They were his family now, almost more so than any of the other Zoalords. Certainly more than most of the Zoanoids, who either could not comprehend or otherwise did not know of their master's glory. They would perhaps come to understand, but that was not her primary concern. She was simply here to serve the wishes of her master, Lord Alkanphel.

Of course, a great deal of serving her master's wishes entailed being able to move. The will was there, and her mind was functioning normally, her body simply would not obey her commands. And so she was trapped here, paralyzed and seemingly comatose, while her Zoacrystal regenerated from the damage that had been done to it by that little bastard Agito Makishima. Judging by the shattered feeling in her forehead, her Zoacrystal had not yet healed itself.

And so she remained here, resting in the pod where Lord Alkanphel had placed her to heal and revive. It was rather aggravating to be completely unable to move, but when she thought about what Lord Alkanphel had risked for her sake, she was very thankful for his consideration.

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The Zoacrystal had been firmly set and fixed into the forehead of his newest creation, and now Balkus was setting the energy-amplifiers into the palms of his not-yet-fully-born Zoalord's hands. They would allow this new creation of his to channel the energy stored inside its body for a variety of effects, once the genetic enhancements had taken full effect. Which they would, after the final round of processing had been completed on this creature.

And that would be taken care of presently, with the second and last emitter placed in the palm of his new creation's hand.

Lifting the unconscious body of the Zoalord - Imakarum had given it the name Isis, acting on what he claimed were the wishes of Lady Mirabilis - Dr. Balkus carried it back to the processing-tank and set the creature down inside it, then he reattached the sensors to the important parts of his new Zoalord's body. Giving an order to his aides, Dr. Balkus waited as the body of the tank was fixed into place again and then he began to fill the processing-tank with a new batch of amniotic fluid.

There were new retro-viruses mixed into this batch of fluid, those that would finish the genetic reconstruction of this new Zoalord; this "Isis Mirabilis". He had already taken the precautions that Lord Alkanphel had recommended for the time that he would be in danger of re-entering his hibernation, and so there was no need for him to worry about Yukari Fukamachi's personality reasserting itself within Isis' mind when she was finally ready to be let loose.

Isis twitched briefly as the processing-tank, filled with its new and remixed batch of amniotic fluid, began to bubble with the oxygen that would keep Isis alive while she was being processed into Chronos' newest Zoalord.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

When Agito Makishima walked into the large building that housed the processing-tanks that would be used to manufacture his newest and greatest troops, he paused for a moment to take them in. These new-generation Zoanoids of his; protected by their status as Lost Numbers and with one other asset that Chronos would never be expecting, were going to be the weapons that would give him further supremacy in his coming battles with Chronos.

Speaking of weapons, I wonder what it is that Akane's been working on for so long. Agito moved through the rows of processing-tanks, each holding their cargo of transforming soldiers, on his way to a meeting with Dr. Hekkaring. And a later one with Akane, to see what she had been doing while she had been here; whatever project she had been working on for so long, he wanted to know about it.

"There you are, Dr. Hekkaring," he greeted, walking up to the former Chronos scientist.

"I have already begun processing them," Hekkaring said, gesturing to the processing-tanks directly in front of him. "Using the data from the Japanese Lost Numbers, and some of my own modifications. I am quite certain that they will be superior to anything that Chronos has yet produced."

"Excellent work, doctor," Agito said admiringly, gazing at the figures in the processing-tanks once again.

"Thank you. All of the test results have been most promising; the majority of these troops will be ready within a month. And, we are already receiving new volunteers from the other cells in this area. The next group will be here in three weeks time, and then you can brief them on what to expect."

"Yes," Agito said, nodding as he considered the power that he would be bringing to bear against Chronos once these new Zoanoids of his, these Libertus, were completed. "And then my Thunderbolts will be on a level playing field with Chronos. Thank you again for all your hard work, Dr. Hekkaring."

"Mmm. To me it seems like madness. To voluntarily submit oneself to such a process as this. Of course, that is only if you were so kind as to inform the volunteers about what they would be in for once they underwent this process."

