Stelle sat in the center of Herta’s lab, surrounded by buzzing machinery, glowing panels, and the access to the Simulated Universe behind her. Herta was just a short distance away, tapping at a holographic interface with the other was on a screen, swipping through files.
“Don’t fidget,” Herta commanded without looking up. “This requires precise calibration. If you want to understand your new abilities, you’ll need to sit still for at least—oh, three hours?”
“Three hours?” Stelle groaned, throwing her head back. “You’re worse than Pom-Pom doing cleaning.”
“Pom-Pom isn’t researching on a soul-manipulating entity. Stay focused,” Herta replied dryly, eyes still glued to her interface.
Stelle sighed, pretending to comply, but her mind raced. She still felt the strange, weightless sensation from earlier—it was like a door in her mind had been left ajar, waiting for her to push it open again. If this power truly let her manipulate souls, she wasn’t going to just sit here and let Herta treat her like a test subject.
She closed her eyes, reaching inward.
The feeling of separation returned, swift and smooth. Within moments, Stelle was outside her body, floating as a translucent version of herself. This time, it felt almost natural, as if the ability was already refining itself with use.
“Subject’s heart rate spiking slightly,” Herta noted aloud, oblivious to what was happening. “Interesting. Perhaps the Stellaron is reacting to stress stimuli—”
Herta abruptly stopped as Stelle’s ghostly form hovered over her.
“What—?” was all the genius managed before Stelle reached out and grab her. No soul seemed to follow, like Herta was souless. The Trailblazer girl hesitated, then have an idea. She just entered the puppet, like it was some non-material thing.
There was a brief shimmer of light, and then Stelle was seeing through Herta’s eyes.
Stelle flexed Herta’s fingers experimentally. The mechanical body was stiff, cold, and strangely heavy despite its "young girl" nature. Her voice emerged in a clipped, clinical tone:
“Interesting. So this is what it’s like to be you.”
Then, Stelle heard a voice in her head. “Fascinating. I wondered if this would happen. You can act on non-organic beings.”
“You don’t sound too worried,” Stelle said, smirking as she gestured a bit, fascinated by how the mechanical articulations respond.
“I’m not. This only proves my hypothesis.” Herta doesn't seem to do anything, only talking and thinking. “You’re welcome to play around in this body, but I assure you—my contingency plans account for this. You're only possessing one puppet.”
“Do they really account me messing with your lab ?” Stelle asked, twirling a hand and glancing at the control panel.
With a flourish, Stelle tapped the holographic console. Alarms blared as several machines sparked to life, their settings dialed to the maximum.
“Stop that,” Herta said flatly, as some actions from her elsewhere seemed to put to sleep the machines.
“Why? This is fun.” Stelle turn on herself, like a ballerina, accidentally knocking over a monitor.
“You’re remarkably reckless for someone in possession of one of my puppets” Herta deadpanned, clearly unamused. “Do you have any idea how expensive these machines are?”
“I dunno, but you’ll find out soon enough.”
Stelle moved to a nearby panel and started pushing random buttons. One of the holograms displayed something that looked like the Simulated Universe, while another revealed a countdown timer.
“Wait,” Stelle muttered. “Is that... an auto-destruct sequence?”
Herta sighed. “It isn’t, but if you keep pushing buttons, it might as well be.”
Stelle hesitated, then grinned. “Guess I’d better put things back to normal. Wouldn’t want to blow us both up, right?”
Without waiting for a response, she concentrated, and emerged from the puppet, returning to herself. Of course, she was immediatly greeted by a searing glare from Herta.
“You’re insufferable,” the genius said, brushing herself off.
“Maybe,” Stelle replied with a cheeky grin. “But I’m starting to figure this power out. And now I know how to keep you on your toes.”
Herta sighed, waving her hand to dismiss the timer. “Congratulations. You’ve learned how to abuse your abilities like a child with a new toy. Now, if you’re done fooling around, let’s continue the tests—properly this time.”
But Stelle just smiled, the mischievous glint in her eye making it clear: this was only the beginning.
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