Love& War 6: Replicants
Chapter 7: Target of Interest
Melody meets with Samus, Sonya, Cassie, Amelie, Lena, Sheva, Jill Cammy and c. Viper in a comm room
"Ladies, what's going on?"
Samus activates the big screen. "We've got information about Ultratech. It was founded in 1948 by Ryat Adams as a megacorporation. ARIA, his successor, has run the company since 1989. Adams was an industrialist. He created ARIA to be the perfect leader. Undergoing decades of training and problem-solving, her cybernetic mind surpasses all human concepts. ARIA has three different mechanical drones that she can upload into in order to take presence in the physical world, booster, blade and brass drones."
"What are those?"
"ARIA, in my eyes, is the perfect weapon," said Nina. "Looking at her design, inside of her knees are shotguns, and her calves are grenade launchers."
"Damn!"
"The booster drone has mechanical wings for flight," Sonya explains. "The blade drone gives her access to sword like appendages which attach to her arm, giving her a blade extension and the brass drones gives her a large piece of ambiguous mechanical equipment that attaches to her chest like armor, and here's the scary part: it opens up to reveal a Sonic cannon inside."
"Oh shit."
"More, she sees us human beings as frail and complacent in our natural state. Her main purpose is to uplift humanity to further test our conditioning, like handling everyday things and more."
"That doesn't sound so bad," said Cassie.
"Well, she created this tournament in order to test our style of combat," Melody said.
*Maybe so, Melody," said Jill. "But she created this tournament, and this is why we asked you here, because you, Melody Jones, are her target of interest."
Melody couldn't believe what she heard. "Why me?"
"She knows of your history of saving Earth," Sheva replied. "Remember when you helped us stop Wesker from unleashing the Uroboros virus into the atmosphere?"
"Yea."
"And when you best up Shinnok just like my dad did?" Cassie asked.
"You have evolved beyond mere mortals, Melody," said Amelie. "That's why she created this tournament. She wants to test you, seeing if you are worthy of joining her cause."
"Hell no! I'm not sacrificing this body! I worked too hard..."
"This is why we're here," said Cammy. *You created this faction of fierce female combatants. And now we have a new purpose: Your protection."
Melody knew her reputation for saving Earthrealm would pique the interest of a female artificial intelligence.
"Then I must compete."
"And you know we will be there to protect you. First, go to Japan and be with your family," said Sonya.
"We'll stay in contact," said Jill.
"Thank you, guys." Melody leaves and takes a portal to Japan.