The hiss of gasses merged with the beeping of the alarm.

Cold mist burst out of the capsule as a hand clasped the corners of the metal casket.

A pale, thin hand.

“I…”

Low, grueling, the voice echoed in the chamber filled with noises. The hand pushed down on the capsule, and slowly, a woman’s figure waded through the cold mist.

White hair flowed down her back, while her every labored breath made her pale skin a shade brighter.

No human would have been able to move, let alone speak in her position.

But the flames of hatred burned too bright to be held down by mere ice.

Her eyes gazed over the chamber. Her teeth grit together.

In her hoarse, grating voice, she muttered.

“I’ll kill every last one of you…”

***

{Last Hope Penitentiary Information Files #0002: The All-Purpose Tesla Unit}

{A special kind of robot operating on wireless electric transmission fields set all over the Penitentiary. Hold the capacity to handle most of the odd jobs.

More variations of the Tesla Units exist. Please check the subfiles for further information.}

***

The Warden's footsteps paced around the control room. With one hand on his lips and another snugly pulled to his chest, he relentlessly stepped around the room.

"There is nothing in this place... No rest and no shoes."

[I apologize for the lack of shoes, Warden. The whole world has gone to ruin, and only three robots are left, but once we have the miscellaneous Tesla Units, it would be possible to make some.]

"Now I feel bad! Shut up!"

The Warden was punching above his weight class by fighting Hope. The quick exchange ended as he grasped his head once more.

A criminal. No, a criminal stronger than monsters straight out of games was on the loose. In the same place as he was.

Were it just something that small, then the Warden would have worried more about his shoes. The place was enormous, and criminals, when free, usually escaped their prison.

But, the criminal had been experimented on by the facility that he had been forced to become the head of.

By all means, it would be wimpy of the criminal if they did not come for revenge.

[Warden. I believe that the weapon has left the Cryogenic Chamber.]

“Hope. Send one of the units to scout and keep two to protect me.”

[Roger that.]

The Warden’s walk never stopped. Hope made a small note about his habit every time he had to think.

"Hope," he called again. "You said I am the natural counter against the criminals, right?"

[That is correct. The weapons are all yours to use.]

The Warden sighed at her words.

"How do I do it...?"

The Warden did not like it. He didn't want to think about using anyone like a tool, even if they were vile criminals. He would prefer they go away from him, or die, or whatever was on a discount these days. But the Warden had not much of a choice.

"Just in case... how do I control these criminals?"

[It is simple. According to the research from forty years back, all you have to do is step on the head of the weapon.]

The Warden froze.

"What did you just say?"

[Step on them. Their heads, to be precise]

The Warden chuckled at the words of the AI.

"Good joke. Now tell me how I can control the criminals."

[The answer remains the same, Warden. You must step on their heads for your ability to activate.]

Warden needed to stop pacing around at her words and return to the tricks of yore he had picked up in the past. Deep breaths. The all-healing drug oxygen would help him through this crisis.

Step on them? Scientists used hundreds of years to study the mutations, and this was the best they could do?

He wondered why the trigger for his ability was something that strange. But the world was not going to let him ponder it for long.

The blaring of the emergency alarms kicked up a notch again. The Warden was yanked out of his element as the sound continued.

“What happened?”

[The Weapon broke a few more facilities. Thankfully, she also announced her location to us.]

“Her? You have visuals.”

[Affirmative. I have just finished matching her to the database. A Sapphire-Ranked Weapon, code-named Ember. We have graded her Ability, Endurance, and Compliance at B. Her strength at an A, and her Agility at a C.]

The Warden already had an idea about the rank thanks to the weapon. But these stats were something new.

“Are these game stats?”

[Similar. We rank them starting from Grade C to Grade SS]

The Warden sighed. The escaped prisoner was thankfully a three-star in a Gacha game at best.

“Compared to the monster. This might be easier than we thought.”

[Compared to the monster? I have confirmed that she is ten times stronger than the Magenta Monster you just faced—]

Clang clang, his steps began again. Three stars in a Gacha Game? That mattered little when he was god-damned zero stars.

"Let us stop and count the facts," he said. "I was forcibly made the Warden of this place that the criminal hates. The criminal somehow escaped her pod, and now we are all going to die?"

[Please control the weapon before the situation escalates to that degree, Warden.]

Easier said than done, thought the Warden. But unfortunately, panicking wasn't going to help.

Hope did not have any visuals of the criminal. Last Hope was made to contain them as securely as possible. Hope did not just lack full access to the cells, but the cells also did not operate without multiple manual protocols.

The Warden was pushed to the edge. If he wanted to survive, he would have to handle this criminal with a team consisting of a blabbermouth AI, three small robots that could shoot a gun, and himself.

The Warden held in his tears over how the generally useless robots were somehow the most useful here.

The Warden’s mind raced once more to find a way to get himself out of this fresh new predicament.

“And that window from before. How many of them are there?”

[315, Warden. They are all protected with strong glass panes to keep out the Magenta Radiation. I am afraid you won’t be able to throw anyone out.]

“Open as many of them as you can. It’s alright if you end up sacrificing some of the power in this room.”

A smile slowly stretched on the Warden’s lips.

“This can work…” he muttered. “I can make it work…”

[Multiple power lines are out-of-commission. Analysis has been completed. I can open 98 windows, but I do not have enough data to know if all of them will open.]

“98? The scale of this place is a little insane. That’s enough to show the prisoner our beautiful outside scenery. Use the doors and the windows to lure her to us.”

The Warden dusted his clothes and picked up the gun he had picked up from the power room.

“You two, come with me.”

The two Tesla Units followed at his command as the Warden stepped toward the door.

A voice stopped him from leaving.

[Warden. Are you planning to appeal to the weapon’s psyche?]

Hope’s deadpan tone strangely seemed disapproving to him. He raised a brow and turned toward the unit she was using.

“Unlike me, these people lived in this world for years before they were put to sleep. Seeing it ruined will leave a deep gash on their minds.”

[I am afraid such tricks would not work on the weapons.]

“Not on weapons, they won’t.”