"What kind of a man do you take me for, doctor?"

"A ruthless one," Hekkaring said. "After all, it was you who loaded me onto the equipment container when you dared to rob the Arizona Headquarters of Chronos. And now, both you and that strange counterpart of yours dangle the vaccinations I need to survive over my head like cheese for a starving mouse."

"Speaking of Akane, have you seen her lately? She's been rather sporadic in contacting me of late."

"Your counterpart has been keeping herself busy with weapons research; she's developed some rather ingenious things in her time here. It almost makes me wonder which of you will ultimately prevail."

"What do you mean by that?" Agito turned toward Hekkaring, a slightly wary expression on his face.

"Surely you must have noticed by now that the woman harbors all of your ambitions; how long do you think that two such similar creatures as yourselves can coexist? How long do you think that Ms. Akane will be content to stand in your shadow, before she decides to turn some of those ingenious weapons of hers on you? I hear that she has been experimenting with particularly fast-acting poisons. And I've seen the delivery systems she's developed. There are very few things that would be able to resist the concentrated chemical weaponry that your counterpart will be able to unleash once her work is complete."

"Interesting. But be that as it may, I know myself at least well enough to deal with anything that she might have in mind."

"For your own sake, I hope that's true," Hekkaring paused, turning back to the processing-tanks that contained his Libertus Zoanoids. "In any case, it's not so much a concern of mine who commands this operation. I will serve the ambitions of either one of you Makishimas, if only to prove that I am the superior scientist over that monster Hamilcal Balkus."

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Shizu sat on the examination table, finishing up the last of the stitches on Yukari's jacket. She'd been thinking about knitting Yukari a scarf that would match this jacket, since rainbow colors would not be the best match for a red jacket. Of course, that would have to wait until she had finished with her examination, and after that there was the matter of the request that Master Agito had made of her. She would fulfil it willingly, of course, especially since both Master Agito and Mistress Akane had been so very enthusiastic about that very thing.

And she would always strive to help them; it was what she had dedicated her life to doing.

But once she had been released from the processing-tank where she would be spending almost the next month of her life, Shizu decided that she would knit a scarf for Yukari. A pretty red scarf, to go with her jacket. After all, once Yukari had been freed from Chronos, she would be in poor shape and needing some comfort.

Despite the fact that there was nothing – ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! – that Chronos could do that would permanently harm Yukari, it was certainly too much to ask for them to treat her well. She would have to help Yukari to get used to being free again; help her to adjust to the fact that Chronos would not be able to hurt her anymore.

All that remained was for Master and Mistress to find the place where Yukari was being held and rescue her. Shizu knew that they would; it would be only a matter of time before Yukari was free again. Hold on a little while longer, Yukari-chan, Shizu prayed, even as she continued to sit and knit and wait for the doctor conducting her examination to arrive. You'll be out of that horrible place soon. Master Agito and Mistress Akane will come to free you; I have faith in them.

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As the fluid drained out of the processing-tank for the final time, Dr. Hamilcal Balkus stood and watched as the unconscious body of Isis Mirabilis sank to the bottom of the tank. Once the tank's main body had retracted fully into the base of the machinery that supported it, Dr. Balkus focused his telepathic power on the insensate form lying on the bottom of the processing-tank's exposed machinery.

He was then treated to the sight of Isis, newly awakened from her stasis, slowly and laboriously climbing back to her feet. The long, muscular tendrils attached to the base of her skull were briefly visible as they twitched. Taking firm control of his new creation's mind, Dr. Balkus ordered Isis Mirabilis to come to him.

This she did with the perfect obedience of a creature with no thoughts of her own. As Isis moved closer to him, Dr. Balkus watched her eyes for any signs that Yukari Fukamachi's personality was struggling to reassert itself within the mind of his creation. The blank, dazed look in the young, female Zoalord's eyes gave him reason to believe that the temporary modifications that he had made to the mind of his newest creation were holding.

