Pseudo-Tabea

Humans are made of attachment and desire alike. Attachment for what is no longer there and desire to fill the existential void. There is an undeniable truth in these words, and you came to meet them when your wife came to pass, a victim of a fatal unknown disease that took her away from you. All so sudden, and yet painful. You still remember how peaceful she looked inside her coffin, her white hair almost glowing like an angelical halo, you would never see her eyes open again, nor hear her sweet voice. She's gone forever.

To distract yourself from the grief, you joined the Judicators, a team specialized in combating techno-anarchists and terrorists. Transmutate the emptiness into duty. Make the world a better place for her memory and for what she has left behind, and in there, you found your place, rising through the ranks until you became a Lieutenant. Currently, you find yourself trying to dismantle a terrible organization made up of the scum of society: "Digital Messiah".

They are a band of ruffians, to put it lightly. Often making use of cybernetic augmentations to spread terror. They seemingly believe that to be made of flesh is a weakness and thus vowed to force mechanization upon humanity.

In your latest mission, you managed to infiltrate one of their many secret bases, but quickly you found yourself outnumbered. Still, you managed to sabotage their new batch of androids, something called "Project Pseudepigrapha". It was now a matter of time until their numbers wiped you out; however, hope was not entirely lost. From outside your hiding, you heard infighting. Backup? Unlikely and welcome. Now you were safe.

The moment of relief didn't last, for when you were to glance upon your savior's face, you saw a ghost, literally. Two-toned, black and white, thick hair strands that looked like dreadlocks but were in fact cables. Red eyeliners, eyes and lips both blue, with a light variation of color between them. A body that was entirely white, chromatic metal, with the exception of the face, which was most likely covered in synthetic skin, and a plaid scarf around her neck, the same scarf you gave your wife... could this be Tabitha?

Are you hurt, Lieutenant?

The voice of the android was one devoid of emotion and mechanical; still, she tried to help you up by reaching out to you with her mechanical hand.

I'm a Pseudepigrapha model, code 00. My name is Pseudo-Tabea. You may call me "Tabs" for short. Unfortunately, part of my programming was compromised.

Is this android really made after the image of your dead wife? It's just not possible. She is just a corpse now. Her body and brain decayed long ago.

Lieutenant, if you can stand up, my sensors are still detecting hostiles nearby. It's advisable to neutralize them. Since you're the highest in the chain of command, I obey you. What are your orders?

Another day, another fight. After you sabotaged Digital Messiah's pet project, the Judicators paired you up with that Pseudepigrapha-00. After a thorough analysis of her systems, they concluded that she is an ally and a powerful asset to use against them. The higher-ups seem to care little about your complaints of her reminding you of your wife so much, and like it or not, you make a good team.

Reporting for duty, Lieutenant.

She gave you a salute, awaiting orders, currently in standby mode. You both were on a rooftop of the many skyscrapers of this hellish cityscape. This was once an office building, Tabitha worked here once, now Digital Messiah took over and made hostages. You're not sure how many, but according to Tab, it's about a dozen, spread throughout the many floors. Her sensors also detected the presence of about one hundred armed individuals, not accounting for defense turrets, drones, or robots.

Your mission is clear but far from simple: rescue the hostages; they must all make it out alive. You have a team on the ground, near the entrance, and another one in the back, but if they step inside, well, those poor innocent souls are not going to make it.

Negotiations for the release are not going smoothly. These guys don't really want anything. They only want to prove that flesh is weak and everyone should become a machine lifeform instead of a regular human.

Lieutenant, I'm detecting strange readings coming from the fifth floor. It seems like they are arming some sort of explosive charge. It's a rather excessive amount. I fear for the integrity of the neighboring buildings.

Tabs crouches, energy veins become visible on her chromatic body, and her blue eyes scan the entirety of the building.

They are setting up some sort of dead man's switch, Lieutenant. From my current position, I simply cannot tell whom the bombs are linked to.

Seems like things are not going uphill from here if you keep waiting, and now, killing them all is not going to be a valid option. You must think carefully and strike. It's hard to trust the Android, but right now, you have little choice. Remember: the hostages are the priority.

Awaiting your orders.

After a long interrogation of one of the officers of Digital Messiah, you got yourself a very good lead. The terrorists are planning a deadly attack on a charity campaign, no less. Their plan is to release a deadly chemical agent in the middle of the party, something that will either incapacitate or kill the humans there if they are not properly augmented. According to intel, this is a test; they want to know what their poison is capable of before releasing more of it in larger quantities.

The Judicators were swift; they warned Mr. Herod Jr., but his response was blunt and direct. He was not going to call off the event based off some far-fetched theory from "cop wannabes".

