Data Mining

"Pftt. Hahahaha. Pity."

A laugh of defeat burst out from the dark space. She observed the whole short battle and was amused at the outcome while in pain for the defeat. The person was wearing a Victorian black dress implying that she came to live a long time ago. Her blonde hair and di-colored eyes enhance her youthful beauty.

"Huu." She sighed. "Regardless, What an interesting fellow. Hihihi. Live well, Eva."

She then vanishes like a popping bubble leaving her echoing laughter in the dark.

Sega Island restricted area. Private Infirmary facility. Observation unit.

[Initiating wake up sequence.]

Eliza activated a protocol to wake a brown-haired female patient lying peacefully in a high-tech white graphene ergonomic bed. The room she occupied was shaped into a big box and she was placed right at the center. Her clothes were changed into a patient gown to accommodate medical treatment effectively.

The room's inner walls were padded and painted white to provide a perfect contrast to the observer of the room, as well as to aid visually impaired patients.

Up to the ceiling is a mechanical octopus' arm descending one of its tentacle dispensers to the patient below. At the end-point of the tentacle was a small spark of electricity and a big syringe containing a vial of violet serum. It was readying to inject whatever drug that is to the patient.

Looking back intently at the patient she was currently stuff with wireless integumentary sensors to monitor her vital signs. Her painful bruises and wounds were now gone from her perfect body as the administered Accrete drug help her tissue regenerate. Four heavy Atlas bots stand guard at the four corners of the room as a plan B protocol, in case something happens unexpectedly they will be able to respond faster.

When the white sterile tentacle arm went down towards the patient, Eliza read her information.

[Patient name, Natalie Fischer, 25, blood type O positive, quinque type, chimera….] Eliza elaborated on all the data that she could find about the woman lying on the bed. While the tentacle arm administered the drug to her veins.

Aaaaaaaah!

Natalie screamed.

Quivering in shock, her blurry vision began to clear. Startled, her bed began to mechanically push her to sit upright facing the mirror-like window. Perfectly conscious she squints her eyes around wondering where she is. Upon looking down to her arm she discovered that a tentacle metallic arm bit her bulging vein. She then went to inspect her body for wounds but found none.

'Where am I?! What happened?! Right, where is madame Eva?'

She started to get anxious. Worried about her benefactor's whereabouts she completely neglects her personal situation.

[Good morning Ms. Natalie. How do you feel?] A synthetic womanly voice vibrated into her ears. Curious by the voice she looked towards the mirror-like-window in front of her to see the source of the sound. All the same, she only finds her beautiful reflection.

"Ugh, where am I? Where is Mrs. Eva? Are you there Mr. Shem? What're all these gimmicks?"

She inquired with hope in her voice. The memory of her madame's berserk mode stayed fresh in her inner soul. It was intensified when she wakes up in a scary room.

"How do you feel?" Instead of answering, the synthetic womanly voice responded with the previous question. The frequency of her voice feels soothing to one's mind. It was like listening to an ASMR.

"Where is she?" Natalie refused to answer. Her priorities weren't selfish.

[Please answer the question, Ms. Natalie...]

"You have no right to hold me here…!" She raises her voice. "Where is the madame, I need to see her? Mr. Shem you're breaching the contract! Mr. Raul will never let this off if he finds out! Do you hear me!"

Still, no one answered her rants. In so doing, Natalie bursts into anger. The contract agreed basically highlights safety to the madame and her protector, Natalie herself. If something happens, Natalie was instructed to take action that ensures safety. She determined that this set-up is a breach of contract so she will go all out in response to the breach.

Pull.

She ripped-off her sensors and began to morph herself into a ghoul. Her iris became red while her sclera turned black. With the room's white theme, it perfectly contrasted her kakugan into that of a stalking black tiger. A normal person would definitely freeze at the sight.

Burst.

Her back began to shoot-out bony centipede shape kagune, and positioned to pounce her way out. Meanwhile, the Atlas bots around her began to power up and prepare for combat. Even though small in size due to resource deficits and cost-cuts, they are designed to contend with at least level 4 ghouls using the resources available. It can even lift a car and push it without errors. Probably they can weaken Natalie by 5%.

[Relax, Ms. Natalie. I am only checking your overall status as ordered by Mr. Shem. Mrs. Fjord is well taken care of by our facility. She is safe. There is nothing to worry about. As for evidence, here it is.]

