In a chamber beneath Gangrel's throne room, a man went about hastily gathering papers and documents from what had been Kryczek's laboratory. He was the very same man that had activated E-13's neural conditioning for Kryczek over a week prior, and he had just recently heard the news of his death at Nowi Falls. The man was now concerned with getting everything ready for Kryczek's successor. Aversa was only a short distance away from Ylisstol, and Gangrel did not want anything relating to the Reaver program to be appropriated as per Black Authority. He had appointed someone else to lead Kryczek's project, and they were to extract all of Kryczek's documents and research materials and flee the palace as quickly as possible. The man worked diligently to assist in this exodus, and he was almost finished when this new director of the program walked through the door. Kryczek's former assistant stopped in place and straightened his posture as a late middle aged woman of average height and build walked into the laboratory. A man followed after her. The woman had shoulder length light blonde hair, though much of it had grayed with age, and piercing light blue eyes that seemed to shine through her wrinkled and time worn face. Notably to the man this aging, like Kryczek's own signs of fatigue, appeared to be more stress induced than natural. The woman's attire was nothing notable. She wore no more than a simple white robe lined with pockets, some of them holding writing utensils. It was the woman's behavior that stood out above anything. She immediately started to glance around Kryczek's laboratory, but not randomly. Her eyes did not lazily drift around, but were instead immediately attracted to the important and significant areas of the room. This could be her just remembering things of note from a prior visit, but the woman had an air of curiosity. Study and observation came as easily to her as air and water.

When the woman's gaze fell upon Kryczek's former assistant, he realized he'd been staring for some time. He also felt a sharp surge of fear. This woman was most likely his superior now, and he had yet to finish his assignment of gathering Kryczek's research. Yet the woman didn't appear upset with him. Instead she seemed to be studying him as she had the rest of the room. The man shifted awkwardly in place. She did move forward to greet him, but she took her time to intentionally draw out the man's nervousness, and she studied it in particular. "C-can I help you?" The man finally forced himself to say in an attempt to break the silence. He had intended to introduce himself or ask if the woman was in fact the new director, but these words refused to come to him. The woman smiled, sure now of the man's uneasiness, and didn't respond until she was finally just outside his personal space. The man behind her took position by her shoulder, crossing his arms and giving a smug look.

"Yes I believe you can. Who are you? One of Dr. Kryczek's old assistants I presume?"

"Y-yes, sir… ma'am… Director?" The woman nodded. "C-come to extract Kryczek's materials?" The woman smiled and nodded again. "R-right. My name is Pensive."

"Your actual name is Pensive?" The woman asked in a tone both curious and dismissive.

"Well that's my codename. W-we all had codenames under Kryczek. Pensive. Deep thought. Skeptic. Things along that nature."

"Well enough of that. What is your real name?"

"Bandura."

"A pleasure to meet you. I am your superior, and the new Director of the Reaver program. My name is Dr. Adrasteia. University of Scarborough. Youngest woman to ever earn a doctorate there in fact."

"Scarborough?"

"A town in southwestern Valm. Nothing much of note there besides the university." The man beside Adrasteia stepped forward. "And this is my assistant, Włotrzewiszczykowycki."

Włotrzewiszczykowycki was also physically unassuming, but he stood out for his incredibly smug expression. He had a cocky look to him, and he spoke as if he knew himself superior in every way to Bandura. "Pleasure to meet you."

"Wlot… Wlotrez… Wlotrzeskey… what was your name?!"

"You can just call me the Vice Director. Everyone does."

"Włotrzewiszczykowycki is not a doctor, but he is currently assisting me as part of his doctoral thesis. He's studying how dark magic can cause physiological changes to non magic users. His research is… quaint, but he's very helpful."

"And you report to both of us now, Bandura was it?"

"Yes, though I'm used to going by Pensive."

"Well I have intention of keeping up with Kryczek's pointless conventions. Have you finished gathering the materials I am to extract, Bandura?"

"Almost, but I can't find a few documents. I searched the archive but they weren't there! I tried going through the directory manually to two documents back but it wasn't where I had left it. Turns out someone had added another document right before I searched through it, so I had to go THREE documents back! Hmmm."

