Three pairs of eyes stared silently at the computer monitor in front of them each with their own thoughts in mind. One of them was a slim, extremely attractive young woman with dark hair that fell in a curtain down her back. She was dressed in a black tailored outfit that accented her lithe figure perfectly. Her face bore little makeup and she had on an expression of cold calculation as her gray eyes watched the screen closely.
Beside her, a larger man dressed in an immaculate white suit that had exquisite gold pattern linings. He had blonde hair that was swept back smoothly, coupled with a ruggedly handsome face that might as well have been chiseled from stone with how hard it was. His pale blue eyes stared at the computer screen with a look of thinly veiled annoyance. Most of that annoyance was however directed to the other man in the room with them.
"Dr Miyazaki." The suited man's voice was dangerously calm and filled with an impatient rage that stemmed from a feeling that he had been deceived. "What. Is. This?"
Matsuo Miyazaki could not believe what he was seeing. This... This should not be possible and he made this thought known to the man beside him, who was also the most powerful person in this entire organisation.
The suited man raised a blonde eyebrow in pure disdain. "Is that so? Tell me then, who is this person that is systematically dismantling a entire squad of well trained, fully equipped soldiers?"
"T-that's...s-subject 013, sir..."
"Yes, that is correct. I am hardly the young man I used to be, but I do recall asking you to terminate this particular subject."
"I know sir. I completely remember our earlier conversation—"
"You told me," the man cut him off sharply with a scathing glare. "That subject 013 was a failure. Look at that screen. Does that look like a failure to you?"
The display from the security camera, one of an innumerable many that had been installed all over the facility, was visible on the monitor. This particular one was located in one of the hallways that led from the external sections of the facility to its outside compound. It was in this hallway that a most spectacular event was taking place. Though 'event' was hardly the best way to describe it.
A vicious bloodbath would be a more apt description. The one known as subject 013 had begun his assault on the team of more than twenty guards each of them seemed with automatic weapons and years of experience under their belt. Within fifteen seconds of the engagement, five men were already dead. Subject 013 was a silent phantom of death, moving with speed and agility that far surpassed anything any normal mortal man was capable of even at their peak. His fighting style was rough, unrefined without any particular form or technique to it. But the power behind those strikes was something that was not to be taken lightly at all. Every punch instantly shattered bone, every kick left debilitating injuries, every attack was aimed at vital spots to completely disable the target. The guards were fighting back of course to the best of their ability, often times forcing Subject 013 to retreat every once in a while to avoid a deluge of bullets reducing him to a bloody red mess. But it was those times that Subject 013 proved most dangerous.
He would dash out of his hiding spot the moment he sensed the the slightest lag in their assault. Maybe an exhausted clip from one or two soldiers who would stop to reload, but that was all he needed. In an instant he was back in the fray, bobbing and weaving through the gunfire like a formless shadow despite the white aura that surrounded him. The three individuals observing the clash from the security camera could not help but be surprised at the insane sense of intuition that the Subject seemed to possess that allowed him to move through the bullets while avoiding the worst of them.
Of course he would be hit every once in a while but he made sure that none of his vital areas suffered too much damage as he closed the distance between himself and the soldiers. And then the bloodbath resumed once more.
"Miyazaki," the man in the white suit turned to the scientist beside him. "What System does Subject 013 possess?"
"He does not have one, Mr Trent," Miyazaki replied, his eyes still wide open in astonishment as he stared at the screen. "I tried with so many samples. His body was...strange... It was different from the others. The Conditioning and Modification processes worked perfectly on his body, more so even than most of the others...." The man of science leaned closer to the screen in disbelief. "... But when I tried to input any of the available Soul Systems into his mind, the rejection was near instant each time. There was nothing I could do without risking a violent breakdown."
"Are you certain one of them did not just stick with him?" Mr Trent questioned further. The scientist nearly huffed at him but a single sideways glance from the third person in the room had him thinking otherwise. Instead he settled for a polite tone of disagreement.
"The Soul System does not work that way sir. The host must be compatible to a certain extent. At least a 75% compatibility rate must be achieved before fusion can be possible."
"What was the highest you could gain from Subject 013?"
The scientist frowned a little at this point and turned to the screen once more. "5%. And even then, the rejection was so violent that it nearly caused a hemorrhage in his brain."
Mr Trent did not seem to like this answer as proven by the way his lips thinned and his eyes darkened considerably. But before he could speak, the young woman at his side drew his attention to a certain observation she had made about the individual currently tearing through numerous guards on the screen. "Look at the Subject," she said, her blood red fingernail trailing the moving figure on the monitor. "That white aura around him... There is no way a System User would be able to handle so many guards so quickly after awakening. None of the others had even activated their Systems until after a few days and yet this one is seemingly able to do so within an hour of leaving his tank."
Trent's eyes narrowed as he quickly caught onto what his subordinate was trying to inform him about. "Even with all those impossibilities being bypassed by some strange chance, his physical Stats should not be high enough to allow him this much power... Unless..."
"It's obvious isn't it?" The young woman turned to give Miyazaki a cold glare. "He's using his Overdrive Mode. Which means he must have a System."
Miyazaki was definitely terrified at that moment no doubt, but he would not allow this...child to continue spouting such impossible nonsense that would most likely not end well for him. "That is outrageous. Logically and statistically speaking, it is impossible for any System User to activate Overdrive Mode less than three months after awakening. Their Perception would not be anywhere near high enough to deal with the instant and immense upgrade to their abilities, not to mention that their bodies would most likely be unable to even handle the strain, advanced augmentation or not."
"That's a lot of excuses, doctor," the young woman said, her condescending tone as she said that last word sounding like a serpent's hiss. "Trying to make up for something, are we?"
Miyazaki bristled at the accusing insinuation, his next words flowing forth despite his brain desperately telling him to reconsider antagonizing this young woman. "You insolent—"
"That's enough from both of you," Trent's booming voice had the two of them instantly quieting down. The man's gaze finally slid away from the screen and both the woman and scientist realized that at some point during their little dispute, the Subject had finished brutalizing the rest of the guards and had left the hallway through the now open exit. Which meant he was currently making his way through the facility compound and to the outside world.