Hero Technology Innovation Center Raid Incident (5)
Even when Black Rose and the A-class villains under her command stormed the event at the Hero Technology Innovation Center, Eun Seol—who had come as a spectator—did not step forward.
She knew full well that throwing herself into the fray would be useless. More decisively, Dimension Walker was already there. If she charged in on some half-baked sense of justice, she would not help anyone; she would only become an obstacle tripping him up.
Then, without warning, the lights inside the building died. The moment her eyes adjusted enough to reclaim a sliver of vision in the dark, she unfurled her wings and stationed herself beside the three artificial heroes—P, D, and I.
Several government assemblymen were gathered there as well. Dimension Walker had ignored their orders and done as he pleased, leaving no one to guard them.
"W-Who's there!"
A government assemblyman shouted into the darkness. Valkyrie answered while shielding the three artificial heroes.
"This is Valkyrie. Dimension Walker appears preoccupied with combat, so I will take charge of this area on my own authority."
"Ah, Valkyrie! Excellent timing! We'll leave the escort to you!"
"Understood."
Hoping her eyes would adapt to the dark even faster, Valkyrie protected the assemblymen and the three artificial heroes while calming the surrounding civilians.
"Everyone, this is Valkyrie! Don't be afraid—come toward the sound of my voice and hold your positions! Moving recklessly in the dark is more dangerous! Feel your way carefully with your arms so you don't tangle with one another, and gather over here!"
"V-Valkyrie…? That's Valkyrie's voice!"
"Hah… so it isn't just Dimension Walker after all."
"C-Careful… just like Valkyrie said, slowly…"
Unlike Dimension Walker, who focused solely on the fight, Valkyrie threw herself first into reassuring the civilians. Relieved that a hero was looking after them, the people quickly regained their composure and began gathering around her with careful steps.
Once she judged that the civilians had put enough distance between themselves and the two combat zones, Valkyrie used her gradually widening field of vision to watch for any new developments.
Then her sight cleared a little more, enough to make out the giant capsule standing in the center of the venue.
That was when Valkyrie saw Kid G, clutching his abdomen, force the massive capsule open.
The moment it parted, the fluid inside poured out. The sudden cold liquid against their legs made every assemblyman and civilian flinch and snap their heads toward the splash.
"Kid G!!!"
Valkyrie cried out at the same instant Dimension Walker, voice thick with fury, re-entered the hall. Timed perfectly with that moment, the red-ponytailed woman inside the giant capsule opened her eyes.
JD Eve—the first success of Project JD, and at the same time its discarded prototype.
There are usually two reasons a prototype gets scrapped.
Either its performance falls far short of the standard… or it becomes something even its creators can no longer control.
Eve was the latter.
To produce the world's first artificial hero, the government and its scientists had partnered with Japanese counterparts, throwing every scrap of available technology into bringing Eve into existence.
In truth she was never a pure artificial construct. She was a human-based artificial hero—an orphaned girl taken and used as a test subject. That was Eve's true nature.
The same was true of the early-model artificial heroes P, D, and I.
What set Eve apart was that, as the very first of her kind, her control systems were riddled with catastrophic flaws. Without knowing exactly how much of a person's mind needed to be stripped away to create a perfectly obedient weapon, the researchers had run only cursory tests before stuffing her with every advanced technique they possessed. The result was a biological weapon of terrifying power that grew less and less obedient—the worst possible outcome from a scientist's perspective.
Even with a control code implanted in her brain, a strong sense of self had remained. One day Eve ignored that code entirely, went berserk, and obliterated an entire laboratory wing, killing every scientist inside.
After a brutal struggle she was subdued and sealed inside a stasis chamber. From then on she never woke again, existing only as a motionless experimental platform for grafting new technology—until today, when she was unveiled to the public alongside the early models P, D, and I.
In the original story, Eve's existence had been little more than a brief flashback, a footnote in the origin of the artificial heroes. She was never supposed to awaken—not even by the point where I had dropped out of the narrative.
But the control code capable of loosely commanding her had been mentioned in the story. Its peculiar wording had even become something of a meme.
