Preliminary Testing (Flashback/Mingqin)

“Alright. Let’s begin preliminary testing,” one of the researchers said as he flicked a switch. Only a select few knew of this, but to the side of a casino, behind an old shop very deep underground, things were not what they seemed. Downstairs was a large lab, full of any machinery you might think of that was either standard, or not commercially available. The ones using the machinery were around twenty people. Some of them scientists, others engineers, others criminals gathering said equipment. Their goal? To create their own revision of the Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapon at less of a cost with lesser equipment with maximum capabilities. They had stolen some designs of actual working Weapons from who knows where, and were only determined to copy and make one at a lesser cost, to make profit, and maybe even have it work as a sort of assassin and earn even more profit. The motive sounded quite silly at first, especially if one were to look around the room and see by the walls were quite a few half-made robots, or otherwise incomplete strewn on them and pushed up to the walls in order to keep space in the room, and at the same time, make sure they are available in case they are needed. However, for whatever the reason, a new project they had started was going fairly well on their part, that is to say, it has not broken down immediately,and they were more than determined to keep going. A small portion of the room near the exit up to the surface was boarded off in a room where the researchers can observe and study any reactions during testing. The researcher who had flicked a switch had put on the light before walking into the boarded room to observe. Right now, there were about three people in the middle, working on a strange contraption with a figure attached to said contraption.

One in the middle was engineer fiddling with parts of the machinery in order to test it. “Alright. All set. I say after this we take our break. I am starving,” he said after closing a small door on the machine. One scientist would look upon the contraption. It was a sort of chair, hooked up to wires, metal plates, a dome to connect wires to the subject, and straps in case it would get out of hand. It was a complete mess in the middle in putting it together. Wires were everywhere around it, it was uneven, you name it. On the chair, was a machine. What was intriguing was that it was human-shaped. Most likely female, considering the metal plating on her chest suggesting a bust. She had no hair, blue eyes, and her body was covered mostly in uneven bulky machinery. Some of it would stop and start at random moments while the three prepared. The robot was twitching every so often, making monotone moans of something indescribable. Her codename at the time was Ruo_06, sometimes called Ruin_06. The names both meant the same thing, the word “Ruo” was just Latin. The scientist would kneel and grab Ruin_06’s right arm giving it a light squeeze before giving a nod of satisfaction before standing back properly. “Alright. Thought it was bent a bit. But yeah. Wouldn’t mind the sun for a bit,” the scientist spoke back. The engineer nodded and took one last look over the machine before giving a thumbs up to the other two, and moving to leave to walk into the observatory room. The scientist would call out to him. “Hey get back here. You have to be here to talk in case it works this time,” he said. The engineer would give an exaggerated sigh and walk back. “I would rather not risk her trying to attack me like last time,” he said. “It should be fine this time. I promise. We also need someone to turn off the machine if needed. Stay behind if it bothers you,” he said. The engineer readily agreed and went behind the machinery, and knelt down, opening the same door to the contraption. “Alright. Three….two…one….starting up Ruo_06,” the engineer said before flipping a switch behind the machine and closing the door quickly, stepping back.

In seconds, some wires would glow with the electricity moving towards the machine. Ruo_06 would twitch even more violently than before, causing the scientist to take a slight step back and even the ones boarded off in the observatory to take several steps towards the wall behind them, before she eventually calmed down. She knelt over in her chair, revealing plenty of wires on her back, even a poor jumper cable in case the machine or she ran out of power for the moment. The light clings and clangs could be heard from the machinery in her desperately trying to function. Soon, the machine would quiet down, Ruo_06 remaining knelt over her chair. The scientist would take a slight step to her. “Ruo….Ruo_06 can you hear me?” he asked. The female machine would struggle to lift her body, and only lift it halfway before turning her head to the scientist, making a very slight movement of the head. “………” Nothing was coming out, but the scientist assumed it was a nod, and his face lit up with joyful eagerness as he pulled out a clipboard and a pen he had been holding onto. He would turn to the third person, gesturing them towards Ruo_06. “Go ahead, talk to her. She's hooked up to the internet, so you can ask her some trivia and it should be fine. Or say something else if you want,” he would say. In the machine's head was a testing modem that was accessing the internet at a decent speed to where the machine could gather information given a bit of patience. The scientist was there to take notes of anything that happened at all. He would wait until the third person began to speak before writing his notes down.