“Don’t do it!” Lio screamed, her hands bled tomato sauce, her ears were ringing and she barely heard the shot. Vesper turned as Kaylee screamed,

“Whoops.” Lio flinched at his smirk.

“Wha-” she tripped backwards, cutting open her leg. “Agh.” she hissed.

“You have so much potential,” Vesper laughed. “And, so little to lose” his tone changed. Lio tried to stand but grew hazy and soon passed out. “Don’t worry ladybug.” Vesper smirked as the lights faded.

A steady Beep could be heard nearby as Lio slowly gained consciousness. What happened she thought to herself. She looked around at the white room. A long glass Cylinder sat in the far left corner of the room, there were open handcuffs attached to the right wall. And next to the bed Lio was cuffed to was a monitoring machine, and a desk which held a variety of sharp tools and syringes. A one way window was on the left wall and she guessed that behind it, Vesper was watching.

“Rise and shine Ladybug.” Vesper’s voice crackled on the speaker. You could almost hear his smirk.

“I’m not your ladybug.” Lio hissed fighting against her restraints.

Three men in white overcoats walked in holding bags with different types of medicine and more tools. A woman came in after wearing gloves and carrying a machine that looked like a vacuum. Lio’s stomach dropped when she saw them preparing the tools. The youngest, a boy with blondish hair and dark blue eyes bent over Lio’s body. A syringe was passed to him and he neatly and carefully stuck it into Lio’s arm. She squirmed, then fell again into unconsciousness.

Lio jolted awake, according to the clock on the monitor it was midnight. The woman from earlier carefully opened the cuffs and hummed quietly to calm Lio.

“Follow me.” she whispered quietly. Lio looked around, blood soaked some of the knives that lay sloppily on the table, under the bed she was laying on the Vacuum machine was full of a liquid but Lio couldn’t tell what it was.

The woman escorted her toward the door then explained that she needed to pretend to be escorting her to the Operation room. Cuffs closed around Lio’s wrists and she was led to a large room full of more cylinders. She took the cuffs off and turned to inspect Lio.

She smiled softly which comforted Lio. Then escorted her over near an open tube. The lights in the room flickered on and Lio’s hand flew up to shield her face. While the woman delivered a gut punch forcing Lio into one of the tubes. She hissed as the door shut and a purple goo started to rise. The woman smirked as Vesper entered the room, he handed her a wad of cash then turned to look at Lio.

“Soon, Very soon.” he said quietly. Lio watched helplessly as the purple goo rose to the point that she no longer could breathe. She felt her body go limp, then went back to unconsciousness.

Days passed of being fed through the tube, Lio grew increasingly skinnier and weaker. Vesper visited every day, watched the tests, and stroked Lio’s forehead whispering “Soon, Very soon.” while she slept. When Lio awoke one morning, a different doctor was there. He took blood tests and after an hour of floating in the tube that was in her room, she was let out.

“It worked, honey!” Vesper walked in the doctor following close behind. Lio frowned, “Your sickness is gone.” He continued excitedly before grasping Lio’s hand. The doctor, now convinced that the two were married and had spent the past few months trying to cure her sickness, smiled.

“Congrats you two, good luck on the kids.” he said, then he left. Lio’s face grew pale.

“You lied to him?” she rasped.

“It won’t be a lie soon my Ladybug.” he smiled.

“What did you do to me?” Lio asked, playing the curious and innocent soon to be wife.

“I simply added enhanced abilities to you, and eventually our kids will be sold off to other countries.” he answered. Lio held back a scream,

“Why me?” she asked, her voice quivered.

“Because, you're the perfect choice, been through a lot, still kind, still soft, still the same old Lio from when we were kids.” Vesper answered.

Lio was led to the room with the cylinders. In one cylinder a boy, about 19, close to Lio’s age, floated in the purple goo. The goo slowly drained and the cylinder door opened. The boy collapsed and started coughing.

“Why is he here?” Lio asked, fighting off the urge to help the boy.

“This is the man who will donate blood to you.” Vesper answered, the boy looked up dazed.

Lio’s heart raced, she doubled over, pretending to be hurt. Vesper dropped to the floor beside her. This was her chance, she kicked Vesper’s chin and he fell over unconscious. She stood over Vesper’s limp form for a few seconds before reaching her hand out to the boy. He grabbed it, still confused as to what just happened. Lio led him through the hallways trying to find the exit. The sirens were blaring now and Lio guessed she didn’t have much time.

As the two turned a corner, shouts could be heard from behind them. She saw it, the exit. It was so close. She darted forward dragging the boy along and reaching the exit. When she turned the knob however. It pulsed, black swirled with white around her and she awoke.

“What happened?” she asked, wires and tubes stuck out from her body.

“Lyssa, You disobeyed direct orders to kill the boy.” a voice came from behind the one way glass.

“VR mission 462-79 failed. New mission incoming.” an AI assistant responded to the voice. Lio didn’t have time to wonder, because the world around her swirled and she was again put into a simulation.

“Lio, your mission is to terminate the boss of Nikka.” A familiar voice echoed inside her head. She didn’t remember being tested, she didn’t remember anything. She just knew she had to finish the mission.

THE END