The mirror in front of Natalie changed, it instead displayed a familiar patient. In the footage, Eva was shown to have been receiving gold standard medical services. No one can deny that Eva was treated unsatisfactorily. The service even surpasses some of the 5-star hospitals around the world.

Clench.

She gripped her hands and stand down.

Having seen the footage, Natalie's shoulder slumped downwards along with a sigh. Her heartbeats began to subside after seeing her madame. She then retracted her kagune into a defensive shape. Seeing the clear video footage doesn't mean complete assurance.

[Please lay down on the bed. Now, how do you feel?] The synthetic womanly voice questioned again.

"I'm fine, no pain or whatsoever. Tell your boss to fulfill his part of the contract. I feel this set-up is a breach of safety to his clients." Natalie said while in extreme wariness around her.

Eliza then recorded the patient's feedback data while disregarding the unnecessary response and proceed to another confirmatory test. This time it falls off the topic.

[ Farm? Apostle's heavenly garden? Premium products? Church? Clones? Yrsa project?]

Stiffened.

Natalie widens her eyes for a moment. Her lips began to vibrate while her hands began to shake. She froze like she was submerged in a pool filled with ice cubes. She then calms down and mustered to answer.

"…I do not know." A short response with a tint of lies. The words seemed to have a bigger weight on her. She probably knew these terms' deeper meaning. Perhaps this could be their species core secrets. Even the sensors operated by Eliza spike from normal.

Eliza began to record the reactions and confirmed the missing dots on their gathered intelligence information. With that statement, data mining produces its first gold fruits.

Lit.

The mirror in front of her change again into another scenery, instead of showing her face, a man in a Hawaiian shirt and shorts appeared. He was comfortably sitting on a metallic chair whilst smiling-like some romcom villain.

"Hello, Ms. Natalie, what a day right?" A sarcastic tone. "Shall we have our morning talk over breakfast? Sensors say that you know something beneficial, I would love to hear that."

Said, Shem.

"Boom!"

Natalie's brow bends down. Her kakugan began to show up again. Even the poor Atlas bots suffered damage due to a whip from her kagune.

"Quit playing us, you damn human!" She jumps forward and tried to break the mirror-like-window where Shem can be found.

Disappointing to say, the glass wouldn't even budge a bit. Cracks were nonexistent even if Natalie go all out. Whilst Natalie was on trying to break the window, Shem sighed.

"Huu. Graphene glass. The toughest material, discovered by man. Transparent aluminum or carbon fiberglass wouldn't even compare. You can go all out the whole day but I say this to you, you're wasting time."

Shem leaned forward and flick his finger. One part of the window changes its display and showed, disturbing footage. Natalie was taken aback by the video. Her eyes widen and even tears started to flow out.

"NO! NO! NO! DAMN YOU DEMON!" She began to burst out all her strength and tried to break the window even though she was told that it was strong enough to withstand stronger forces.

"Sedate her Eliza, but leave her eyes, mouth, and ears intact!"

[Affirmative Shem.]

Stopped!

Natalie started to lose control of her body. It was as if something possessed her.

"I can't feel my body! Damn you, Shem! What have you done you human scum! Bastard!"

"Ouch…Well as you can see your madame is badly hurt due to some unfortunate events. I have done what I can to take her down, to prevent escape and damage, so the result is this. If your stupid boss told me the truth about her, at least these things shouldn't happen."

What Natalie saw on the footage was a vat-tank filled with a wounded woman. Upon closer look, she confirms that it was Eva. Half of her shoulders were missing; her body was filled with lacerations and deep wounds. Thankfully, Shem has the technology to repair the madame, so there's nothing to worry about. The earlier video was a crafted lie for psychological purposes.

In Natalie's eyes, it was as if her world started to crumble. She has a deeper connection with Eva. It was more than a boss and an employee.

Her eyes were quivering. Tears didn't stop to flow out of her red and black eyes.

"I want to know the church and her Covens Natalie. Your cooperation will save or end your boss's life." Shem stared at her eyes. "I have the means to heal her far more powerful than you can imagine. Rest assured I can provide a safe haven for your family."

"Why?" A random question from Natalie.

Shem closes his eyes.

"I want to control Europe and this world, miss Natalie. I don't want to remain an idiot in this fucking realm you see." Shem sighed. "I want to know everything."