Adrasteia rolled her eyes. "It matters little. Just unlock Kryczek's personal vaults for me. I don't just wish to extract his work. I would also very much like to read over it." Adrasteia turned to the Vice Director and spoke as if talking to a child. "Włotrzewiszczykowycki, secure the materials I told you about."

The Vice Director hid his annoyance behind a cheeky grin. "Of course, Doctor. Oh if my father could see me now. He'd be so proud to know his highly educated son spends his days carrying things around like a common hummin' hedge-born widtink."

"No one ever earned a glowing performance review through back talk, Włotrzewiszczykowycki. Get to work." The Vice Director rolled his eyes and walked away, and Adrasteia turned back. "Now. On to Kryczek's vault then?"

As the Reaver program's new vice director began his task of gathering research papers and materials, Bandura lead Adrasteia to a small safe by the base of the wall. She loomed over Bandura as he undid the lock, and she was quick to shoo him out of the way and inspect the contents of the vault, but she didn't hurry to remove the items. She took her time to carefully inspect every object, as if savoring the moment. Bandura noticed, and again he wondered if she'd been here before. "Is everything alright, Director?"

"Yes. Oh everything's quite alright thank you very much." Adrasteia smiled as she took a stack of documents and handed them to Bandura. "These are definitely Kryczek's personal notes and studies. Barely touched. Everything's neat and organized, yet... " Adrasteia took out a small notebook and flipped through it. "The writings inside look as if done by a madman. This is Kryczek's work. At long last. His secrets are mine."

"F-forgive me if this is out of line, Director, but did you know Kryczek personally? Have you been here before?"

Adrasteia smiled. "I see he doesn't mention me anymore. I figured. How long have you worked with Kryczek, Bandura?"

"About three years now."

"Of course. So much time has passed, yet I suspect that even those who came to work with Kryczek even immediately following my departure weren't informed of my significance to the program. You see, Bandura, Kryczek likes to take credit for developing the Reaver conditioning, but he did not work alone. I stood by his side until he had me transferred some twenty five years ago."

"You worked for Dr. Kryczek back then?"

"I worked with him. Kryczek and I created the Reaver program together, but he transferred me after five years to what he thought was a pointless assignment that would lead my career into a dead end." Adrasteia briefly stopped looking through Kryczek's notebook to smile. "Considering that I was Emperor Gangrel's first choice for his successor, I think I can confidently say that he failed."

"So he covered up your work?"

"Yes. Couldn't handle that anyone would be smarter than him." Adrasteia's static facial expression was briefly moved by the memories coming back to her, and she set the notebook down on a nearby table. "Kryczek truly was a brilliant man. He was the one to conceptualize the Reavers. To take the enemies of the Grimleal and turn them into loyal enforcers of our government. It's a brilliant idea, and I'd never have been part of it without him. He brought me into the Grimleal from the University of Scarborough. I'd never have had the chance to be part of all this without him." Adrasteia grew angry, though still reserved in her expressions. "But he slowly began to realize that his protege was surpassing the master. We disagreed over what the Reaver program could be. I believed that manipulating human psychology wasn't enough. We needed to make alterations, improvements, to the bodies of our subjects to make them into perfect soldiers. Humans are rather frail after all. It is through our intelligence that we have grown to dominate this world, but this is exactly what Reavers lack. The neural conditioning makes them mindless. Sure they can be thrown into enemy defenses and used as shock troops, but they could be so much more. They could be superior to human soldiers in every way. Kryczek was a brilliant scientist, but he couldn't stand anyone being smarter than him. He had me transferred away from the program because he knew I was right, and his ego couldn't accept that. I suspected he would attempt to erase my contributions to the program and portray himself as its sole founder, and it seems I was correct." Adrasteia gave a smug look to Bandura. "Now look what has become of my Reavers. They're mindlessly unintelligent, and they have little impact against the Archanean Liberation Front or any of the other rebel groups waging war against us. The one exception is Gangrel's Chief Enforcer, and we worked on her together. By the way, where is she now?"

"Well uh, we're not sure."