One thing was for certain: the next six weeks were going to be rather interesting. Pushing the limits of Isis' abilities to find out if she was truly ready to take her place as an auxiliary Zoalord. With all of the modifications that he had made to her form, Isis would serve her intended purpose of providing support to the other Zoalords quite well. That is, once he knew that there were no further enhancements needed to make Isis a true asset to Chronos.

Ordering Isis to walk, Dr. Balkus took hold of his creation's shoulder and led her out of the laboratory. It was time to see just what this auxiliary Zoalord of his was capable of. Guiding Isis into the Proving Ground, Dr. Balkus left Isis where she stood and turned his attention to the Zoanoids within this level of the Arizona Headquarters. There would be an ample amount of Zoanoids for him to test Isis' power and skill against in this place. Well, perhaps not her skill, since one was required to have at least more than the barest rudiments of consciousness that Isis currently possessed before they would be considered skillful.

Still, he could quite easily test the power of his new creation against the Zoanoids that he had called to come to him. The large group of Zoanoids filed into the room, chattering away as they were wont to do when he or the other Zoalords did not maintain firm enough control over their actions. Of course, these Zoanoids were merely here to be fodder for him to test the power of little Isis Mirabilis. That was the only reason they were here now.

Just as the foremost Zoanoid in the group, a Gregole, turned as if to speak to him, Dr. Balkus took full control of Isis Mirabilis and set her on the attack. She was rather fast; faster than any of the Zoanoids now attempting to defend themselves from her. They were slow and painfully clumsy when compared to the lithe, slender form of Chronos' auxiliary Zoalord.

They were lying on the ground, wounded or dying from strikes inflicted by her sharp claws; their limbs and necks broken by the long, muscular tentacles attached to the base of her skull. Having seen enough of the auxiliary Zoalord's physical capabilities, Dr. Balkus turned his focus to Isis' energy-manipulation abilities. A single blast from her left palm burned through the chest of four Zoanoids, sending them crashing to the ground. The reaction time of his auxiliary Zoalord, judging from the way the nerves pulsed when he ordered her to move, was quite satisfyingly fast. Firing Isis' Crystal Laser, Balkus was pleased to note that the beam, even at low intensity, was enough to burn the heads off of six Zoanoids.

Once all of the twenty-five Zoanoids he had called into the Proving Ground had been killed, Dr. Balkus ordered Isis to come back to him. Once she was within his reach, Dr. Balkus took hold of her shoulder and led her back into the laboratory. There was one last modification that he wanted to make, more of an add-on than a necessary modification, but Isis would need to be returned to the processing-tank before he could make any changes to her biostructure.

Letting Isis fall once she stood on top of the monitoring machinery for the processing-tank, Dr. Balkus reattached the monitoring devices to her body and left to attend to Isis' final re-adjustments. When the body of the processing-tank was fixed into place again, Dr. Balkus started to create a new batch of retro-viruses to further modify the body of his newly-tested auxiliary Zoalord. Once that was done, he refilled the tank with amniotic fluid and left the room.

It would take at least four days for the new covering to grow, and in the mean time, he had other duties for Chronos to attend to.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

They hadn't called her just yet, and so Shizu had decided to get a head start on her knitting. The small scrap of red fabric that would eventually become Yukari-chan's new scarf was growing bigger with every stitch she made; just the way that all the things she had ever knitted did. Maybe I should knit something for Master Agito, after I finish Yukari-chan's scarf. He's been working so hard lately.

Of course, Mistress Akane had been working very hard as well; but then she was always here at the compound, where Shizu was able to take care of her by bringing her food and making her bed. Master Agito always seemed to be away lately; Shizu knew that that was what he had to do, since Chronos was still powerful in Japan and he had to deal with them there. Sho was a kind boy, and he did a lot to protect his friends and people he didn't even know from Chronos, but the loss of Yukari had made him really depressed and worried.

