Chapter 12, Ciel's story.
Resistance base.
Ciel was completely silent as she stared at Zero, she looked like she was about to have a heart attack, Zero was looking directly at Ciel's arm, there was no mistaking it there wasn't a single organic part to Ciel's arm, only robotics.
"Your a Reploid" said Zero, he had a look of anger on his face, he didn't like being lied to, "No" said Ciel panicking, "Is anyone here even Human, or are you all Reploids" said Zero filled with anger, "No, there are Humans here" said Ciel.
"What else have you lied about, is anything that you've told me true" said Zero, "Zero I am a Human" shouted Ciel, Zero looked at Ceil with doubt, "Or, at least I used to be" said Ciel sadly.
Zero was ready to walk out of the door, but he was curious as to what Ciel was going to say, "Explain" he said, Ciel swallowed a lump in her throat "I'm, I'm a Cyborg" she said with tears in her eyes.
This caught Zero off guard, he knew about the idea of Cyborgs but the idea had been made illegal in his time, Humans had feared that doing such a thing would rob them of their humanity, Zero wondered if peoples view on the idea had changed in the years that he'd been gone.
"Can you prove it" asked Zero, he had to make sure that Ciel was telling the truth, Ciel thought for a second then she used one of her tools to nick her cheek, Zero could see a drop of blood come out, his sensors told him that it was real Human blood.
"Why didn't you tell me about this" asked Zero, "I couldn't, Cyborgs are illegal" said Ciel, Zero made a note of this "So, the law hasn't changed on that" he thought.
"Then why do you have Cybernetics" asked Zero, Ceil looked sadly at her exposed cybernetics, "OK, you deserve to know the truth" she said.
Ceil started her story.
"I suppose it started when I was born, I wasn't conceived like a normal person would be, I've never even been inside of my mother's belly, I was created and grown in a lab, I was made with genetic engineering using the finest genetic material that Neo Arcadia had on record".
"It was all part of a new experiment, Neo Arcadia was trying to create the perfect scientist, someone who could solve all of their problems, however the process was deemed to expensive to be used long term, so they stopped after the first batch of children was created".
"There was 12 of us in total, we was all created from different genetics but we though of each other as brothers and sisters, I suppose we was the closest thing to a family any of us had".
"Neo Arcadia trained us from day 1, we was to lean all that we could about all forms of science, everyday was the same, we learned, we trained, we ate, we slept, we wasn't allowed to play or go outside, that would had been a distraction from our work, that's how things was for years".
"Things changed when we reached our 8th birthday, one of the children just disappeared, no one would tell us where he was, they just told us he had a new purpose now, then the next month another child vanished".
"Most of the others believed Neo Arcadia's story that the children just had new jobs, but me and my sister Cial knew that there was something else going on, we noticed that the ones who was gone was the ones who had scored the lowest on our monthly tests".
"Another one of the children disappeared every month, I think that the other children started to realise that there was something wrong, but they never said anything, eventually there was only me and Cial left, we both knew what was going to happen once we took our next test"
"I still wish that I failed that test on purpose, but I was afraid of what would happen to me, I scored higher on the test and the next day Cial was gone, I never saw or heard about any of the children ever again".
"When I turned 10 I was given my first real job, I was to be the lab assistant to Dr Bright, he was Neo Arcadia's top scientist at the time, Dr Bright was surprised to see that his new assistant was only a child, but I guess he knew better then to argue with what X had ordered".
"Dr Bright was kind to me, he was the first person who didn't treat me like a lab experiment, I could hardly believe how different things was, I didn't know that it wasn't normal for children to work around the clock, I'd never even been outside of the facility where I was created and trained until I started working for Dr Bright".
"Things seemed to be going a little better for me, I enjoyed working for Dr Bright, we was working on new fuel source, and when we wasn't working he would take me out and let me feel like a real person, I suppose I was starting to look to him like a father".
"But then it happened, I was 11 at the time, Dr Bright was at a meeting at the time and I was in the lab alone, I was experimenting with different chemicals, trying to make our fuel work properly, neither of us knew that those specific chemicals was dangerous when mixed".
"As soon as I mixed them together they exploded in my hands, it was a powerful explosion, it knocked me unconscious and caused serious damage to the lab and caused a fire, lots of different chemicals was spilled all over the lab".
"The fire caused the chemicals to turn to gasses and soon the entire lab was filled with toxic air, I lay there for over an hour, breathing in the toxic chemicals, until Dr Bright found me".
"When I woke up I was in a bed with countless machines connected to me, I was terrified, I tried to scream but no sound came out, I couldn't even breath, I tried to move, but when I did I realised that I didn't have any arms any more".
"Dr Bright came up to me and explained what had happened, the explosion had destroyed both of my arm and they had to be amputated, the chemicals that I breathed in had burned my throat and lungs, I had to be kept on life support at all times".
"Dr Bright didn't want to leave me like that, he knew that Neo Arcadia would judge me to be a lost cause and would just pull the plug on me, Dr Bright said that he would do everything that he could to save me".
"I don't know how much time passed, days, weeks, I was in and out of consciousness for most of it, then one day I woke up and most of the life support machines was gone, and I could breath again".
"Dr Bright explained to me what he had done, he had replaced my ruined organs with machinery, my throat, vocal cords and lungs was all gone, it took some tinkering to get my voice to sound normal again".
"About a week later Dr Bright gave me robotic arms, he made sure that they was covered with synthetic skin that perfectly matched my real skin, he knew that if anyone knew that I was a cyborg I would be killed".
"I knew that what Dr Bright had done was illegal, but I didn't care, I was just so grateful, I had my life back, I wasn't confined to that bed any more, I could walk around and no one would suspect that part of me was robotic".
"It was only a month later that the Pantheons came, I don't know how they discovered that Dr Bright had been working on cybernetics but they did, they demanded the truth from Dr Bright, they wanted to know if he had used his work to create any cyborgs, he lied and told them that he hadn't gotten that far yet".
"I was questioned, they asked if I had known about what Dr Bright had been working on, I told them that I didn't know anything, if they knew that I was a cyborg they would had killed me right there"
"Dr Bright was executed later that day, and I was put in charge of the lab, this was the final straw for me, Neo Arcadia had taken everything from me, and they still wanted me to work for them".
"Shortly after this I got in contact with the Resistance, I agreed to become a spy for them, I gave them all the info that I could, finally after 2 years I took everything that I could and fled Neo Arcadia and started to live here".
Ciel finished her story, Zero was silent for a second as he processed all of this, "Does the Resistance know about all of this, do they know that your a cyborg" he asked.
Ciel shook her head, "No, only a few people know the truth about me, most of them was a part of the team that came with me to find you, the only one who's left now is Cerveau, and you" said Ciel.
The room was silent for a moment, Ciel wondered what Zero would do now, would he still help them, would he abandon then, would he turn against them.
Zero turned and walked towards the door, Ciel felt her heart stop for a second thinking that Zero was going to leave them, but then Zero turned his head to look at Ciel, "From now on you tell me everything, the whole truth" he said, "Yes, I won't hide anything from you, I promise" said Ciel.
Zero was about the leave Ciel's room, "Zero, are you going to tell everyone the truth about me" asked Ciel with a hint of panic, Zero answered without looking, "No" he said as he left Ciel to complete the repairs on her mechanical arm.