*it looks like another part of the orphanage.* Mimi thought to herself. it wasn't too clear, but there was someone else in the scene. she shook her head slightly and discarded her thoughts.

*I need to get out of here before-*

"now, what are you doing in here, I wonder?" the man was looking at her now. she hadn't noticed when, but he was now facing her direction, as if he could see through the boxes.

out of the corner of her eye, she saw one of the many small screens was showing her position currently.

the man, not getting the response he wanted, stretched his hand in her direction. some runes lit up along the gauntlet he was wearing. Mimi felt a force grab her, and she couldn't move no matter how hard she tried.

she soon floated in front of the guard. she avoided eye contact, instead directing her gaze at the screens around her.

"it has been, what? two days since you arrived here? and now this happens." displayed on the screens was the carnage currently happening on the orphanage grounds. the orphans had all escaped, and were doing their best to escape. chasing them were security bots, the same bots that had captured her and brought her here.

on the other side of the facility, monsters had broken in. they looked strange and disgusting to even look at. they were tearing through the security bots like they were made of paper, and the only thing stopping their progress was the sturdy walls. this was only temporary, as they would not hold for long under such an assault.

"i don't have time for this!" he grabbed her and threw her across the room. he controlled his force so that she didn't hit any of the screens, and only rolled around on the floor. just as she stood up, the same force from before restrained her again, pulling her back.

"look at me when i'm talking!" he forced her to look at him in the eye, but she kept on avoiding eye contact. frustrated, he threw her at the door. the impact caused her to lose her breath and collapse to the floor, wheezing for air.

"how did you even get in here? the doors are clearly on lockdown." leaning against a terminal protruding from the ground, he looked at her and muttered to himself, not expecting to get an answer.

Mimi was about to stand, but was restrained once more. "test subject M1. why would the Warden want to capture you alive? what make you so different from the others?"

he slammed her into the floor, making her nearly faint from the pain, but she pushed through it. the control over her was released and she took the chance to take out a dagger from her pocket.

*just like i practiced...!* she threw the dagger with all her might. the man was prepared, and simply dodged out of the way, and it landed harmlessly on top of a terminal.

"well that was a whole load of nothing, wasn't it?" he mocked. Mimi only returned a pained smile before being restrained once more. he then grabbed her by the jaw and forced her to look him in the eye. this time, she didn't avoid it, causing him to be a bit startled as he had expected resistance.

his eyes glowed, and just as he was about to read her memories...

```

>COMMAND RECEIVED. LOCKDOWN DISABLED.<

```

with that alert, the doors securing the watchtower began to unlock and open themselves. this forced the man to stop what he was doing and drop Mimi, focusing on the screens.

Mimi, noticing that he was no longer paying attention to her, got into a stance. she sneaked up behind the guard who somehow did not notice her.

*Mimicry*

*Suppress*

The guard felt a huge force push down on him in an instant, causing him to buckle to his knees. Mimi took the chance to grab the holographic watch he was wearing, then bolted through the now open doors.

as she rushed through the corridor, she heard the guard quickly approaching from behind. he had broken free of her momentary control as she was no longer focusing on controlling it. as Mimi turned a corner, she saw a monster stretch it's arm at her, as if it had been waiting for her arrival.

with quick reflexes, she fell to the ground and rolled. this caused her injuries to flare up in pain, but she had managed to survive. jumping up to avoid another monster, she stepped on the back of the previous monster and used it as leverage to jump higher. she grabbed the bars that were lining the ceiling, used to prevent orphans from breaking in. the force from her jump caused the monster to reel and conveniently fall into the path of the pursuing guard.

his expression changed, and he quickly stopped so he could fight off the monsters. Mimi then dropped to the floor, and ran out while she still had the chance. there was no chance that the guard would survive, she just hoped he would buy her enough time to escape the watchtower.

---

somewhere in the orphanage.

a boy sat in a corner in a cell. he seemed indifferent to the chaos happening around him, almost falling asleep. since he was still in his cell, the security bots hadn't moved to do anything to him, and chased the other orphans instead. the monsters hadn't reached this area too, so he had no idea there were monsters in the orphanage.

"i got it." a voice came from the cell door. he looked up and saw Mimi, who looked a bit tossed around but not too beaten up.

"wow, i never expected you to do it." the boy walked up to the cell entrance. "give me the watch. i know how to use it."

Mimi did as she was told, and gave the boy the watch. he looked at it, then looked at Mimi strangely. *was she holding it in her mouth?*

"i saw monsters. you never said there would be monsters." Mimi protested.

"i never said there wouldn't be any either." *and besides, if there really was monsters, you wouldn't be able to make it back here alive.* these words were left unsaid, as he fiddled with the watch.

with a beep, it lit up and projected something in front of him. before Mimi could read it all, the boy covered the watch, causing the hologram to disappear.

"well done. here, wear this." he handed Mimi a communicator, which she pinned on her clothes. "i'll talk to you through here. just make sure to follow my instructions so we can both get out of here alive."

Mimi nodded, and ran somewhere before the security bots came back.

the boy watched her leave, his expression unchanging. looking at the watch once more, he was baffled. *how did she manage to get this from the guard with barely any injuries? i even expected her to lose a limb.*

"well, that's a helper for me. makes it easier to escape too." saying that, he put on the watch. it lit up and showed the information it had before, which he began to read with relish.

soon after, he switched the display, which now showed Mimi's location, or rather the location of the tracker he gave her. he had stolen it once and modified it in secret, in anticipation for a chance like today.

"Mimi, on your right..."

---

"Mimi, on your right, there should be a terminal there, flashing red." Mimi looked over, confirming it. "tap the red light, the enter the command i'll tell you."

Mimi did as she was told. the terminal sunk in and from the gap, a board with equipment floated out.

"pick what you can carry and leave what you can't use. be quick, the bots will be there in 30 seconds." Mimi swiftly picked through the items, and was soon equipped as instructed. putting everything in the combat satchel also there, she wore it on her back. then she picked up a electromagnetic bomb, and threw it behind her before turning to run out the opposite entrance.

as she reached the door, a few security bots popped through the previous entrance. using the trigger she was holding, she activated the bomb, causing them to short circuit and shut down.

"a few bots just shut down in your area. what's going on?" the boy's voice came through the comms.

"i don't know, they seemed to suddenly stop moving all of a sudden." Mimi answered nonchalantly. "really?" the boy sounded doubtful. "i can't do anything to them even if i tried. i don't want to die so soon."

some banging sounds came over the comms. "...what're you doing?" Mimi asked, although she held a guess in her heart. "i'm in the vents. i'm moving ahead so we can meet up there."

the boy answered.

"make sure your tail doesn't catch on any loose parts." Mimi joked, before focusing on her path. she didn't encounter any obstacles in her path, which made her wary.

"yellow hair boy. where are the security bots around me?"

"i have a name, you know?" the boy retorted and looked at the hologram. "there's none, don't worry." he responded. "don't you find that weird? where'd they all go all of a sudden?"

with unease settling over here, she decided to backtrack a bit. when she reached the door, she realised an alarming fact.

*it's locked. and what are these things on the door?* they looked like vein structures covering the locked door. she hadn't seen these before.

"something's very wrong. yellow hair boy." Mimi spoke with apprehension.