BAD ENDING 001: Slave Walker Sonia 3

"Yes… I am a combat walker unit… all I have to do is leave everything to Master… leave it all to her… a Slave Walker's… unit…"

The voice that spilled from Sonia's lips no longer belonged to her. It was nothing more than the hollow echo of a dried-out, empty doll, mechanically reciting whatever its owner willed.

With the dark streets still scarred by the drone terrorist attack at its back, a four-legged military weapon belonging to Sky City advanced toward an outlying army base with the silent, beastlike gait of something that no longer needed to think.

The machine's official designation was Combat Walker. But because of a grim history in which criminals and slaves stripped of all human dignity had once been consumed as living control components, people still called the thing a Slave Walker.

Despite the military's desperate efforts to scrub away that negative image, the name clung like a brand — from veteran pilot Peko down to nameless civilians — and continued to hint at the weapon's brutal essence.

The remaining route was a single monotonous road leading to the mountain base where Peko was stationed. Having input the auto-navigation command, Peko fixed her gaze on Sonia's biometric signals streaming in real time through the controller.

Extremely stable brainwaves. A heart rate as regular as a machine. And a staggering level of receptivity to the mental modification program currently running. Every data point pointed toward the potential of a perfect component.

…To satisfy the usage conditions this cleanly. There's no explanation for this but fate, is there, Sonia?

Peko's slender fingers stroked the cold surface of the controller as if caressing it.

The mental reinforcement program she was running on Sonia was a rare data chip that had been effectively sealed away, its applicable subjects so limited it had gathered dust in storage. The paradoxical requirement for activation: a memory of successful combat experience — the recollection of completing a mission under a Master's control. Useless to the rookie units who needed mental modification most desperately, it had sat forgotten in a base warehouse.

But Sonia was different. Through the drone-suppression operation she had been unintentionally swept into, she had perfectly unlocked that finicky condition of a "successful experience memory." Peko had no intention of letting this golden opportunity slip away.

Before they arrived at the base and she had to present this delicious raw gemstone to other greedy pilots, she needed to carve a perfect brand into her — proof of ownership.

"Ahh… ah… ahhah…♡"

A hot, pleasure-soaked moan spilled from Sonia's parted lips. Over her golden eyes — already covered by yellow contact lenses — more special multicolored lenses stacked themselves with a mechanical whir. Waves of light painting complex, dazzling patterns poured mercilessly through Sonia's pupils into the deepest reaches of a brain that offered no resistance at all.

"You're doing well, Slave Unit. Keep focusing on the sound you hear."

The name "Sonia" had been completely omitted from Peko's voice now. It was a deliberate distancing — a cold declaration that she would erase the individual identity that had once been Sonia and treat her solely as a functional existence called a Slave Unit.

Peko had desperate reasons for ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it. Even a veteran pilot like herself had spent bone-grinding years before securing a dedicated unit. In a situation where unit supply was this critically short, if word got out that an unprocessed Sonia showed this much potential, every pilot at the base would swarm her like starving hyenas the moment they arrived.

If I have to give her to someone else, it's only natural that I break her perfectly and keep her as mine first, right?

The most effective way to permanently block synchronization with any other pilot was to forge an absolute, irreversible psychological dependency on the first Master. To inject into Sonia's emptied mind affection, obedience, and blind loyalty toward the existence known as "Pilot Peko," Peko raised the intensity of the training program another notch.

A cold, mechanical voice filled Sonia's head. Between the dazzling festival of light unfolding before her eyes, the voice induction shaking her brain directly, and the relentless mechanical stimulation of the control rod rising from below, Sonia's already fragile sense of self crumbled like a sandcastle.

Master controlling me… the memory of Master controlling me… Master… the memory of Miss Peko controlling me…♡

Words like Master, obedience, safety, and happiness rose and vanished over Sonia's golden eyes. Simply looking at the words was enough to make her pupils go unfocused and slack, a thread of clear saliva trailing from the corner of her mouth. Every time the words glittered against the fluorescent background, meaningless murmurs slipped from her lips — "Master… obedience… happineess…♡"

"I am Master's Slave Unit Soniaaa… my Master is Miss Peko… not anyone else… only Miss Peko… I am nothing but a helpless Slave Walker Unit who can only be protected by Miss Peko…♡"

"Yes… yesss… I… think I understand…♥"

I am Miss Peko's Slave Walker Unit… the reason Master made me into a Slave Walker Unit is… reason… what is the reason…? The reason Master chose me is…

The program's suggestions were relentless and cruel. The hero's sense of duty to help the citizens of Sky City, the practical desire for extra pay — all of it was wiped clean. In their place remained only a crushing sense of powerlessness, and a blind gratitude toward the Master who had taken in such a worthless self.

I am a lewd unit that can do nothing… Master is the owner who manages a thing like me… Miss Peko is my only Master…♡

Master. Loyalty. Obedience. Declaration.

The words that followed were sucked into Sonia's pupils and branded directly onto her neural pathways. Her body now reacted only by reflex, following the program's instructions.

"To the Master who took in an incompetent Slave Unit that can do nothing, I hereby declare that I will always obey…♡"

"Haa…"

Listening to Sonia swear obedience in a voice thick with happiness, Peko let out a sigh of relief. She thought the immediate crisis had been handled.

Peko still did not know. Sonia's potential far exceeded anything she could imagine — and that potential would become an object of greed not only for herself, but for others at the base as well.

While Peko briefly adjusted the backpack containing the still-unconscious Milli, the program continued to run before Sonia's eyes.

The training was not finished yet. Inside the Walker advancing toward the armored unit base on autopilot, Sonia continued to surrender everything she had left to the voice that kept speaking to her.

"I am Master's Slave Unit… a helpless Slave Unit who always obeys Miss Peko, who took in a Slave Unit ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that can do nothing…♡"

The thought she had spoken aloud flowed back into her ears like a whisper. That voice was sweet as honey and irresistible as poison, gently paralyzing Sonia's mind.

Her mouth opened on its own, and she murmured the words after it like an incantation she had memorized long ago.

The system's emotionless voice rebounded off the cold metal walls. And in that instant — just a fraction of a second — like someone striking a match in pitch darkness, the self of D-class hero Sonia lifted its head, faint but unmistakable.

Thought… circuit… application…? Suggestion…? Something's… wrong…?!