"I was told that she's been declared MIA. I suppose it was too much to hope that she may have been secretly recovered." Adrasteia looked back through the safe, and she pulled out a number of documents relating to E-13. "Ah yes. Lucina the Younger. Better known as Gangrel's Chief Enforcer. To us though, she is Experiment Thirteen. Progenitor of the Reavers. She was the first human to ever successfully accept our neural conditioning, and our experiments with her allowed us to perfect it. What exactly do you know of her, Bandura?"

"Well she's stronger than all the other Reavers. A lot stronger. Kryczek also showed me how to trigger her programming, and I reset her just before her last deployment in fact."

"But what do you truly know of her? Do you know why she's superior to the newer Reavers? Why she's named Experiment Thirteen?"

"N-no. Kryczek had all of that information classified, and I didn't have the clearance."

Adrasteia laughed to herself. "Yes. E-13 always was special to Kryczek. He seemed to want to hide her away from the rest of the Grimleal as much as he could. I think she meant more to him than she did to the Emperor. You see, all the Reavers were supposed to be as independent and skilled as she was."

"I find that hard to believe."

"She is so different from the other Reavers yes, but that's only because we conditioned her throughout the entirety of her life. It was always Kryczek's plan to create a kind of neural conditioning that could be applied to anyone, but what he ultimately managed to create is subpar. No regular Reaver can match E-13's ability, which leads me back to my original point. We must alter human psychology and physiology to make the Reavers effective." Adrasteia removed all of the papers, documents, and containers in Kryczek's safe, leaving nothing besides a final notebook and a bottle. Curious, Adrasteia took the bottle from the safe and inspected it. "Hmm. It's wine. Ylissean vintage from 2609 Archanean Calendar. The year Gangrel went to war with Emmeryn. The year the Shepherds found Robin. This couldn't be cheap." Adrasteia noticed a note attached to the bottle and read aloud. "To Kryczek. To be opened upon your first big breakthrough. Love… Mom."

Adrasteia was briefly moved by the note. The sudden reminder that Kryczek was a normal man with a family once. "I guess he never thought that he made any major breakthroughs." Bandura stated.

"Kryczek may have been an egotistical man, but he was good at self criticism. He could always see the flaws in his work, and he knew that the Reaver program wasn't what it should be. Of course he'll never get the opportunity to improve the Reaver programming now, but that's what I'm here for." Adrasteia set the wine down and retrieved the notebook. Her face was finally taken by a genuine expression of glee as she held the dusty, worn item in her hands. "Kryczek's personal notebook. This wasn't for official documentation. No, no. This was for his personal thoughts. Everything we take is of use to me, but this is what I truly need to understand his thought processes. He wrote in this back when we worked together. There's probably over thirty years of data in this." Adrasteia eagerly flipped to the end, and her grin widened as she noticed writing throughout the entire notebook. "And he continued to write until the end of his life. Excellent. Fear not my old mentor. Your apprentice has come to patch your promising but oh so flawed work, and what you started will not just be finished, but improved." Adrasteia turned back to Bandura. "Would you like to know more about Experiment Thirteen? What Kryczek wouldn't tell you?"

"Well… uh… can you do that?"

"I am now the highest ranking science officer in the Grimleal. I can do whatever I please with any information relating to the Reaver programming. Experiment Thirteen is named as such because she was only one of several test subjects. There were thirteen in total. Just as the Grimleal found Lucina the Younger among the corpses of the Shepherds, the other infant children were recovered alongside her. They were raised by Grimleal handlers until they were turned over to Kryczek and I."

"S-so the other experiments were-"

"Yes. The other children. Owain became E-1. Cynthia became E-2. Gerome, E-3. Severa, E-4. Morgan, E-5. Inigo, E-6. Nah, E-7. Kjelle, E-8. Noire, E-9. Brady, E-10. Laurent, E-11. Yarne. E-12. Of course, Lucina was designated as E-13. Do you know why?"

"No?"

