October 6th, 2026. 06:07. Unknown place. 

Empty. An apt description of this rather spacious room full of shining chrome and blinding lights on, with only one door located at the very end of the corridor, and the rest surrounded by walls. The lights are not quite harsh or bright enough to make the corridor feel like an oven, but the rays that illuminate each part of it makes it feel like one big room made out of glass aside from the two cameras placed on each corner of the room. It's like a passage to something beneficial for Humans, a safe pathway. 

As the door on the other side opens, however, the sight of two Zlocan Knights can be seen emerging, both carrying young looking woman through her arms, with eyes that are partly closed as she leans back and forth on her sides to know where is she going, with faint gasps of breath heard as they drag her across the corridor. Her head is slightly droopy with stooped arms for an extra measure of someone with the barest sign of movement. 

As for the Knights, their gazes are focused on nothing else but the task they are assigned to, something that involves the woman they're dragging to. Said woman? None other than Rita Su. Things don't seem to be looking pretty for the little lady at all. 

"How much further do we have to drag the little damsel to the Enhancement Room? She's already more troublesome than anyone else," the male Knight on the right says, his tone being a bit weary yet still stern enough to keep his firmness as expected from a Knight of the Zlocu. 

"How about we toss her on the garbage chute where she truly belongs? We could use fewer wastes of breath," the female Knight on the left replies, who by contrast, keeps a firm tone without any alteration in it whatsoever. Nonetheless, they still keep on carrying to the other side as Rita wobbles from left to right. 

"Fewer you say? With Project Joshua already in full swing, it's already a waste in keeping most of our servants and prisoners in their flesh. Already many of them were reported to run away from even the mere sign of a bullet fired straight at them." 

"Then be quiet, the process goes the way our superiors order it. The way I see it, she may not even be meant to be fit for the Project." The knight pushes some buttons near the pad of the door on the other side. After four pressings, a green light flashes which makes the door slide open to head inside. "And it's not just a matter of saving material either." The male Knight only answers with a chuckle before heading further into the room. 

In contrast to the chrome-filled corridor, the next room is one of pure white, from the tiles of the floor to the machinery spread around the room, as well as the cranes in the ceiling and some humanoid doctors in white coats present as well, this Enhancement Room seems like it could take some of the Zlocan philosophies to the next level. 

"Is this Rita Su?" One of the male doctors asks the Knights, who only reply by forcing her to face her head up in the direction of the doctor, her eyes still half-closed, but still visible enough to make Rita grit her teeth while holding a high chin. Despite this, the doctor still points at the strapping chair in the center, it's wide enough to cover most of her body from the head up to her feet, all while facing a screen embedded in the wall, likely connected to the machinery near the chair. Her reaction alone is what makes the doctor nod in response. "Put her there." 

With that command, both Knights drag her to the chair and they push her down to remain in place as she's still barely able to move from here with her short and ragged breaths. Just as the Knights step away from the chair, metal clasps latch onto Rita's ankles and wrists, strapped tightly enough to keep her from leaving as the doctor opens a panel on a metal wall next to him, showing a lineup of flasks containing chemicals of various colors with roughly the same amount in each of them. He grabs one with a yellowish color and eventually pouring its remaining contents into the machine, which starts whirring with some buzzing sounds to it. 

"Do you know why you're here, Rita?" the doctor asks with a slight smile on his face, even when covered with his mask. 

"Piss off..." Rita replies with a breathless tone as she barely gazes at the doctor as the assistants around the room press some buttons with the machines stations nearby. With one final press, the screen in the wall turns on, revealing what seems to be the vital signs of Rita, ranging from the heart rate, the breathing, as well as the blood pressure readings. All of it shows rather weak signs due to Rita's state, yet still keeps her grimace in front of the doctor. 

"You got into a fight with fellow prisoners outside the program as dictated by the high command. And despite the results from the scuffle, we still deemed you as a necessary asset for our new batch of tests." As he explains this, a multitude of needles emerge from the chair, with the same liquid as the one the doctor inserted earlier. They all point at certain parts of Rita's body, including the neck, the wrists, the forearm, and the ankle on all sides. The needles hover closer to their respective parts as Rita breathes heavily from this sight as the doctor walks back and forth. 

"You will be injected with a high biological modification of epinephrine, which will ensure that your blood flow, blood sugar and heart rate increase to desirable levels of activity favorable to the activities demanded by the Zlocu. But before that, I need to check out one more thing." 

Within the arm rests of the chair, a whole bunch of small robotic appendages come out, each of them bearing sharp tips at the end. The doctor walks up to Rita and lifts the hem of her shirt, up to her breasts, her midriff in full view, as the appendages began to bunch themselves together, forcibly spreading Rita's belly button out wide, as the last needle emerges from the seat, pointing directly toward her navel. Attached to this needle was a nano-camera, allowing the doctor to gaze at whatever's in front of it. He returns to the computer and uses a joystick to catch a better view of the intricacies within Rita's belly button, with the needle veering itself closer inside the orifice.  