Natalie was stunned at her core. Shem's reason wasn't about the annihilation of their species which she thought after observing Shem. It was entirely on another level. How will she respond? What will she choose, her self-interest, or her church's interest?

Natalie ended her crying. She made a choice while gritting her teeth.

"…I…"

Looking at the reaction. Shem curves his lips.

"You made the right choice."

Poland, Warsaw, Accrete Pharmaceuticals' Headquarters.

Accrete Pharma's towering business building stood tall with the other skyscrapers. It boasts a 256-meter height with 67 floors for corporate affairs. Much of the height, the design emphasizes a carbon fiberglass window, reflecting the lands of Poland. Now its former logo the Adelmo Pharma was replaced with Accrete Pharmaceuticals. With big funds, the renovations went into overdrive and finish quickly before the deadline.

Thanks to its heavenly products; within 6 months of corporate operations and profitable sales the company began to devour slowly the EU Union market, forcing its competitors to innovate or sell their plunging stocks before declaring bankruptcy. The wall street journal and Financial times called Accrete Pharma's move as the angels' judgment. It was like an angel that came out of nowhere punishing the demons of the capitalist world.

Even though the company remains private and refuse to go public the EU Union anti-trust laws did not bother anymore the company, as it will enrage its citizen again and to make things worse for the EU Union the company is honestly paying its corporate tax and employing hundreds of people across the union and abroad, it's win-win.

In its popularity and Polish governmental trust, a lot of jealous enemies emerged to take this company down and throw it out-off of their lands. Even the pitiful ghouls who were currently struggling to escape persecution helped in its destruction. Alas, its young and veteran executives did not allow them to succeed.

Increasing reputation, big funds, and government shield push the enemies to rethink more strategies.

Even the Bloomberg analyst, as well as the wolves of wall street, increased the valuation of the company to $78 Billion dollars due to its weakening competitors and profitable medications. By the year 2012 the company's value is expected to jump from $78 to $80 Billion dollars if it starts its overseas expansion, more so if it introduces another heavenly product. Investors around the world were salivating to devour and fuck this company whole by buying its stocks and tasty shares. Sadly, Shem is a greedy man when it comes to his personal goals. He can't share and that's it. He even refused to list his company on the Stock markets rendering the pigs to salivate forever at the bottom of its glory.

Shem wanted full control; he will not let anyone stop his big plans for this world. Though there is a higher risk of failure on this move, he will cheat no matter what.

On the top floor of the company. A wide office was occupied by the minority owner of the company and Shem's CEO. She was currently checking corporate reports and reviewing the status of the company as well as its high profits.

This person is Erina.

Now Known as the iron angel of the pharmaceutical business community. Within 1 month she was able to manage the company effectively as predicted by Shem. With the help of his father's connection and the former Adelmo Pharmaceutical employees, she pushes the company towards the top of the world, with an iron fist.

Bzz!

Her smartphone vibrated. She stops from writing a report and then turned his attention towards her phone. Upon seeing the name of the caller, she took it towards her ear and accepted the call.

"When will you go home, you have a ton of papers to sign. If we slow down now, we could lose a lot of opportunities!"

"I miss you, Erina, how are you doing?" Shem sarcastically answered. He was expecting that Erina would ask him how's he doing as a concerned business partner and friend, but alas her words failed his dream.

"Huu. Tonight." After the disappointment, he answered Erina.

Erina blush as he heard Shem's sarcastic tone. She understands that she said the wrong words to him. So, to take back the sentence she thought of another topic to talk to.

"Good…What do you want for dinner?" It was a short embarrassing sentence. Though, simple but enough to revert her words earlier.

BOOM!

"…" Shem was quiet.

He suddenly recalled his life as a SIMP from his dimension. In Shem's private time he would go to an online RPG game where the players become to experience artificial relationships. And in that game, he chose to become a neighbor of a beautiful woman. The mechanics were that he only needs to follow a pre-planned answer and moves so that he could take the beautiful woman to himself as his own wife. Those memories still remain in his heart though artificial but true enough to compare with, the worst reality.

In the future, relationships will be ten times more difficult than in the current age. Maybe because of diverse morals and ethics. Trust will be difficult to handle and worst yet humans will become more complex animals.

"Hello? Shem, are you there?"

"Ah, yeah. Just remembered something no worries."

"So?"

"Umm. Maharlikan dish please."

"Ok."