"The Emperor made a special request. Have you ever seen that ridiculous 'Shepherd Slayer' outfit he wears? He took a trophy off of all the bodies, but he never got one for Chrom. That's why I believe he asked that Lucina specifically be made into some kind of mindless servant. She is his trophy for Chrom. We tried telling the Emperor that the test subjects used to develop the neural conditioning required would likely die, but he wanted us to make her into the first Reaver. The future witness, turned into a symbol of the Grimleal and the military we were creating. We had no choice but to experiment on her to develop the Reaver programming, but we knew the Emperor would be furious if anything happened to her. That's why we made her Experiment Thirteen. We performed the more dangerous experiments on the other children first. After all, the Emperor made no requests of them."

Bandura began to realize what Adrasteia was saying. "I never heard of these other experiments. They didn't make it… did they?"

"Sacrifices had to be made. To ensure that we could push Experiment Thirteen to the limit without breaking her, we pushed the other children past their limits so that we knew when to stop with her. Kryczek didn't initially see things my way, however. He envisioned all of the children growing up to be Reavers. He implored that we find other test subjects, but why bother? We had children right here, and we knew from the actions of their older selves that they all had the capacity to be physically capable. One by one I performed my tests on them."

"W-what kind of tests?"

Adrasteia shrugged. "Over exercise. Starvation. Physical and psychological abuse. Exposure to hazardous environments. Poisoning. Over stimulus. Strenuous mental tasks. Combat training. One by one I tested them until they finally died or broke down from one thing or another, and then I knew how much I could do to E-13 before she broke. We worked to make her as strong as any human could be from infancy."

"Your experiments killed all the others?!"

"Not true. All but six. E-7 and E-12 were unsuitable for testing the Reaver conditioning. Their bloodlines were impure, and anything that applied to them wouldn't necessarily apply to a normal human. I had them executed. E-1, E-2, E-3, and E-4 survived my initial experiments. Kryczek had me barred from the program before I could continue."

"You make it sound like he got rid of you because of these horrible experiments!"

Adrasteia just laughed. "It was all for the good of E-13. I sacrificed the others so that she would be safe. Society is built on these sacrifices. Soldiers sacrifice enemy soldiers so that they aren't killed. The justice system sacrifices the lives and well being of criminals to save those that they'd otherwise harm. Animals in nature even sacrifice weaker children to save the stronger ones. Besides, if Kryczek really did care about them, they'd still be alive."

Adrasteia flipped through the notebook until she found a specific section she'd been looking for. Again she read aloud. "20th of April, 2626 Archanean Calendar. Today has been a difficult day. E-1 did not survive the application of Reaver programming. The actual procedure did not kill him, but he was left in a state of catatonic brain death. I had to have him euthanized. Gods I've become little better than Adrasteia. I'd be lying if I said she didn't make significant contributions to my work. She was an intelligent pupil, but she has no regard for ethical constraints or rational behaviour. She was a monster. I didn't see that when I met her in Scarborough, but what she did to the children made it clear to me." Adrasteia again chuckled at her former mentor's words. "But perhaps she just realized how horrible our work truly is long before I was able to. Gangrel would have my head if any harm came to E-13, so I am forced to test the application of the neural conditioning on the other Experiments. I worked to save them from Adrasteia all those years ago, but now they are once again used as expendable test subjects. What have I become? What happened to the boy who always asked questions and sought to learn about the world around him? What happened to the teenager who wanted to use science to better the world? What happened to that young man who stood proudly with his parents as he graduated from the University of Themis? Oh mother and father. If you could see me now, would you be proud of me… or horrified?

E-13 turns fifteen years old today. She's so beautiful. Strong and stubborn and determined. I see now why her elder self persevered even after so much. I love her. She is the granddaughter you never got to meet, mother and father. Her life will not be easy. Gangrel will use her as little more than a tool, and she will be little more than a tool, but she is a hero. The Reaver program could be the salvation of humanity. Someday we will take society's brigands, assassins, rapists, conartists, terrorists, rebels, and dissidents and turn them into loyal enforcers. We will use them against others who would destroy the order we've brought to the world. To take your enemy and turn them into an ally? What greater weapon is there than that? If all those in society who would cause conflict are turned to Reavers, there would be no more war. Imagine it. For the first time our bestial and savage race will be free of infighting. For the first time all of our resources could go to curing diseases. Ending poverty. Creating technological advancements. Helping the people of our society achieve self actualization, provided that doesn't harm others or society. It would be a glorious utopia. Even if what I have become now would terrify you, mother and father, you would be proud of me if you could just see the world I'll create. You'd be so proud.

