After crash-landing on the beach, I found myself stuck in my pod. Where was the lever placed? I thought to myself, searching for it. “Got it!” I pulled it: it released the bolts, and the hatch flew open. As I took a breath of air while observing the land, I saw the beauty of the Earth’s horizon. Staring at the line that separates the sea from the sky was amazing, I was lost for words as it kept my eyes glued to it. “I wish Mars had scenery like this.”

“Scar, Scar, Scar!” a girl’s voice screamed in the distance.

Immediately, I jumped out of my pod and ran towards the voice, “Just keep on calling that person’s name!”

“Is that you, Scar! Can you open the pod from the outside, please?” she asked.

Is she confusing me with someone? I pondered as I stood beside the pod. “Um, where is the lever?”

“Didn’t you memorize the pod blueprints?”

Placing my right hand at the back of my head, I began to wonder what she meant by blueprints. “I don’t think I did.”

“Oh my god!” she exclaimed. “How am I supposed to get out now!”

“Can you at least tell me where it is so I can open it?”

She sighed, “Go to the right, and it should be there.”

I went around the pod and saw the lever but in the corner of my eye. I spotted another pod just like her’s. “Did you come with a friend as well or partner?”

“Are you serious? Scar, you are my partner with the other unit!” she yelled. “Just hurry up and get me out of here!”

“Okay, okay… relax,” I repeated. Before pulling the lever, I pondered how did I ever came about pairing myself with someone like this.

“Finally,” she said as she jumped out of the pod.

“She doesn’t look like how her voice sounds,” I muttered. As she landed gracefully on the sandy beach, her appearance stunned me as her voice didn’t fit her quite well. Her slim figure matched her black and silver suit with red highlights as she stood at least five feet tall. A gentle gust of wind blew into her hair, enhancing her appearance as her twin ponytail blew gracefully in the wind. Her violet oval eyes complimented her well-rounded camel face, pointed nose, and succulent pink thin lips.

In actuality, she was cute for a young girl in her teens, but the downside was her attitude towards me that set me off, I pondered. “Mind telling me who you are?” She darted her head towards me with a disgusted look on her face. “What? Is something on my face or something?” I said as I rubbed my hands against my face. She came close to me and began to stare into my eyes.

“Did you hit your head or something?” she asked.

I touched my head and tapped my body, and everything checked out, so I answered, “No, for everything seems fine to me.”

“Do you know where we are?”

“Um… on a beach.”

“That’s not what I meant,” she sighed.

“Then no… I don’t know where we are.”

She came close to me and looked at me from head to toe. “Are you analyzing me?”

“Yes, for you aren’t acting normal,” she answered, placing her hand on her hip. “Mind opening the other pod?”

“Is the lever in the same area as yours or mine?”

“Scar, honestly… I would like it if you took this mission seriously and saved this personality when we are in the city, and not now.”

While smiling awkwardly, I said, “But I am serious.”

“Just open the pod…”

“Okay…”

I strolled over to the pod and searched for the lever, but it appeared damaged. I turned to the girl, “Um… Ms! The lever is damaged, what shall we do now?” She slammed the palm of her hand into her face and gave off a loud sigh.

“Scar… Scar… Scar, are you toying with me?” she blushed.

“If I were, I don’t think this is the time for it. For someone is inside this pod, and they might die due to lack of oxygen.”

“Scar motherfucking Francies, the person in that pod is a cyborg powered by you and a magical core system. They don’t need oxygen. All they need is a power supply or organic matter.”

“Organic matter?” I questioned, “What is that?”

“It's food, you idiot!” she yelled.

She bent over, grabbed a handful of sand, and threw it at me. She was very accurate in throwing the sand due to it hitting me directly in my eyes. I quickly fell to the ground, rubbing my eyes, but it burnt my eyes right away. “Why did you do that, miss!”

“Stop calling me, miss. My name is Scarlet Francies!” she said as she placed her hand on her chest. Proudly posing with her head pointed high.

“Okay, Scarlet… how are we getting whoever is in there out of there!”

“You figure it out!” she shouted, “You’re a cy-”

Before Scarlet could insult me again, the pods’ door popped open as the person inside used their hands to open it. After lifting the pods’ door completely off, she dropped it next to the pod and stared at us.

Scarlet smacked me on the head and said, “Glad to see you haven’t changed like this dumbass here.”

Holding my head from her attack, I muttered, “I’m just being myself. What’s so bad in that?”

“What was that?” Scarlet quickly asked.

“Nothing,” I answered with my eyes closed.

The other girl on the other hand just kept her mouth shut and stared at me. “Um… are you okay?”

“Yes,” she answered.

“Great, mind telling me your name?”

“Sasha,” she replied.

“Why can’t you be more like Sasha here, Scarlet?”

As I said that, I received a punch so hard it sent me flying into the ocean.

“That’s what you get you idiot!” she yelled with her fist waving in the air.

“Aren’t you being too hard on him?” questioned Sasha.

“No, for it seems his brain got smoothen when we crashed landed,” Scarlet scoffed.

Sasha walked over to my pod and pulled herself up to it and analyzed the data from my pod.

“He was injected with emotions and memories of his old self, so if you want the old Scar back while having to extract his memories and place it into a safe place,” Sasha stated.

“Why would they inject him with his old self?”

“We are spending at least one or two years in FN H2 so that could be the reason. So they are unable to get Vale’s secrets. Weren’t you infected with it as well?”

Scarlet went to her pod and pulled herself up as well and analyzed her data from the pod.

“It seems you’re right, I was injected with the same substance for our old selves, but I don’t feel any different.”

“Maybe it hasn’t kicked in as well, but do you remember the mission?”

“Yes, and we need to hurry. I want to get this over with and go back to Mars, honestly.”

Sasha nodded her head in agreement. “How are we going to get him now?” she pointed out as she saw the bubbles diminish.

“Can’t he swim?”

Sasha turned to Scarlet and shrugged. Scarlet’s eyes opened widely and swiftly sprung into action to try to retrieve me. As I slowly drowned due to my weight, I saw something in the water. I wasn’t sure what it was but it was rushing towards me.

Systems switching to Q-Core, rerouting power to Q-Core to prevent a shutdown. All systems have been rerouted, releasing excess power, explosion radius twenty-five feet.

Within a radius of twenty-five feet was vaporized from my core releasing its excess energy. The coastline was tainted by my core as its radical burst was filled with radiation mixed with extremely high temperatures: death was certain, but an instant for any living organism.

Is this truly what I am? A murder? I thought as I watched the clouds that were once above me disappear.