that wasn't devoid of damage.

Something that wasn't viable in most scenarios…unless you had a nanite factory to remake yourself….And that was probably why Alexa liked to update her own Blueprint that often. That test subject didn't leave anything good did it?

"That….they made you fight against core users too?" [Big Sister] said as her eyes shone in anger, she was also had this purple aura with tinges of green around her, kind of cool actually.

"I….am not sure they were one." Ale said, shaking her head, "Some of those were entirely dependent on biological or mechanical parts; we never saw what you call a [Core] till we exited the facility."

"....artificial Core Users then?" [Golem] asked from the side, turning to look at Ale once more, focusing on her actually…

"....Probably?" Ale said, gulping, "A [Core Power] alters the body to accommodate it, right? So maybe if the body is modified in the same way that a [Core Power] does, then it could end up with the same result?"

"I don't think it works like that," [Big Sister] said shaking her head, "If it worked that way, then the Saintsworths and elite wouldn't go nuts chasing Core Powers after all."

….Ale wished that [Golem] would believe that too….Because if he didn't, it would mean that he would start suspecting that Alexa didn't have a [Shapeshifter Core], and they could only deceive so many people at once.

She needed to speak with [Billy] and [Vulcanus] soon-ish to ask about Main Core…and to probe them. [Gabriel] had told her about [Mythic Cores], so she wanted to know how much she could stretch this one…

And perhaps check in [Mithology]? To check what kind of [Entity] could work for their facade…

That or actually finding out what type of [Core] they had. That could also work….

Hey [Core] want to come clean?

Pretty please?

…I'll let you use my Katana….?

No?

Dang it.

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