E-13 is the beginning of the Reaver program. She will be little more than a mindless slave in her lifetime, but she will help create this future for humanity. Someday historians will see her as a hero. This Lucina, not her elder self, will be the one people remember. I just wish that all the children could have lived, but I have no choice. I must sacrifice the other Experiments to make the application of Reaver programming as safe as possible for E-13. When I have finally turned her into a Reaver, I will then be able to apply the neural conditioning to other people. I have to do this for the Reaver program. I know that what I'm doing is wrong, but it's for a greater good. That's what I tell myself. I think back to the heroes of my youth. Walhart. Emmeryn. Chrom. Even Gangrel when he was younger. These men and women were all doers. They worked to change the world for the better. Chrom especially. He didn't hide behind armies or bureaucracy. He personally fought to help the world. Surely these heroes occasionally had to do horrible things, but it was all for the greater good of humanity. That's what I believe. I am the Director of the Reaver program, so I take responsibility for all the evils done under it. I am not just taking and following orders. I do all of this evil willingly, but I do it for the greater good. The Reaver program has done horrible things, but someday it will save humanity. I may very well rot in hell for the things I've done, but someday humanity will live in a better world because of me. Someday historians will know why I did everything I've done, and they'll know how important E-13 is. Forgive me, Naga. Forgive me, mother and father. Forgive me, my younger self. I know I'm not a good man, but sacrifices had to be made. I will continue to experiment on the others. I can only hope that they survive, but they may not. Someday the world will be a better place for my work, and what scientist could ask for more. I'm doing this for the greater good." Adrasteia closed the notebook and gave Bandura a very self assured expression, as if the notebook had proved something in her mind. "Do you know why I'm telling you these things, Bandura?"

"N-no, Director."

"Kryczek said I was no scientist because I did not care for ethics, but he was too attached to the Experiments. He couldn't overcome a primitive desire for a mate and offspring, and they were the children he never had. He became biased, and so his work cannot be called science. I am telling you all of this to show that things will be different under me. I will not continue Kryczek's flawed practices. I will make the Reaver program what it should have been. Now fetch me the records of E-13's last deployment. We need to find her."


Within a small building known only to Courtney and the Inquisitors still with him, E-13 slowly stumbled out of her cage. She was still naked, her head injury was still untreated save for the now very filthy bandages around it, and she still hadn't eaten. Inquisitor St. John again stood in front of a slice of cheese. E-13 paced back and forth in front of her cage. Every fiber of her being screamed at her to rush for the cheese. She was starving now, and it overrode any fear she had of pain. She did not fear St. John or his now bloodied riding whip, but she knew she wasn't strong enough to get past him. St. John was bigger than her, and hunger had been sapping her strength. St. John stood ready, carefully monitoring her every move. "Come on, girl. You want breakfast? You gotta come get it."

E-13 shot a glare of raw hatred at St. John for about a minute, then darted after the cheese without any further warning. St. John moved to block her, but she quickly moved to the side and unexpectedly charged after him instead. The Inquisitor didn't react in time to dodge, and E-13 tackled him to the ground and started pounding on his face as hard as her energy deprived muscles allowed her to. Behind a glass wall, Courtney and Inquisitor Federov watched intently. Federov's eyes were filled with horror, but Courtney's look of sadistic delight could be seen even through the small openings of his mask. "Ooh. She's mad alright."

"Please, Courtney! How long will you torture her?!"

"I'm toughening her up! She'll take the cheese if she wants it bad enough. You don't have to watch, you know. All you do is whine and complain."

Courtney turned back to see that St. John was still grappling with E-13. She was undoubtedly a more vicious fighter than he was, and she didn't react at all to his attempts to drive her back, but E-13 just didn't have the strength to really hurt him. After unsuccessfully trying to fend her off through hair pulling and eye gouging, St. John finally grabbed her abdomen and threw E-13 off of him. She threw herself back to her feet almost instantly, but she wasn't able to get to him before the Inquisitor retrieved the riding whip. He had to strike E-13 almost twenty five times before she finally gave up, but the pain did eventually overwhelm her. She finally fell to her knees, her tear and blood stained eyes gazing longingly at the cheese. Courtney shook his head and signaled to Rayhanah, who was still by E-13's cage. "Nope. She's not getting it. Put her back."