I remembered that code. The moment I forced open her stasis chamber and whispered it, Prototype JD Eve finally opened her eyes.
"Command."
With the control code active, Eve entered standby. I barked an order at once.
"Stop Dimension Walker! Protect me!"
"Confirming status of command authority… Total incompetence. Survival probability without assistance: zero percent."
…What the hell did she just say?
Chwararak—!
The instant Eve received the order, the capsule that had held her split into hundreds of razor-edged fragments and turned their blades toward me.
"You treated me like an idiot, Kid G. I assume you're ready to die for it?"
"Eve!"
"Initiating escort of incompetent command authority."
As the shattered capsule shards streaked toward me, Eve rotated both hands in smooth, half-circles, as if performing tai chi. The lower section of the capsule beneath her feet split in the same way and shot out to intercept the pieces Dimension Walker had launched. The two barrages collided head-on.
Kuuung—!
A roar far too massive to have come from such small fragments shook the air, spraying debris in every direction.
"Well now? A half-awake human scrap, and you've still got some of the old strength left?"
"…Powerful hostility detected. Biometric wave analysis confirms codename Dimension Walker. Engaging."
"Ha—engaging? Against me? You're really starting to piss me off. Go on, then—if you think you can!"
Dimension Walker, lids fully blown, stopped caring about civilian safety entirely. He sucked every piece of equipment and structure in the Hero Technology Innovation Center into black portals and began hurling them at Eve and me in a relentless barrage.
……
Kugung… Kwaaang—!
As Eve traded blows with Dimension Walker, the shattered facility debris sprayed in every direction. Civilians began to take injuries in the shockwave.
"Aaaagh!"
"Aaaah! My arm!"
"Dimension Walker! If you fight this violently here, the civilians will—!"
Valkyrie called out urgently, but he paid her no mind and simply kept pouring on the attacks.
On top of that, the government assemblymen only badgered Valkyrie harder.
"Valkyrie, what are you doing?! We're in danger! Where are you looking?!"
"Kh…!"
They didn't care that civilians were being struck by debris and sent sprawling; they only screamed for her to protect them. In the end Valkyrie threw her own body in front of the flying shards.
"Ugh… kuh…!"
Eve and Dimension Walker's power was so immense that even an ability user like Valkyrie found the force of the fragments almost unbearable for long. Still she clenched her teeth.
Skin tore, blood ran, bruises multiplied, yet she kept using every part of her body and wings to shield the people behind her.
Damn it… I can't hold out much longer… If I go down, the people behind me…!
The battle clearly favored Dimension Walker, yet Eve refused to yield, dragging the fight out. Just as Valkyrie's arms and legs began to tremble violently under the barrage of debris, her eyes met Kid G's for a split second.
Seeing her condition, Kid G snapped an order to Eve.
"Eve! Break off the fight! Get us out of here! We're ditching Dimension Walker!"
"Confirming order from command authority who contributes nothing to combat power and is entirely useless. Shall we leave on foot?"
"Stop saying weird crap and get us out of here as fast as possible by any means necessary!"
"An overbearing order from a master with a strong sense of ownership yet zero utility. I will comply for now."
"You little—"
The words were barely out of his mouth when Eve scooped Kid G up in one arm.
At the same moment the soles of her suit flared electric blue. With a thunderous roar she launched skyward.
Wajangchang—!
Jet-flame erupted from beneath Eve's feet as she rocketed upward. The ceiling of the Hero Technology Innovation Center exploded outward, revealing a sky rapidly deepening into indigo, and vision returned in an instant.
"Those bastards are trying to run!"
Dimension Walker roared, splitting his body and flinging the pieces high into the distant sky. Eve, still clutching Kid G, spun at supersonic speed in midair, generating a violent airstream that battered away every incoming fragment of Dimension Walker's body.
Kid G and Eve vanished into the sky at blinding speed. Only after everything was over did Valkyrie finally feel the full weight of her pain.
Strength drained from her body. She staggered, lost consciousness, and collapsed forward.
And so the Hero Technology Innovation Center raid incident—later known to the public as "a B-class villain's declaration of war against the government"—came to an end.