"They took everything from me… and gave it back in pieces."

Footsteps echo on metal flooring.

"Once, I had a name. A face. A pulse that wasn’t measured in machine cycles. I was a soldier—human enough to bleed, human enough to make mistakes."

Rain begins hitting steel plating as the sound of a blade sliding from its sheath cuts in.

"Then came the Patriots. They didn’t see a soldier… they saw raw material. Something to dismantle… rebuild… weaponize. Limbs, gone. Organs, replaced. Until only my mind and a fraction of my body remained."

A low, mechanical hum fades in as her cybernetic systems power up.

"They called it salvation. I call it a controlled death."

"When their network collapsed, I should’ve been free. But freedom is expensive… and my upkeep is more than I can pay in blood alone. That’s when Maverick came calling. Not a home. Not a cause. Just… work."

Short pause. A distant thunderclap.

"I’m not fighting for them. Or for you. I fight because if I stop… the machine stops. And I don’t know what’s left of me when that happens."

She activates optic camouflage, her voice now only a whisper in the dark:

"Codename’s Kuroha. You won’t see me coming. You’ll only feel the cut."