Imposter System

"I knew that you would come for me… Once that bitch was out of the picture."

Matt was confused about the situation. He couldn't see clearly but could sense the cyborg approaching him. He wasn't sure why, but the sense of familiarity increased steadily. Before the cyborg entered his view, a large monitor lit up at the top of the room. When Matt turned up to look, he saw a sight which made his blood boil.

Alexis was tied up lying on a medical table. Her chest was exposed and surgical lines were drawn over her sternum. There was a tray with some sort of device with a long wire. Suddenly, a doctor entered the frame wearing surgical gowns and gloves. An attendant came into the scene from the other side holding a tray of surgical instruments. Matt thought they figured out she had the parasite, but the details didn't match.

It seemed as if they would be implanting something in her rather than taking something out. He saw the device and remembered the man that died from electric shock to his heart. He activated Detect Life and shot at the monitor. Although he was angry, he needed to keep calm. He had good control over his emotions, but he didn't want to let his opponent know that. Shooting the monitor was a good method to put up a false front. It seemed to work as the cyborg began to laugh.

"That anger, that passion. I want it all. I want to snuff out everything so that I am the only person in your eyes…"

The monitor shattered and fell from its hinges. The rain of glass and electricity illuminated the spot in front of it where the cyborg was standing. Matt had been prepared to attack but had a double take when he saw who the person was. Their body was already mostly mechanical with various parts replaced. However, he knew why he recognized the voice. Her face was untouched by the cybernetics and living metal so there was no questioning who was standing in front of him.

"Cindy…"

Cindy only laughed in her slightly robotic feminine voice. Her body had been severely modified and only held a shred of her sanity left. She slowly walked forward to get into Matt's view. He was not able to see her completely. She had no hair, but instead various metal cables with ports at the end of them. It seemed that the biggest flaw of the cyborg technology was a power source. She needed to keep plugged in to stay alive.

"How did this happen to you?"

"What are you talking about Matt? This is all for you. You wouldn't look at me. I was so close to having you finally become mine and then that bitch got pregnant. First it was your stupid goat. I could deal with that since it was just an animal. But you had to taunt me… you had to get another thing pregnant! How could you do this to me?"

Seeing her ramble on, Matt realized that although she survived the experiment and was able to maintain her consciousness, she had indeed gone insane. Her face contorted in strange ways as she talked about the past as if it were obvious. Matt pitied her. It seems that she was just a victim of Shephard like everyone else.

As he began to let his guard down, Cindy charged at him with blood lust in her eyes. She was mumbling about killing Matt and wearing his skin which sent a shiver down his spine. However, he was not prepared and could only sacrifice his arm to defend. A shower of sparks came out and Cindy slammed her fist into the ground. Martha had removed her invisibility and her green pines had become darker and sharper.

She had knocked Cindy's attack away before it struck Matt, saving him in the last moment. Cindy left a large dent in the ground with her redirected attack. This was no joke. The enhancements they gave the Cyborg were too ridiculous. He switched his weapon to maximum and focused his Detect Life on Cindy. The flow of vitality was very strange. Once it touched a mechanical part, it would switch to a circuit-board like pattern. Upon close inspection, he saw three concentrations of vitality.

The brain, the heart, and something extra which he assumed was part of the functioning mechanical parts. A normal human had more points of concentrated vitality which were the various weak points in the body. This meant that she had very few weaknesses as they were surgically removed or replaced. He decided to focus on the mechanical center in order to disable her function but keep her alive.

After creating some space, he shot three bullets at the mechanical heart. However, he underestimated Cindy's fighting capability. She was very skilled and very dangerous. Matt remembered a time when Alexis and her got into a fight. Normally, any random person wouldn't be able to even lay a hand on Alexis since she was a very skilled fighter. This subtle fact was buried in all that he had to deal with so he had forgotten.

As the three bullets flew to their mark, Cindy easily blocked with her mechanical arm. Although the bullets were very powerful, her arm seemed to be completely made of living metal. However, she did not only block. Using the opportunity of Matt being distracted by her block, she charged forward at full speed. The sound of air being released came from her legs and she moved at inhuman speeds. If not for Martha making another move, Matt would have been skewered.

He realized this wasn't the time to play around. He started to fire shot after shot, but Cindy just blocked it all. Her reflexes were at another level completely. If not for Matt's recent improvement, he would be at a huge disadvantage. Matt was about to dump everything into Dream Walking to have another attack in his arsenal, but Martha bit the back of Cindy's neck and took her down.

Cindy didn't stay idle and managed to grab Martha and threw her to the ground. Then, she picked Martha up by her neck and started strangling her. Martha didn't breathe so it wouldn't do anything, but a thick sap-like liquid began to leak from her body. Cindy chuckled and positioned her other arm to penetrate into Martha's body.

"We have been searching for you this whole time, but here you are delivering yourself to me. Become one with me so that I can become perfect!"

Matt realized what was happening and didn't hold back anymore. He stopped caring about her life and only wanted to save Martha. He shot several Mind Blasts in a row until he was completely spent. Cindy yelped and dropped Martha after the first shot. The second shot started to make her scream and hold her head. The third shot brought her to her knees. The fourth shot made her start convulsing.

Matt approached to check on Martha's wounds be she seemed to be okay. He looked down at the seizing Cindy and was about to place a bullet in her head to finish it. However, she suddenly stopped and her eyes went back to normal. When Matt saw this, he was shocked, but Cindy didn't make any moves to attack.

"So, you are going to kill me then? Do you dare? I can no longer move this body, so do as you wish."

The voice became more melodic and calmer than before. It seemed that his Mind Blasts knocked her back to her senses. He didn't understand what the logic behind it was, but there must be some mechanical reason her brain isn't completely human. Matt looked down at her and pointed his gun.

"Where is Alexis? Tell me, did Shephard do this to you? What is his goal, dammit!?"

"She is in the next room. You are free to take her, we did not harm her. Just remember, she is in my control now. It cannot be removed or disabled."

Matt was confused with the way Cindy was speaking. Something wasn't right. He looked again into those lifeless eyes and realized that something was wrong. He took a step back as his hands shook. Although the body was wasted due to his attacks, it was still speaking. Any human would become a vegetable at this point.

"It seems you figured it out. It was always me, Matthew. You just never noticed it. I have been watching you and every one of my sheep. I am in charge of this herd. Whenever there is a wolf or a problematic black sheep, I will remove it. This is my mission. I am the Shephard."

Matt shot the bullet and killed what remained of the body. He then fell backward and held his head. Shephard wasn't a person. The signs were so obvious, he just never figured it out. The reason no one could do anything to Shephard. The reason people disappeared without the computer alerting anyone.

Shephard is the AI.