RVB Fanfiction Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Though I didn't know it at the time, I had spent almost half a year in an odd sort of slumber.  Instead of having dreams that didn't quite make sense or having no dreams at all, I had training simulations.  I would be sent on specific missions or practice certain skills.  I learned all sorts of skills from different mentors, each with a specific talent and a name that was a letter in the Greek alphabet.  I never really noticed that they looked a lot like the AI that the Director tried to put in my head.  Whenever I failed a mission, I would gain a long and noticeable scar that made it harder to play the innocence trick that I often used.  If I did something right, on the other hand, I would get one scar removed and sometimes (I think it was a malfunction in the program) I would get a glimpse of the outside world before falling back to sleep.  
All of this happened so quickly that I barely got a chance to think about what all of this was doing to my mind.  Thinking back to that, I don't quite know how I could have missed the truth, but I can't undo the effects now.  I'm now a killing machine, though I was never put into the actual war.  The Director wanted to use me for tests, not for actual battle.  You know how it is, a company will make a product and keep the first of it's kind.  I was the first of quite a few cyborgs to be created this way, but I will go more in depth with that later.
Fully waking up from that was probably the oddest feeling that I've felt since the implantation.  I had been in this routine for months and had almost completely forgotten that there was a world outside of this simulation.  I had just finished a not particularly challenging mission.  I only had 3 scars at the time, that was a small number considering that some of the operations were extremely challenging.  I was about to tell my mentors about how well I did when a woman clad in a suit that looked to be made out of computer parts who glowed a light purple appeared.  
"Hello, Agent Virginia," she said.  Her voice was familiar, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it.  
"We have been very proud of your progress," She continued.  "And since the upgrades to your body are complete, we feel that it is appropriate to awaken you from this dream-state that you have been in."
I just stared at her blankly.
"We know this may be confusing to you at this time, but you will understand it all soon enough."
Then the ground slipped from under my feet and I was falling.  Well, not exactly falling and the feeling only lasted less than a second because that's when I gained actual consciousness.  
My eyes fluttered opened to see a male face staring down at me.  A wide grin crossed his face and he said something.  I don't know what it was, though, everything was still pretty hazy at that time and I couldn't hear a thing.  At that moment 4 other faces came into my sight, 3 were female and 1 was male, each was looking down at me with the same sort of smile as the first.  
I ran a hand over my face to try to wake up my mind to what was going on.  It felt colder than it was supposed to.  It was also paler than my actual skin color, I realized as I held it in front of my face.  
Then the panic set in.  My eyes wide, I stared up into the first man's face.  His face appeared very calm as he moved his lips, but I couldn't hear any sound coming out.  In fact, I still couldn't hear anything.  I just gazed into his eyes confusedly.  A look of realization came over his face.  He quickly conversed with the others and one left my vision.  Moments later there was a "click" and the amplified sound of the lights humming and the people above me breathing filled my ears.  It wasn't loud enough to be painful, but louder than what I was used to.  
"Better now?" the man asked.
I nodded.
"Good.  Now as I was trying to say, the paleness and temperature of your skin is nothing to worry about.  You're not sick or dieing or anything like that.  It's just the wires and such under your skin that deplete the pigmentation."
"Wires?  Why would I have wires under my skin?" I asked, finally hearing how crystal clear and beautiful my voice now sounded.
He looked down sheepishly.  "That's kind of hard to explain."  He let out a long sigh.  "Where to start is the real question.  What do you remember from before you woke up here?"
I closed my eyes and told him everything that had happened since the experiment with the AI.  
I heard the familiar sound of a pen scribbling on paper.
I opened my eyes when I couldn't find anything else in my memory, all I could remember was what had happened since the experiment and a tiny bit from Project Freelancer.  The people who were standing above me were still there.
The man that I had spoken to was nodding.  "It's not that odd that that's all you can remember.  We thought we had fixed that.  That AI caused you a lot of brain damage.  It's surprising that we had the budget to fix all of that......."
"So now will you tell me what's happened to me?" I asked, slightly annoyed because we had gotten off topic.
"Oh, yeah sure.  After the accident with the AI, the Director had the choice to either leave you to die after the damage that had been caused or use you as a prototype."
"A prototype for what, exactly?"
"You are the first cyborg-"
"But aren't there already cyborgs?  I've seen plenty of Freelancers with robotic arms or other robotic parts."
"Yes, but you're the first one to have almost every inch of your body be electronically automated and have it not be a noticeable feature."
"How should I know what I look like?  I don't exactly have any mirrors."
"Would you like to see what you look like?"
"Yeah.  Why wouldn't I?"
"Then come on," he held out his hand and the other people moved out of the way.
I slowly and cautiously took the hand offered to me.  The man gave a quick pull and then I was in a sitting position.  After maybe a minute or so of testing out my new muscles, I dangled my feet over the edge of my cot.  Slipping off the bed, my feet made contact with the cold, hard surface of the floor.  The man gave me a small grin and led me to where a large mirror that went from the floor to the ceiling stood.  
I gazed into the mirror, expecting to see myself the way I always had.  I was wrong.  The girl staring back wasn't me.  It couldn't be.  This girl was far too beautiful.  Her hair was black and fell lightly on her shoulders, she had bangs and one strand of longer hair fell between her eyes –something I had always just used as a fashion statement, but the way that her's looked was far prettier—, a small white bow was pinned on the left side.  Her skin was as pale as moonlight and had zero imperfections.  Her plump lips were the color of a dark cherry.  Long, dark eyelashes outlined the eyes.  
And the eyes.... I'm not quite sure what to say about them.  The right one was the same almost-black shade of gray that I had always seen, the left one...... it was like a web of circuits that showed under a thin coat of white.  
Throughout my inspection of this face, my hands moved with my eyes as I tried to figure out how this could actually be me.  
Next I moved to my body.  It wasn't the thin girl that had endured the hardships of Freelancer and sexual abuse.  This was the body of a supermodel.  She didn't have any clothes covering her body, but I didn't mind at the moment.  It was the same color as the face and all of my bruises and scars were gone.  Even the tattoos that I used to have were gone.
This girl was utterly gorgeous!  
I pressed my hand to the glass.  She did the same.  
"This can't be me, can it?" I mumbled softly.
"I'm afraid it is," the man said from behind me.
I could see his reflection in the mirror as well.  His skin wasn't very dark, but looked extra tan next to my pale skin.  His hair was dirty blond and short.  There was a scar that ran from his right eye to the left side of his chin.  His eyes were an icy blue.
"So now what?  I can't go back to my job as a Freelancer," I said, my eyes still gazing at the mirror.
"Of course you can, Virginia." I think I may have flinched at the sound of my Freelancer name.  "You'll just have a different role and different missions.  You even get a new suit of armor.  You can do all sorts of things with your newly fixed body!"
"Show me."