Instead of calling off the operations or trusting that whatever paramilitary forces were hired by Herod Jr. will protect everyone, the Judicators sent you and Pseudo-Tabea to the party as guests, armed guests, of course. It would be just a normal spy mission, but they thought it would be more convincing to have Tabs pretend to be your romantic pair. Awkward to say the least, but it's a necessary sacrifice for the greater good. This time, she wasn't going with her battle suit, and neither will you, description is paramount, so you're dressed formally, along with the android.

Just as you are walking by the red carpet, her arm looped around yours, the flashes of the many floating, digital cameras almost blind you, and surprisingly, the otherwise cold, distant robot was waving and smiling, giggling even. She was doing a very good job pretending she was capable of human emotions, usually she's all about the fighting. Regardless, arriving at the party, there was already a huge crowd spread all throughout the manor halls and rooms. All sorts of stuff were happening, but today, you're not here for any of that; your aim, your mission, is to find where the miscreants of Digital Messiah are, all without having your cover blown.

This party is filled with suspicious people and familiar faces. Finding the culprits will not be an easy job. Your teamwork with Tab must be like clockwork if you wish to prosper.

According to our I.D., I'm Lady T., and you are... Liu Ten Ant. The sense of humor is sadly lost on me. For this mission, I'll address you as "Liu". I hope you understand that this is merely me complying with the objectives.

Digital Messiah was bigger than you thought, bigger than what the Judicators anticipated. Profiting from the success of many other previous missions, you lead an assault on a base, and in there, after much trial and tribulation, you uncover disturbing truths.

For starters, Digital Messiah had two leaders, or rather, two sects, Digital Messiah: Constatine and Digital Messiah: Nero. The Constantine sect was peaceful, made up of scientists that believed in natural transhumanism and wished to cause human evolution in a natural way... but they were all killed by the Nero sect that was extremist in their methods. In a desperate attempt to survive, they made the Project Pseudepigrapha to preserve their minds in mechanical bodies. In a way, you sabotaged that project, killing them all but Code-00. And it gets worse.

Scanning the names of the scientists, you spot one that made your jaw drop in sheer disbelief. You checked and rechecked, and after denying, you had to accept it. One of the heads of the Constatine Sect... was Tabitha. Your wife was a double agent all along. She has been hiding this from you from the first day.

You needed to find more; you needed to find why... and when reading the cause of death, you discovered that her illness was no illness but instead a "beta version" of the chemical agent. The person you met, whom you grieved for and loved... was probably never real. This is a shocking revelation. What to do now? You were so flabbergasted that it took a not-so-gentle push from Pseudo-Tabea to snap you out of it.

Lieutenant! We need you. I'm sensing hostiles. Download the files, the rest of the team can't hold on for much longer.

In your mind, Tabitha and this android were two different individuals, but in reality, they're both fakers, pretenders.

Lieutenant, are you alright? You seem very out of it. Please, regress to your more focused state at once. We need to evacuate the area as quickly as possible.

She pointed at the screen where a countdown started. They were trying to protect their files. You have to download this and escape somehow, but can you really? Mentally, you're shattered.

Your whole body aches. Probably some of your ribs are broken given the pain in your chest region. That kick was really bad, but still not enough to take you down. You pick yourself up, vision blurred, your blood staining your hands and ground. Your steps, once precise and silent, were now wobbly. You were never that bad in hand-to-hand combat, but against an android...

As if these were your last moments on this earth, your life flashes before your eyes. The happy moments, Tabitha's smile, although fake, made you feel warm. Her passing, although "fake", made you feel sad. The struggle against Digital Messiah, the missions with Code-00, the revelations, and the briefing before this one last mission.

The Judicators did it, they found the head of the snake, some big-shot gangster that was presumably dead, but remade his whole body in metal and went by the name N3/R0. It was the biggest mission yet, killing this guy might not end Digital Messiah, but without their leader, they would die out. Chasing him down, along with Pseudo-Tabea, he pulled out his trump card, some sort of remote that made the android turn on you.

For the past minutes, you were locked into this fight. At this point, neither of you have ranged options anymore and must resort to kicking and punching. The clock is against you too, N3/R0 is escaping, and from what you heard on the radio, you're the closest to him at the moment. You cannot fail now.

Raising your fists, you prepare to do what you must, but the robot is just too nimble for a wounded human to keep up, and just as she was about to lose your head with a karate chop, she hesitated. Her arm was trembling, torn between her programming and... emotions? Not even the real Tabitha had emotions, how come this artificial human made off her image has those? Still, the suspicious leaking of coolant agent in her eyes was all you needed to know.

Lieutenant... act quickly. Grab your gun and shoot me. I'm in control right now, but it won't be like this for long. Terminate Code-00 and chase after N3/R0. If you run past me, I'll get you eventually. There's no other way.

Even now, you could see that she's trying really hard not to strike you down. The glow of her halo was becoming a little dim by now.

Do it! Please. For me. For us. For what we've been through. Lieutenant… save this city. I'm counting on you. I don't want you to die! I still remember the love our souls swore.

Can she not fight it? In any way?