Atom//3

Lucy held the note in her hand. "What is this?" She said. "How can I run away now?"

14 hours. Lucy would have to make her choice in 14 hours. 

-cut-

Hannah stepped off of the subway and into the cavern where DEED HQ was located, only to be greeted by a familiar face.

"I take it the visit went well?" Gabriel asked, standing before Ms. Kennedy. "It would be a shame if tamer 7 refused to cooperate."

Hannah clenched her teeth. "It went as planned." She looked towards the ground, away from Gabriel. "I have nothing else to report."

"We both know that isn't true."

"HOW CAN YOU DO THIS TO HER?!" Hannah snapped back to Gabriel. "We both know that this isn't right! It should be your responsibility to fix what happened during your little stunt!"

"That 'stunt' saved thousands of lives." Gabriel replied coldly. "If you think it wasn't worth the slight risk then you need to re-evaluate what our goals are."

"That slight risk came true! You can't seriously ignore the fact that we're tampering with something neither of us understand. Not even you know what's going to happen now that Alice is-"

"Alice is under control." Gabriel said. "I assure you that it cannot bring harm to the plan yet."

"So Alice is an 'it' now?! The only reason the kaiju attack us is because of you! If you had never come here, we would be safe! If it wasn't for you, Alice would still be alive!"

"What makes you think she isn't alive anymore?"

Hannah once again looked away from Gabriel. "You really don't understand, do you?" She walked away towards the main building as Gabriel stepped to board the subway.

-cut-

Lucy scrambled to find her phone and dialed a number from her contacts; Kaden. She pushed the phone against her ear and listened as the dial tone rang. Eventually, she was met with a beep, before a message read aloud in a synthetic-sounding voice.

"The number you are trying to contact is not responding. If you wish to leave a message, press 1."

"Damnit!" Lucy muttered. "Why can't he pick up now of all times." She dialed again to no avail. 

Lucy felt like she was going to vomit. She was helpless, there was no escape anymore. If she ran away, DEED would find her. If she stayed here, DEED would find her. The only choice she had was to trust Hannah, but chances are that she was working for DEED as well. Lucy had fought and taken down massive creatures beyond the comprehension of science, but now, sitting at her desk with a small paper note, she felt at her most hopeless.

Lucy waited. There was nothing that she could do. It was about 3:00 PM when Lucy opened the letter, which meant she had until 5:00 AM. Lucy couldn't sleep throughout the night. She tried to calm her nerves with music and videogames, but nothing helped. 

The date was June 6th, 2037, 4:45 AM. Lucy climbed the steps to the roof of her apartment building. This rooftop had been witness to so much over these past 4 days, the longest 4 days of Lucy's life. Standing on the roof was Hannah, still wearing her signature camo lab coat. She was facing out towards the sunrise that bathed the skyline in rays of light.

"I take it you're alone?" Hannah asked as she turned towards Lucy. "I expected as much."

"Who are you?" Lucy replied. "How do you know about DEED?"

"I'm the head of the tamer project at DEED. In a way, I'm second-in-command to Gabriel himself when it comes to Project Ψ."

"What is Project Psi? Why are you coming after me?"

"Gabriel needs you to reactivate the 4th kaiju."

"What?"

"The 2nd kaiju's DCP Core Unit was damaged beyond repair in your battle with the 202nd kaiju. In order to defeat the 203rd, we'll need to fight it with the 4th."

"Why can't you use the Atom-3?! It seems like you must have some control over it if you can use the lockdown function on the whole city."

"We did that through the 2nd kaiju's DCP, not the Atom-3. The Atom-3 hasn't been tampered with in quite a long time, it wasn't even active until yesterday." Hannah continued. "But that's beside the point. We need you to break through the 4th kaiju's firewall, we can't access the DCP's code aside from scanning and replicating its functions with it in place."

"Why should I help you?! All you've done is destroy my life!"

"Because my plan isn't to capture you and force you to activate the 4th DCP."

"What do you mean?! I thought you were with DEED?"

"I am. My agenda is more complicated, however." Hannah removed a device from one of her coat pockets. It was a metallic silver contraption with a metal panel attached to the side. "I want you to sync with the Atom-3 and destroy the 203rd kaiju on your own, without the help of DEED."

"What?! That's insane." Lucy shouted. "You know that I'm locked out of the kaijufinder system, I can't do that!"

