Knight's Honor: A Skullgirls Prequel

Lab Zero/With No Choice...

An Anti-Skullgirl, people made to combat a malevolent force. The last line of defense, and the first to attack. I never was in a position to become an ASG, as most of my limbs were rather functional. But these people had a new chance to become better.

At the very least, I assumed so. But this Lab Zero is...very dark. And very...'Bond Villain' in theme. How you say, 'off-putting', to somebody of the Chess Kingdom; we have clear guidelines on how we portray ourselves towards civilians. If all of us started to dress and act villainous, nobody would trust us. I can't necessarily denounce them, it's how this country works. It has more ASG Labs than the only two in the Chess Kingdom, Lab 4 and Lab 9. They were pretty small in comparison, so at the very most, they had resources.

Projects, several laid out of people being grown in tubes...including a questionable girl. From the tag it had, this was attempt number 45078, and a failed one.

"Yeah, Brain Drain made clones. Only one really was made perfectly, but we don't talk about palette swaps," Valentine told me, myself getting a bemused look. Palette swap? Given it's a clone, why would that need to be said? It came from someone's DNA, of course it would look similar...

"Er...this man is a fan of himself?" I pointed near the archway. I assumed it was the logo of his visage, plastered above the entrance to the main office.

"...He has an ego. Go with it. Ahem..." Knocking the door, she spoke up. "Hey Brain Drain! The subject is ready to speak-"

"I KNOW, dammit! Let me have a cup of coffee first, Christ!" Sounds likable. That is sarcasm, yes? I never really used it.

The door opened, instead showing a weird blue cat girl...robot...thing.

"Wub wub wub~" From what I could tell, it was a prototype. Entering, watching the robot dismantle itself, practically falling apart of walking into the doorframe.

Odd. Very odd. Ahead was the man himself, currently sipping a hot mocha. He was what his name entailed, his brain taken from a body, and placed within a robotic replacement. Cybernetics usually dealt with prosthetic limbs, but he replaced everything. How does he rid of waste?

"Really? Still trying to make a robot Nadia Fortune?" Valentine rolled her eye, as Brain Drain only grunted.

"Hey! You saw 'value' in her form. I am applying it! I'm adding everything! Maybe even lasers, a multi-head drone system...comedic timing software for shits and giggles," With a sip (How does it even enter a non-organic system), he stared at me, clasping his hands. "Ah, the Chess Knight! Pardon my rush, just a little off today. My most recent project is...well, it's currently biting itself..."

Looking back, it was, chewing a dent in it's forearm as the rest was blaring out music from decades ago. Some...keyboard cat I assume.

"You're just trying to protect your ego with that terrible idea, huh?" Valentine chuckled, as he grumbled at that. He wanted to say something, but my presence was repressing any outburst he could have had.

"Nevermind all that...it's good to have you, mister Duval, my boy!" Standing up, it was clear he was taller than me. Probably due to his body either mimicking or improving his original height.

"Merci, Doctor. I take it that this about the Skullgirl incident aboveground? A plan of sorts?"

"Ah, straight to the point...I like that," Brain Drain chuckled, taking me with his shoulder wrapped around me. The Nurse was following. "Ignore the bits of the prototype...yeah just..."

Kicking away the head, we moved on to the hallway, taking a left turn. As we managed to get to an even larger area, enough to scale up to Everest, the caverns blending well with this area. Computers lined up this hall, several drives turning all in sync.