A week passed, and both Eve and Lilly were now standing inside their new underground testing area. While it was 500 feet in length and around a thousand feet in width, only a portion of the ceiling had been secured with metal plating, while the walls each had metal supports. Eve only did part of the ceiling on the far side since that was where all the testing would be done. The ceiling closest to the entrance had metal supports running along the width of the room that were welded into the supports on the wall. Eve could only hope that this would keep the ceiling from cracking and caving in. “Now, we can begin work on the weapons.”

“I wish I could wrap my head around how you plan to make a weapon using gravity.” Lilly had read the diagrams Eve made up for her first prototypes, and she could not understand how they worked. It seemed way beyond anything she had ever dealt with before.

“Gravity weapons are not so much a gun that shoots a pulse or anything like that. Think of it like this. You have an object that disperses a magnetic field, increasing the gravity in the area. You then fire this object into an area, and it will open up and activate. Based on the power output of the object, the stronger the gravity field will be and the wider its range would be too. So in a way, we do not need to make a gun that fires out any kind of gravity but a gun that fires out the object that creates the gravity field. A gravity orb as I have named it here.” Eve explained. She had been thinking about the best way to accomplish the task of using gravity, but even with her knowledge of the gravity pulse engine, it still came down to an object with a mini version of the engine, whether gravity output was to increase gravity or decrease it. The power itself would be up to the person using the weapon. Just like bullets for a gun, the ammo for her gravity gun would come in different varieties and strengths.  

Of course, this was just the first version of the weapon. She planned for different versions and hoped they would work as she had designed them to. But as with all new inventions, there were no guarantees. 

More days passed, and Eve was either working on her weapons or taking care of her little minx, who seemed to be obsessed with being screwed until she passed out. It was like the old saying: ‘Once you go A.I., you never go back.’ Well, this was a saying that Eve came up with to tease Lilly. 

It was about two weeks later when Eve suddenly got a new mission out of nowhere.

[Mission started: Save General Thomas from assassination.]
[Reward: +50000 shop points] 
[Mission Info: An outsider group has devised a plot to turn X-Cyber City on its head. They plan to assassinate the top general of the X-Cyber City defense force. ]
[Time Limit: 72 hours]
[Clues: The assassins are not humans.]

“Hmmm?” Eve was in the middle of finalizing the first gravity orb when she got the mission notification. “50000 shop points for saving a General? Aiu, what do you think?”

“If it is just saving a General, I do not think it will be a big deal. But what concerns me is that the assassins are not humans. If this is the case, they could be A.I. or something else that we have yet to run into.” Aiu replied. She knew the shop points were something Eve needed, but at the same time, she was worried.

“It is worrisome….”  Eve fell into deep thought as she looked at the gravity orb in her hand. “Let’s see if this works. If it works, I am sure I can at least make about four more before nighttime, then I can go out and investigate.”

“Eve?” Lilly called out when she saw Eve seemed to be in a frozen state.

“I just got a new mission. Do you know a General Thomas?” Eve asked.

“He is the highest ranked general in X-Cyber City. Why?” Lilly asked curiously, but then a thought crossed her mind: “Wait, you don’t need to kill him, do you!?”

“Kill? No. It’s the opposite. I need to save him. He will be assassinated in the next seventy two hours.” Eve replied as a clicking sound was heard, and the casing to her first gravity orb snapped in place.

“What!? By who? Wait, how does your system even know such things?” Lilly still could not grasp the whole system thing that Eve had. It has an inventory, shops, and even missions. It was a strange, magical thing.

“I do not know who they are, only that they are not human. So I will need to investigate. If I can not find the killers beforehand, I can only follow the general. This means I will not be around for a while. I will leave tonight and begin my investigation. We just went food shopping yesterday, so you are good on food. Do not leave the house for anything. That Todd guy could be anywhere. I already shored up the defenses of the house, so there is no way Todd could get in without setting off an alarm. Be sure to have your weapon with you at all times.” Eve was worried more about Todd trying to do something to Lilly than anything else. If something happened to Lilly while she was away, she might just end up killing every human in the city.

“I will not leave the house. I do not want to worry you. I will not even enter the warehouse, just in case. But Eve, no matter what, even if you get exposed as an A.I. and need to leave the city, I beg of you to come back and get me. We can leave together and go someplace and begin anew.” While Eve worried for Lilly’s safety, Lilly worried for Eve’s safety. She also did not wish to be left alone without knowing what had happened to her. 

Eve smiled and pulled Lilly into her embrace and hugged her. “I will never leave you behind. But if something does happen and I do not return within four days' time, pack up your things and leave. Bring Tezz with you and the weapons we made and find a place to live outside the city.”

“If something happens to you, then this whole city will suffer… I will not allow anyone to get away with harming you.” Lilly’s voice was low and filled with coldness as she said this. If someone harmed the girl she loved, she would make them pay.