Master Agito would find her, though; Shizu was sure of it. And then they could all continue fighting Chronos together. Even she herself could fight, after the modifications that Master Agito had suggested were made to her body had been finished. She would be able to take at least some of the burden of fighting Chronos and their Zoanoids off of Sho, and off of Yukari once Master Agito or Mistress Akane had freed her from her captivity at Chronos.

The clicking of her knitting needles almost reminded Shizu of the ticking of a clock, and as she continued to work on Yukari's scarf, Shizu wondered for a moment why she would think to connect two such dissimilar things. Then Dr. Hekkaring came in.

"Ms. Onuma, it's time."

"Yes, doctor," Shizu said calmly, setting her yarn, knitting needles, and the beginning of Yukari's scarf on top of a small table by the side of the bed she'd been sitting on. "I'm ready. May I ask you a favor, though?"

"What would you like me to do?"

"Would you take my things back to my room for me?"

"Of course; you'll be able to find your own way to the processing-tank, I trust?"

"Yes," Shizu nodded, thinking again of her vow to Master Agito and Mistress Akane: to help them and protect them however she could.

As she made her way toward the processing-tank where she would be staying for the next month, if not a few days more, Shizu started to remove her coat. Dr. Hekkaring had been very clear about the fact that she could not wear clothes while she was being processed. And judging from all of the things that Master Agito and Mistress Akane had talked about during the times they had mentioned Chronos' processing facilities, not to mention all of the soldiers who were being processed, that was very clear.

As she folded her coat and set it down on a cart, one that Dr. Hekkaring had doubtless provided for her to use, Shizu started to unbutton her shirt. As she slowly undressed, leaving her clothes on the wheeled cart that Dr. Hekkaring had provided for her to use, Shizu thought again about what she would do once she had the power that her new form was going to provide her. Help Master and Mistress in their battles against Chronos, and with their rescue of Yukari, of course.

Still, there might be other things that she would have to do, once she had been fully processed. Master Agito had said that this new form of hers, he had called it Griselda, would be used as a shield against the telepathic powers of Chronos' own Zoalords. She was about to become something of a Zoalord herself; though perhaps Zoalord was something of a misnomer, Zoalady might be a bit more appropriate for what she was going to become.

Thinking on that name, though, brought up thoughts of another woman who had undergone processing very similar to that which Shizu herself was about to undergo. It was truly tragic, what had happened to Ms. Murakami. And to Mr. Murakami too, now that Shizu thought about it. Having their minds altered so radically that they now fought against the people they had been trying to protect for so long... it must have hurt them. Hurt them so much that they had gone insane just trying to escape from the pain.

That was really the only way to explain the way they acted now. Shizu shivered, suddenly feeling like a ghost had touched the back of her neck. Please. Please let Yukari be all right when we find her. But that was silly; Yukari was fine... well, maybe 'fine' was too gentle a word to describe someone who had been captured by Chronos, but there was nothing too drastic that they could do to someone like Yukari.

Certainly nothing that couldn't be helped with a warm bowl of soup and a new scarf and matching jacket. Right? Right.

Her resolve newly rekindled, and the last of her clothes removed and set neatly on the cart that had been provided for her, Shizu started to climb up the ladder leading to the open top of the processing-tank. Once she was at the top, Shizu carefully climbed down into the tank and dropped down to the bottom, crouching to lessen the impact as she landed.

There were monitoring devices hanging down inside the tank, those of the kind that someone would be likely to see in an actual hospital, and Shizu began to attach them to herself. Mistress Akane had volunteered to assist her with this, but Shizu hadn't wanted to disturb her from the work that she had been doing. Mistress Akane, since she had been unable to use the armor of the Gigantic, had taken to designing weapons for herself.

Some of them had even been mass-produced; which meant that the other soldiers would be able to use them. Though Mistress had built them to be more suited for use by a Guyver, with the enhancements that were being made to the soldiers under their command, the others would doubtless be able to use them just as well as Mistress Akane would have. Once she had finished attaching the last of the medical monitors to her body, Shizu looked up to see that Dr. Hekkaring had arrived.

