"Hey, Lumi, get over here! She woke up!" Through her grogginess, Risále could make out a figure.
It was a very, very pretty woman with long light blue hair down to her hips, done in a half-up, half-dozen French braid. The rest of her hair that was down was wavy, mimicking ocean waves. She had warm, chocolate-brown eyes that held a bit of softness in them. She looked about a bit taller than Risále herself. She seemed to be holding what looked to her like a handgun, and her position was not too offensive, but she was still on her guard. Risále finally came to her senses and tried to sit up, but groaned in pain at her headache.
"...Huh? Where am I?" Risále managed to speak, her head had finally stopped spinning. She seemed to be in some sort of infirmary, the several beds and IVs gave it away. The other woman left for a minute but then came back a few minutes later holding a glass of water and a bottle of pills. She put the bottle on the bedside table.
The woman handed her the glass of water, pressing the back of her hand to Risále's forehead. Risále couldn't help but think that the blue-haired woman was really pretty, "Hey, how are you holding up?" The woman asked, turning back to grab the bottle of pills, "I know this seems shady, but I'm not one to kill someone while they're immobile," She hesitated, "Well, maybe I am. I don't know, I guess it's your choice," She added, handing her the pills, "If you think you can trust me, these will help."
"Is she awake, Minnie? Did you give her the medicine, like I told you to?" A voice yelled from a bit further away.
"Yes and yes. Damn, would it kill you to trust me a little bit more?" She yelled back. Another woman, slightly older, walked into the room, smiling. Risále's immediate thought was that if the first woman was really cute, this woman was really hot.
"You know, it probably would, since it's you," The older woman laughed.
She had what could only be described as sunset-colored hair, going from purple at her roots to magenta, then to pink, and then orange at the tips. Her hair was slightly wavy, curling at the tips, reaching about her waist. She was a few inches taller than both of them since from what Risále could tell, the blue-haired woman wasn't much taller than her. The other woman, the tall one, was holding a rifle quite expertly. She seemed as though she was experienced with it.
"Am I dreaming? Did I die? This has got to be heaven," Risále muttered under her breath, "I mean, pretty women certainly seem like they'd be part of my heaven."
The blue-haired woman looked at her, "Sorry, didn't catch that. What did you say?"
"Oh, it's nothing. The, uh, the pills. What do they do, exactly?" Risále asked.
"They won't do anything to you, they'll just clear up your headache and get rid of a bit of dizziness," The sunset-haired woman said as Risále took the pills and glass of water. She downed them one by one. "My name is Lumina," The sunset-haired girl said, as she beckoned the woman she called Mina.
"I'm Mina, but Lumi calls me Minnie," The woman said.
"I think...I'm Risále? I'm not exactly sure though," Risále said, slightly confused.
"What do you mean by 'You're not exactly sure'?" Lumina asked. Risále could only heave a sigh.
"I don't...remember anything? Like I honestly don't remember anything about myself," Risále said, scratching her head.
"Do I—Do I know you from somewhere?" Mina asked, looking at her confused, "No, never mind. Does this sound familiar to you: Princess constantly escapes death from relatives that want her head on a pike, then runs away and has a death bounty placed on her head for trying to steal an important artifact—" Mina was about to keep going on and Lumina quickly put her hand over Mina's mouth as Risále looked at her in pure concern.
"Are you—Are you okay? Is she alright?" Risále asked Lumina and the woman just sighed, rolling her eyes.
"She gets like that sometimes. Don't worry, she's from Sector 2, so this is just her making up stuff based on the royal family," She glared at Mina who shrugged, "Anyways, it was a valid question, do you have any idea what she's talking about?" Lumina asked with her rifle at the ready. Risále looked at the two women, utterly confused.
"I literally have no idea what you're talking about and if that is a real thing, I'd recommend therapy for that Princess," Risále asked.
Lumina and Mina looked at each other, "I like her. She's already got more brain cells than most of us," Lumina said, "Which Sector are you from?"
Risále looked at them, once again, very confused.
"You know, your Sect?" Mina asked, "Like, where were you born and brought up? Obviously, the Stronghold has to be Grimmstol unless you're from overseas, but which of the three Sectors are you from?"
"Hold on, slow down, I need a second to just process—What are those? Are those places—Ow!" Risále yelled as a pain shot through her head. She winced as she rubbed her head, "Jesus, why does my head hurt so much? It feels like sensory overload but at like…Maximum level."
Lumina hummed, "This may not be related to this at all but could it be because you seem to have some additional implants in your brain?" She asked.
"...I'm sorry, what?"