"So, this is the Catcher's entry point, huh. Looks like it's practically a gaping hole now. Such a shame that a perfect-looking umbilicus had to be ruined like this, but it had to be done, as long as to keep someone like her under our control," he says as he gazes at the sight on the screen, before pressing another button. 

Without warning, the needles hit on their designated spots on Rita's body: her neck, her wrists, her forearms, her ankles and her navel, which makes her groan in response as the liquid flows inside her body. This makes the vital signs in the screen dial-up at a rapid rate, which makes her shake heavily in response. Rita is hyperventilating, her eyes widening and her pupils dilating. 

"Sir, we're reaching dangerous levels of overdose, should we stop it?" one of the female assistants replies, to which the doctor only replies by raising his hand. 

"Do not worry. We know the next appropriate step to stabilize the condition. You two, do your part." The Knights nod in response as they pull electric rods from their belts as they approach Rita who heavily agitates in the chair as the liquid fills up inside of her. And before they know it they push their rods into the chest just as the needles pull out, which makes Rita stop moving after enduring a brief moment of transmutation inside of her, something that even causes the screen on the wall to shut down. The Knights pull back as they sheathe the electric rods back to the belts once more, with the grasps being released as they pick her up once more. "Give her some rest, and soon we'll see what she's capable of." 

Rita lies on the floor of a dimly lit room, one without much inside of it, not even windows aside from some pieces of equipment laying on a table, as well as a door placed on the left side of the room, some tiles even looking rusty and torn down in various states of disrepair. After a moment on the floor, she takes form as she gets up in position, gazing around left and right as she sighs in response, but this shift is enough to make her rapidly tap her body, almost like it feels like she feels something changed the moment they stunned her after the experiment. 

"Where the hell am I...?" she mutters to herself as she tries to make sense of her surroundings, she then swipes some of the watery liquid forming around her arms. And just because she can try anything else, she breathes heavily as she swipes off more of the liquid that's emerging around her forehead Just as she tries to pick a lockpick, a sudden buzz makes Rita yelp in response. 

"Welcome to our fellow subjects in the newest branch of Zlocan testing!" a cheerful female voice says on the loudspeakers, which in Rita's case, is located on the right part of the ceiling. She replies by merely flipping her middle finger, which prompts a chuckle from the female voice. "Oh, I'm guessing the subjects are still getting used to in knowing more of how they can operate within these new little courses made for them, courses for their own survival I'd say, so don't be rude, please." 

"Can you at least tell us where the hell am I?!" Rita demands while still swiping the sweat from her body. 

"Now, this is something I'd like to call the 'revolving door test', where you will each try to escape three different rows in a determined amount of time, with a set of conditions meant to see if your fresh new bodies can withstand some little bit of summer or even winter, and the more you venture, the less time you'll get to head out, but the final one, there won't be a timer, but you'll soon see why. The first test will consist of escaping the room with a mere lockpick as the heater increases. But be a little careful on this one, once it fills up, then you may catch a fire in the room for being too slow under two minutes." 

"Two minutes? Just my luck..." Rita mutters again, her lockpick still at hand. 

"But don't worry, I'm sure you'll have the best time out there to prove yourself as good little people. Now, let us start!" With that, a timer is heard around the room while Rita goes for the doorknob, using the lockpick to turn it around. She tries to push it deeper in order to move away any of the locking mechanisms that are present on the door while she still contains her breathing in response to the humidity inside the room. She groans for a bit as the timer continues ticking, and even if she's getting to turn some picks, others turn back in the door as time is running out second by second. Rita's grimace says it all.  

"Who built this thing? No matter how much I try every turn, it all goes back to square one. If there's one thing I'd like to do once I'm free is to kick that bitch in the ass, that's for sure." Rita growls as she continues struggling to open up the door. while clenching the lockpick. Then, with a few turns on each side, this time while ignoring the increasing sweat across her body, the voice chimes in once more. 

"One minute left you peeps, you're gonna run out of precious time!" With this in mind, Rita forces a few more turns around the lockpick until finally, a faint click is heard as she pulls the doorknob back, revealing the entrance of a dark room corridor with a faint light on the other end of it. Sprinting as much as she can, especially from the heat inside the room. Once she reaches the other side, the door on the other side closes, and all of the sudden, Rita starts shivering as she heads inside, a temperature she also didn't anticipate when exiting the previous one. 

"Oh, looks like a handful of you managed to pass the first room quite well. I'm impressed! But unfortunately, the same can't be said for those who are still stuck in their pitiful fates, failing to achieve their true potential." With that, a few rumblings are heard nearby, which is enough to shake the room up as well as making Rita almost fall down but she manages to keep it steady afterward. But strangely enough, it appears that no material falls down in response to them. 

And just as Rita tries something else in the dark room, the lights turn up, revealing a room made out of rock-solid material except for the ground which is a bit slippery as a result of the moisture from the liquid dripping from above. 

"Now, this one consists of hitting that big damn wall with a sledgehammer within a minute, and if you manage to break through it, then you'll reach the final round. But if you don't, well, you can 'gas' what happens next. Now and go let her rip!" 

