Imposter System

"She wants to buy information." "Looking for information on a person." "Information on a high-clearance researcher." The three machines all spoke in a practiced manner. Their voices were human but had an eerie emotionless tone. The tall man ignored their commenting as if used to it and waited for Alexandria to respond to his question.

Alexandria maintained her guard and responded, "I need all the information on Dr. Jovanovski, including her routines and schedule."

"There are three results." "Eliminating the two with only level one clearance." "Rania Jovanovski, complete profile valued at four-hundred… and one credits." The machines responded one by one. Alexandria didn't pay attention to what they were saying and waited for the operator to confirm.

He smiled in agreement and continued, "It seems we have what you are looking for. Désirez-vous autre chose? Is there anything else?"

Despite his kind front, Alexandria could tell that he approved of the machines way of dealing with her. They clearly seemed to know exactly how many credits she had left. They didn't even make an effort to hide it.

"How do I earn more credits?" The underworld of the ship would be a valuable source of information and mobility for Matt so she decided to earn some more credits. The thought of his praise made her mood improve.

"Ah, the task board is the best way. Ask your guide for security access to the dark forum." Seeing that she was finished dealing, he lost interest and returned to whatever he was doing. This left Alexandria to be scrutinized by the machines again. The three that had been speaking stood up simultaneously and surrounded her.

"Payment has been received." "Your credits have been deducted." "The information is presented." The third human-like robot gave her a data stick that came out of its arm. She took it and immediately returned to her guide. As she left, the man stepped back into the common area of his information booth and rubbed his chin in thought. As Alexandria turned a corner, he smiled and went back to his business.

Meanwhile Alexandria conversed with the guide as it took her back to the bar. She managed to receive the access to the dark forums after much difficulty. It turned out that unless you knew exactly what you were looking for, the automated prompts would lead you into several blinds. After accessing the page on her tablet, a program ran that secured her line. Then, she logged in and was able to browse the forums.

The most common task for credits was covering peoples shifts. The pay varied based on how dangerous the task was. Alexandria also saw a transaction list for her credits and noticed a few people that tipped her for covering their shifts over the last two years. There were also occasional small gifts from people she had a work relationship with during her birthdays.

After browsing the strange requests for the whole trip back, she spotted an event pinned at the top of one of the sub-topics. It was a standard robot brawl. Some engineers that worked on combat-oriented models for the military to use in their training would create robots to fight in the arena. There was naturally gambling involved.

After reading through the event description, she noticed a few different categories. The fighting wasn't just robots, but also people who have undergone mechanical enhancements. Alexandria was very confident in her physical body after performing several experiments with Matt. As long as her opponents wasn't modified with living metal, she would be invincible in the arena. She was even confident to take down the fighting robots.

Before registering, she decided to check the information she received. Once opened, the documents had twenty-four hours before deleting themselves. After reading through all the information, she was more confident in her upcoming infiltration. Looking at the doctor's timetable and routines, she picked out a time four days from now to strike. This fit perfectly with her plan to earn more credits as the next fight was tomorrow.

Alexandria registered for the fight and then returned to her room. She dug out a facemask used in repair jobs where the environment was leaking into space. She decided to disguise herself during the fights, along with the stage name of Faceless.

The next day she went back to the bar and entered the tunnels. She went into a closet and disguised herself. Fortunately, the venue for the fight was close so she didn't need a guide through the countless passageways. When she arrived, she was surprised to see that the area for the fight was in a military bay. An arena was set up and there were nearly a hundred people.

As she walked up, she was stopped by a woman with her hair tied back in a ponytail, wearing her standard uniform. "Spectator or fighter?"

"Fighter. Faceless." Alexandria replied curtly. She flexed her vocal cords in order to produce a deeper voice. Combined with the facemask, it was hard to recognize. The woman pressed a few times on her tablet and then turned it toward Alexandria.

"This is a release stating that, in the case of injury, you will not find fault with the organization. Please sign here." Her methods were very procedural, and she didn't treat Alexandria any differently than other participants. Alexandria signed without a second thought and received her entry band. "You will receive ten percent of the credits earned from bets against you. Winning first comes with a one-hundred credit bonus."

Alexandria nodded and continued forward and walked around to get a feel for the competition. Although it was nearly impossible for someone else to utilize living metal, she still had to be cautious. With the things that have happened in the lower decks, there was a tiny chance. However, after making a loop around the venue, she didn't sense any living metal.

After becoming one of Matthew's followers, Alexandria became extremely sensitive to living metal. It was as if her body craved for it. However, this craving wasn't anything compared to her craving for blood. Although she wasn't capable of gaining evolution points, she still perked up when she smelled blood. And the one thing that was plentiful in a brawl was blood.

The arena was just a raised stage with a cloth spread over it. There weren't any boundaries set up around the edge, since the rules indicated exiting the arena as a loss condition. Losing consciousness or the ability to fight was another loss condition. In the case of a stalemate, the head of the event would determine victory by points. However, that has never happened in the history of the brawl.

Alexandria gleamed a lot of information from the spectators as they gossiped about the different fighters and robots that would be on stage today. It turned out there were eight in Alexandria's group, and eight in the robot fights. Her group would fight first to warm up the crowd, since it was usually less intense than the robots' fights. Many were here specifically to see the robots tear each other apart.

Ding, ding, "First match Bruce Lee vs Faceless. Please enter the stage." With the announcement, several people began to cheer. Apparently, Bruce Lee was a fan favorite. It is said that he replaced the muscle fibers in his major muscle groups with a special carbon-fiber nano weave of his own creation. He also built robots to do the surgery on him! Many believed he had many more modifications, but he would never reveal his strengths and weaknesses.

Alexandria stepped up onto the stage and saw the bronze-skinned man waving at the crowd. His bulky muscles were a juxtaposition to his short stature and babyface. He only wore boxing shorts and was barefooted. Compared to her who wore a long black overcoat, facemask, gloves, and boots. Many people were shouting for the fighting to start. Some even called for blood right away. Bets were flying left and right, Alexandria overheard that the odds are one to five favoring the other fighter.

"Hello, my name is Lee, lets have a good fight." The man was surprisingly polite and even bowed toward her. She gave him a slight nod and responded with 'you too.' He entered a martial arts stance and began to evaluate her before making a move. Alexandria never learned any complex fighting techniques; she only knew the basics from military training. She got into an unpracticed boxing stance and charged forward to take control of the center of the arena.

Based on her understanding, the only way she could lose was to be removed from the arena or lose to points. Therefore, in order to combat either possibility, she would control the center ring of the arena to accumulate points while also keeping far away from the edges. This would let her play defensive while looking for openings. Otherwise, she would win when they came to time of the round.

Seeing her dash forward, the experienced fighter understood her strategy and immediately performed a high-powered flying kick. If the stage were made from a lighter material, it would have shaken from the force of his jump. His foot was accurately trained to slam her right in the abdomen, aiming to knock the wind out of her.

Alexandria heightened her focus and attempted to grab his foot midair.