"Well, while you were out cold, I took an XRAY of your head and well…I found a chip in your brain. I'd have to ask Kaedan but…I'm assuming it's probably something that sends information to your brain? I think you might have been experimented on. Leon could probably do a more thorough scan, I just did what he showed me so…" Lumina theorized, "Let's see…Hey, stick your finger in this cup?"
Risále just stared at her, "...Huh?"
Lumina sighed, "Just do what I ask, I want to check something," Risále nodded, sticking her finger in the water, "Now, what was the temperature of the water?"
"Um…About 14.48℃? Wait, how the hell did I—"
Lumina interrupted her, looking over to the light blue-haired woman, "Minnie, could you get me a—"
"Thermometer? Yeah, I've gotcha," Mina handed over a simple metal thermometer. As Lumina put it into the cup, Mina whistled lowly, "Damn, she's more accurate than Kaedan…"
Risále stared at the thermometer, "What," She said, "The fuck."
"If she's more accurate than Kaedan, then that probably means whatever experimentation was done on her was more complete than him," Lumina muttered, "So, long story short, that electronic chip in your head allows you to analyze and interpret things at a higher accuracy level than normal humans."
"...Am I some sort of robot or technology-infused being?" She asked in disbelief.
"Not exactly…Also, technology-infused makes it sound like you are one of the fruit-infused drinks," Mina said.
"No, you're a cyborg. Minnie, what are you even talking about?" Lumina sighed, "Cyborgs aren't too uncommon, the Sectors have done cyborg experimentation. They attempt to put a database into your mind, but they also allow you to have enhanced capabilities in analysis, interpretation, problem-solving, and strategy. However, I've heard that they only take candidates who have extremely high intelligence levels to start with. So, congratulations. Even though you probably don't remember any of it, you're really smart and that chip in your brain makes you superhumanly smarter," Lumina explained.
"You got that ...From a brain scan?" Risále asked.
"No," Lumina snorted, "I just got the fact that you have a chip in there from that brain scan. The brain scan is a necessary safety precaution for us, sorry about that. We're not really freaked out by this, though, don't worry. We're not strangers to cyborgs, let's go with that."
In response, all Risále could say was one thing.
"I don't care what the hell else anyone says. I am a technology-infused human."
Lumina sighed and shook her head, but she ended up smiling anyway, "We're gonna let you sleep. It seems like you're even more clueless than us, but we are keeping you on high watch though, so keep that in mind," She said, grabbing the glass and her rifle and leaving the room.
"Does she actually use that thing?" Risále asked Mina, looking at her in a combination of fear and awe.
Mina smiled, "Not usually. But that doesn't mean she doesn't know how to use it," And with that, they left the room. Risále stared at the door.
"Scary," She said, and quietly added, "And kind of hot, honestly."
After a few hours' nap, Risále was awake and definitely more mentally present than she was before. "Hey, Mina? Do you guys have any spare clothes? Not that I hate dresses but I'd prefer something a bit more…I don't know, some pants or shorts would be nice," She asked.
"Oh, sure. We've got a lot of stuff in our closet, I can show you something in there," Mina replied, helping the other girl off the bed.
"You two share a closet?" Risále asked, raising an eyebrow, "That's...Interesting."
"Oh, yeah, we just—It's just more convenient that way since we…Share a room," Mina's face was slightly red and she seemed to realize that her defensiveness was doing nothing to help her, "It's just…More convenient. Yeah. Why, is it uncommon? I mean, I don't think it's uncommon to share a room and closet with your best friend?"
"I mean, it definitely isn't uncommon!" Risále rushed to reassure her, ignoring the little voice in the back of her head that said that Mina's demeanor said a lot, "Uh, you guys seem really close?" She asked, laughing nervously.
Mina nodded and beckoned for Risále to follow her, "Yeah, we've known each other for…Nine years? Something like that?"
"I see, that's pretty cool," Risále replied as they walked into a white hallway. "Hey, where exactly are we?" Risále asked.
"We're underground. We found a small abandoned bunker underground so we decided to take it," Mina explained as they walked into another room. "This is my room, Lumi's room connects from the other side of the closet, so it's kind of like a middle room," Mina explained.
She opened the closet and Risále whistled. "Damn, you guys have a lot of nice clothes. Holy shit, this stuff looks kind of expensive, what the fuck?" Mina laughed.
"Back when Lumi and I first left the sector, Lumi's job paid enough to provide for the both of us for quite a while before she left it. On top of that, her cousin was sending us money if we needed it," Mina said.
"Woah, woah, woah, rewind. You guys, like, actually left the sector?" Risále raised her hands lightly to show her a pausing symbol.