"You need better jokes, woman," Rita says as she picks up the sledgehammer from a nearby table, then approaches the solid wall made out of rock, who then proceeds to make a swing for it, impacting it immediately. She pulls it again and swings it again, which makes more and more cracks appear the more she impacts the wall with all her strength, even with all the shivering she has to endure under a time limit of that magnitude. 

As the timer reaches its limit, the cracks grow larger until it eventually extends into a hole, enough to make Rita leap inside of it just as the gas is unleashed in the room, as she lands on solid ground and rolls over at ease aside from a few cuts from the resulting landing. She grunts for a bit as she gets up while reaching for the dim light at the end of the dark corridor. 

She takes a few deep breaths as she further ventures into the dim light of the surface, already willing to get this over with from this madness. And yet, many doubts linger on Rita's head the further she reaches her destination, especially in regards to her recently recovered strength in no time from the ordeal. 

I don't understand this... I feel kinda more forceful and less tired ever since that fight... Did that serum cause this to me... By those jerkoffs? 

Just as she reaches the other room as she opens it with ease where the light is clear, all she can see is a single key placed on a table in a comfortably lit room, this time with no visible temperature changes around the room while the passage to the get the key is blocked by a walled fence in front of her, as well as a knife placed on a slider. But she isn't the only one who's blocked by the walled fence. Right in front of her on the other side of the room, is a tan-skinned bald man who's breathing heavily as well while staring with intent at the key as well as Rita in there. 

"And now for the big finale. It's a good thing that there can be a few existing warriors who have the force to push through any weakness in their paths. Unfortunately for you two, it's always the rule that only one should be left standing in the Zlocan tests of strength. And this won't be an exception. Through the knives that were delivered to you know, the one left standing is declared the winner of this big test, and will get to leave this risky place for a sweet little bottle of rum, don't you think?" 

"Screw you!" the man says with a scowl on his face. This makes the announce chuckle in response. 

"Oh, watch the language, young man. Anyway, hope you remember your lessons from before because things are about to really good here. Giddy up, people! It's Rita versus Keiton!" With that, the walled fences open, and after a moment of pause between the two staring while planning their next move, Keiton charges towards the key but Rita manages to snatch it away through the tip of it.  With one fierce growl, Keiton charges forward once more by trying to slash her wrists, but she manages to evade and even block most of them aside from a few slight cuts around her wrists. 

In one particular slash, they lock their knives with each other, seeing each other face to face as they try to use all of their strength to overcome their opponent with all the strength they have. 

"Do you feel it? I deserve to get out of here fair and square, little girl. Just... Don't take it personally, it's just their business after all," Keiton says with a smirk on his face, which is enough to make Rita push him forward. With another growl from her, Rita starts a flurry of attacks and slashes aimed at Keiton, who attempts to evade and block most of the incoming strikes coming from her by using her angle to his advantage to evade them. 

After what seems to be an eternity in this showdown, Rita reaches for his kneecaps, using her right hand to impale the one in the right as deep as she can, which makes Keiton scream and proceeds to do the same with the other one, all of it enough to make him stumble on the ground as he covers the wounds inflicted by Rita while wincing and screaming from the pressure of it. But this doesn't stop there, as Rita grabs him by the collar while still keeping the key in her other hand, breathing heavily from the experience she just received while continuing to stare at Keiton. 

"Nicely done, Rita! Now, finish him and you're free!" Despite this, Rita pauses for a moment as tears begin falling down from Keiton's eyes, all focused on Rita as his mouth quivers as well with trembling shoulders as well. Rita breathes slowly from this as she glances around the room, wondering if there is a way out of this demented showcase from the Zlocu. Despite everything, her breathing increases for a bit as she tries to back away from Keiton. 

"I... I shouldn't do it... Keiton could..."  The possibilities abounded in her mind. Is he truly guilty of something heinous, or is an innocent man just doing everything to survive in a world gone mad? Or even something in between may still not be enough motivation to execute someone like him? Such endless possibilities, and yet so little time to think them all as two mere words appeared that is enough to make her shiver a lot, not out of cold, but from the force of those words. 

"Finish him now." With this in mind, Rita closes her as she impales the knife on Keiton's neck, the jugular vein to be exact, which sprays a bit of blood from the zone and stenches the knife as well as part of Rita's hand. She then withdraws the bloodied knife from Keiton's skin as blood continues to drip from the jugular vein as he drops to the floor, she stares at his body while trembling after what happened, as well as heavy breathing in response from the aftermath of it. 

"Congratulations, Rita! Now, you'll get a few free hours to celebrate this victory of strength and evolution of yours! You will soon know in the next few days how great power will lead to a great victory, as dictated by our Zlocan saviors! Onward for the Zlocan path!"  The speaker ushers all the energy she has as if this is something that Rita secretly finds worth celebration, yet her nearly teary and puffy eyes, as well as tightening the keys in her trembling hand and slow approach to the door in front of her that allows her to exit the test is a very different story. 

One she's not sure if she'll truly make it whole.