He nodded at her briefly, just before the tank around her started to fill with clear fluid that had only the slightest green tinge. Shizu breathed slowly and deeply, preparing herself for the time when the fluid inside the processing-tank would inevitably close over her head. She knew that she would still be able to breathe once the amniotic fluid had filled the processing-tank to capacity.

This was the same setup that Chronos used to process their own combat Zoanoids, even down to the mixture of the amniotic fluid in the tanks that they were using. Chronos' Zoanoids did not need to use any breathing equipment to keep them alive, so there was no reason that Master Agito's Zoanoids would need to use such things either.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

The month had passed rather quickly, or at least it had seemed to, what with the testing of Isis Mirabilis that he had been doing and the few modifications that he had had to make. The outer covering that he had designed to cover her was working out quite well, providing her with both a camouflage element and a way of absorbing most energy attacks that could be thrown at her. The disguise element would also provide something of a psychological advantage, due to the fact that he had not done anything to drastically change the appearance of the girl's face.

Isis Mirabilis would be very easily recognizable to anyone who had known Yukari Fukamachi, if they were somehow able to get close enough to remove the covering over her face. Lord Imakarum had commented that Isis looked rather like a Ninja with the covering in place. This assessment, while it had not been particularly informative, had been true. Isis' form, covered nearly from head-to-toe in dark green, biologically engineered energy-absorbing mesh, did indeed resemble the images that Dr. Balkus had seen of those humans.

Only Isis' eyes and a small strip of flesh around them were visible now, every other part was covered; either by the mesh or by the bony plate at the top of her head. The plate would provide extra protection for Isis' vulnerable head; unfortunately, there was no way to protect her Zoacrystal without making it less effective. Both as a weapon and as a telepathic receiver. He would just have to use her in such a way that none of her enemies would be able to get close enough to do her the kind of harm such as that which had been done to Lady Hikari Mirabilis.

Thinking of that woman almost made Dr. Balkus contact her counterpart, just so he would be able to see what condition the woman herself was in at the moment. He forbore, though; Imakarum had not seemed overly stressed or worried, which Dr. Balkus knew would have been the case if Lady Hikari's condition had been deteriorating. Indeed, the male version of Chronos' Twelfth Zoalord seemed calm and rather pleased, something that Dr. Balkus took to indicate that his counterpart's condition was stable and improving.

The stray thoughts that he had been able to pick up from Imakarum's mind, relating to both the state of Yukari Fukamachi's transformation into Isis Mirabilis and her relation to the still-incapacitated Lady Hikari Mirabilis had been enough of an indicator for Dr. Balkus to determine the state of Imakarum's counterpart. He had since lost most of his interest in finding out where the doubles of Agito Makishima, Sho Fukamachi and Chronos' own Imakarum Mirabilis had come from.

With Yukari Fukamachi in his hands, and now fully remade into Chronos' youngest Zoalord Isis Mirabilis, it would be a simple matter to deal with Sho Fukamachi. All that would be required was for him to wait until Lord Alkanphel had been able to regain his full strength and thus return the young woman to some semblance of consciousness. With Fukamachi's weak-willed compassion, the mere sound of Isis' voice would be enough to dissuade him from attacking.

Such would not be true for Makishima and his counterpart, however, and so that was where Isis' battle prowess would be her salvation. Isis was capable of manipulating large amounts of energy with finer precision and control than any of the other Zoalords that he had yet designed. It was, after all, her intended purpose: to support and heal the Zoalords of Chronos on the off chance that they were to be injured during the course of performing their assigned duties.

It was not something that Dr. Balkus considered to be a particularly likely outcome; still, needs must. And Isis Mirabilis would still be of great value to Chronos even if she was never called upon to perform her intended function. The psychological advantage that Chronos would gain from her appearance alone would be worth the time and resources used to process her.

Sho Fukamachi would not be able to fight Isis Mirabilis, for the same reason that he had proved completely unable to do battle with Imakarum Mirabilis: Sho Fukamachi was a weak-willed, sentimental little fool.