"Please, Courtney! She'll starve."

"There's no place in the Grimleal for weaklings."

"This isn't right!"

"If you like her so much, Federov, maybe I'll let you stay there with her. Assuming she don't eat you of course." Federov considered the possibility, briefly terrified that E-13 might actually try to kill and eat him. Courtney continued to leer at his comrade before his personal farakveða tome began to glow and hum with energy. "Ah, hell. I'm being hailed. I knew they'd remember me eventually."

"Is it the Emperor? What do we tell him?!"

"That don't matter! What does matter is what I'm tellin you, and I'm telling you to shut your trap!" Courtney responded to the communication. To his surprise, the image of a woman flickered before him.

"Operations Commander Courtney, I presume?"

"Who wants to know?"

"Your new boss. Director Kryczek is dead, Operations Commander. I am the new Director of the Reaver program, and you are now attached to me. My name is Dr. Adrasteia. University of Scarborough. Youngest woman to ever earn a doctorate from there in fact."

Courtney briefly glanced around. "Uhh, wrong number."

"Please, Operations Commander. I know you're likely hiding out in the middle of nowhere in light of your failure, but I have no desire to punish you. After all, the Fell Dragon's orders to the Emperor still stand. You haven't truly failed. Not yet."

"So what do you want?"

"What Kryczek lost. Do you know where E-13 is now? We know she's not dead."

"What if I did know?"

"Please, Courtney. We're not enemies. I just want to recover her."

"And then turn me into Gangrel?"

"No. I have no reason to antagonize you. I only seek to make E-13 stronger."

Courtney paused, pleasantly surprised. "Stronger?"

"Things are going to change. Kryczek held the Reavers back, and he held E-13 back. I'm going to make them into what they should have always been."

"On that we're agreed. The way I see it, she's a wild animal. We have to let her off her leash."

Adrasteia's hologram stared inquisitively at Courtney. "I don't know that I'd use that analogy, but I'm fascinated you see things my way, even through your very limited contact with E-13. I have no interest in returning E-13 to the Emperor. Not yet. I seek to make improvements to her. Improvements that may one day be applied to all the Reavers. We'll make her the strongest warrior this planet has ever known, and then we will show her to the Emperor. Help me with this, Courtney, and it will more than make up for your inability to complete your mission."

"Hmm. What kind of improvements?"

"It's far too complicated to explain over a transmission like this, but I've known E-13 as long as Kryczek has. Though I haven't seen her since she was five years old, I've been thinking of how the Reavers could be improved for years. Just let me see her, Courtney. This will be good for both of us.

Back in the other room, St. John and Rayhanah stood over E-13. She had since passed into unconsciousness from the pain and stress, but her mind was far from inactive. The severe abuse she had suffered through the past several days was changing her. Her Reaver conditioning suppressed her ability to remember her missions and learn new things, but now her mind was beginning to flash back. She was reliving memories she didn't know she had. One in particular stuck with her. Made her experience feelings she'd never relived since childhood, and she didn't understand why. It was a memory of a middle aged man. He had a dark blue work shirt, worn trousers, and a strange birthmark on his right shoulder. His hair was largely gray, but some of it was the same color as E-13's own hair. She remembered a vicious battle with him, and she remembered him throwing her against a wall. She had been stunned after that, but now her mind was reliving what followed. She remembered that he held her in his arms, and he said things. Now in a similar state of stupor, E-13 remembered the exact words. Words that brought her pain, but not like the kind she was used to. It was a bitter, soul crushing feeling in her stomach, as if she'd lost someone important to her. She remembered he said, "But I'll never stop loving you. I don't care what they do to you. Please know, deep down, that you'll always have me. I don't know how to fix this. I don't know what you're like. But I love you. You… you deserve more from me than one sword and a world of troubles. I'll always love you, and nothing will ever change that. I'll always be here for you."