"What if I told you that you can bypass the KF system entirely?"

"How?"

"The KF system is based on the command function innately programmed into the Atom-3, the same function that allows it to warp reality around itself. If you can take control of the Atom-3, you can recreate the 2nd kaiju's body and control it just like if we still had the 2nd DCP."

"So, if I can sync with the Atom-3, I can defeat this 203rd kaiju?"

"I believe so."

"But wait, how can I sync with the Atom-3 without the KF system?"

"Using this" Hannah continued to hold the metal contraption, "it's the final version of the DSC, the Digital Space Communicator. The original was designed by Dr. Turner, your father. It can read and write data in the same way as the DCPs, which means I can give you the ability to communicate with the Atom-3's DCP Grid directly. Beyond that it's up to you."

"Alright, I'll do it."

"One more thing. I doubt Gabriel told you why the kaiju are even here. Would you like me to explain?"

"You're right, he never did. Maybe the explanation would help."

"The kaiju are artificial beings created by the DCPs, which seem to have originated from somewhere beyond our solar system; we don't know anything else about their creators. The kaiju are targeting the DEED headquarters because of something underneath it, a yet-unidentified organism that we call the Egg of Orphan. The kaiju want to destroy the egg and the DCPs are programmed to annihilate all matter within their DCP Grid once they come into physical contact with it. That event would level New York City."

"So, hold on a minute. The kaiju are aliens and there's an egg underneath the city that they want to destroy?"

"That's close enough to correct."

"Why didn't you tell me that at the beginning?"

"Because you didn't need-"

Suddenly, an impact could be felt across the entire city. windows shattered and concrete was thrown into the air in large chunks. 

"What was that?!" Lucy shouted. "Is that-"

"It's the 203rd kaiju. We've run out of time." Hannah pressed a tiny switch on the device in her hand and it swung open to assume a form vaguely resembling a gun. The panel on the side pivoted to become a viewport, much like a digital camera would have. "I'm going to point this at you and press the trigger. It's already linked to the Atom-3."

"You're going to shoot me with your 'magic gun,' and I'll get superpowers?!"

"Just shut up and hold still." Hannah aimed the DSC at Lucy.

"Wait!" Lucy said. "There's got to be more you should tell me, right?"

"Not really." Hannah replied. "We'll have time when all of this is over." She pulled the trigger.

Lucy blinked. She didn't feel anything happen. There was no bullet or even a flash of light, just the click of the device's trigger. "Did it work?" She asked. "Nothing's happening."

Suddenly, Lucy saw something appear, seemingly in her peripheral vision. It was text, some kind of message.

>connection to atom_3 authorized
>direct controls enabled

"What am I supposed to do now?!" Lucy asked.

"You should be able to control it the same way as you controlled the kaiju. Try telling it to do something." Hannah replied.

"Uh..." Lucy said awkwardly. "Recreate the second kaiju."

"No, not like that!" Hannah said. "Think of it as an extension of your body. Try to access the Atom-3's command function."

Lucy focused. What would she have to say to do that? How could she activate the command function? 

>command mode request confirmed
>enabling command controls now

"Whoa, that worked?!" Lucy shouted. "Now all I have to do is-"

As Lucy directly her will towards the creation of the 2nd kaiju, she saw it begin to form in the distance. Alongside it was another kaiju, a creature the resembled a giant spider with one giant, spherical eyeball.

"How do I control it?" Lucy asked.

>neural transfer engaged
>neural scan completed, transferring clone to terminal 29347.

"What does that mean?" Lucy asked again.

"It means that the kaiju won't be fully under your control anymore." Hannah replied. "You can still direct its actions the same way as before, but it will now fight autonomously without your intervention."

"Now all I need to do is connect to it, right?" Lucy asked.

"If you intend to fight it yourself, that's correct."

Lucy looked towards the creature in the distance.

>KF replica system engaged

-cut-

The date is June 5th, 2037, 11:49 PM. Gabriel stood on the roof of a familiar building alongside a young woman with long brown hair and a yellow raincoat tied around her waist. The woman was sitting casually across the guardrails, the crux between life and death.

"It was Lucy that let you out, wasn't it, Alice?" Gabriel asked in a confident tone.

"She did more than let me out." The woman turned to look towards Gabriel as their crimson eyes met. "You know that already, don't you?"

"I made a guess."

-cut-