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Description
Chapter 1

Chapter 2-Fade To Black
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Upon Claire’s decision to sporadically firing upon the machines that were busy transforming Sapphira into Scarlette’s latest cybernetic masterpiece as well as pulling loose important wire connections and such, Scarlette summoned a few of her C.O.D.E. soldiers to capture her. The C.O.D.E. units advanced on Claire, who didn’t let them get too close before springing into action herself. She used her quickness and formidable hand to hand fighting skills to fend off the cybernetic C.O.D.E. soldiers…she utilized some dazzling striking techniques in the way of kicks and punches to keep her foes at bay; she looked as if she belonged in a martial arts flick as she combated the C.O.D.E.s. She was even able to disarm one of them, and turned the C.O.D.E.s own gun against her…shooting her and the other three. She stood coiled ready for more action breathing heavily as she watched the C.O.D.E. units disintegrate one by one until nothing was left of them. Scarlette arched her eyebrows in amazement as she watched a single unarmed woman eliminate four of her highly trained cybernetically enhanced soldiers with relative ease. Scarlette spoke again.

“Bravo, Agent Black…bravo! Once again you continue to amaze me…but that doesn’t change the fact that you must be punished for your actions. And who else better to administer the ultimate punishment than family? Onnica-1…annihilate her!”

Onnica-1 hesitated at her master’s command. Although she had been all in for Scarlette’s plans and sworn her allegiance since she hung in the very same apparatus that Sapphira now inhabited also midway through her transformation into becoming Scarlette’s most powerful enforcer, this was the first time where she mentally questioned Scarlette’s command. She looked over at Scarlette, who didn’t take her steely eyed gaze off of Claire. Claire could tell that Onnica-1 didn’t want to carry out her task…she dropped the gun in her hands to the floor and spoke.

“I’m not gonna fight you, Vanessa.”

Scarlette returned.

“Onnica, attack her…now! That is an order!”

Onnica begged Scarlette.

“Mother please…can’t we do something else to punish her? Surely I don’t have to…”

Scarlette sternly interrupted Onnica.

“I am growing impatient, my daughter. My command was for you to assault her…remember, you pledged to me your unyielding devotion and to carry out every command from me with no qualms, regardless of how questionable the circumstances are! She was Vanessa Ellis’ cousin, not yours…you have no allegiance with her! Do you dare object to my command?”

“No Mother…I wouldn’t dare defy you!”

“Then break her!”

“Yes mother.”

Onnica descended from her state of hovering to the ground as she slowly approached her cousin. She addressed her cousin before they engaged each other in battle…out of frustration, Claire had begun crying.

“Forgive me, Claire, for what I am about to do.”

“C’mon Nessa…you don’t have to do this! Please…resist her!”

Onnica threw a series of punches at Claire, who dodged them all and jumped back in a defensive stance; it was obvious that Onnica wasn’t putting all of her force into her attacks, making it easy for Claire to telegraph and predict Onnica’s moves. Onnica continued to press the attack as Claire continued to either block or dodge each attack…Claire’s fighters’ instinct had kicked in and she counter attacked Onnica, catching her across the face with a spinning kick. Claire surprised herself by her speedy counterattack…however, the kick didn’t faze Onnica at all; she stood with her head turned and tilted down with her eyes closed.

“Oh my God…I’m so sorry Vanessa! I don’t want to hurt you!”

“I didn’t feel a thing. It’s not me that I’m concerned about; I assure you, you cannot physically harm me…I don’t want to cripple you if I can help it! I offer you one more chance to surrender yourself to the Matriarch’s will.”

Claire’s sobs had turned audible and she began screaming at Onnica as she continued to coax her to return to her normal state of mind.

“Please stop this and snap out of it!!! Turn on her and let’s get outta here!!!!”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that. I wouldn’t think of laying a finger on my Mother.”

“Listen to me…It’s me, Vanessa…it’s Claire Bear!!! We’re like sisters, remember?!!? I’m your family…your own flesh and blood! You’ve known me for your whole life; she’s nobody! She’s not your mother…your real mother’s name is Linda!!!”

“Lies!!!! The Matriarch is my mother…she gave me life anew!!!”

“No she’s not!!! Please Vanessa…come to your senses!!!”

Scarlette watched the emotional exchange with one hands on her hip as if she were bored. She interrupted the standoff as she once again typed on her wrist console.

“Okay, I think I’ve had enough of this unnecessary drama fest…you gave her one last chance for mercy and she spit in your face; no more pulling your punches! Onnica-1 programming activated. Commence combat mode…attack target with extreme prejudice!”

At Scarlette’s command Onnica eyes snapped back open…her visual heads up display via her cyber-optic sensors had targeted Claire and read the message to attack. Her movements went from loose and free flowing to precise and robotic…Claire remained on the defensive and continued to plead her case with Onnica through her tears.

“Vanessa…you can fight it! Don’t listen to her or the programming…please listen to me, Vanessa!!!”

“There is no more Vanessa…only Onnica-1!”

With those words Onnica went into full attack mode…she swung at Claire with much more ferocity than she had moments before. Claire wasn’t able to dodge all of the blows and caught a couple of stiff body blows and kicks, breaking some of her ribs and dropping her to her knees. Scarlette’s scowl soon turned into an evil smirk as she watched her creation carry out her orders. Claire struggled back to her feet and clenched her midsection as she wiped blood from the corner of her mouth…Onnica had stood in place as she watched the woman that she once viewed as a big sister fight to remain on her feet after the bone crushing blows that she endured.

She rushed Claire again; who tried to fend her off by wildly swinging at her…Onnica quickly disappeared and appeared behind her, grabbed her arm, and wrenched it in a direction that it wasn’t meant to bend in. A sickening wet pop could be held as Claire squealed to the top of her lungs in immense pain…Claire’s broken and dislocated arm dangled by her side as Onnica kneed her in the back, shattering several vertebrae in her back. She then turned Claire around and delivered a punch directly between Claire’s breasts to her sternum; her bionic eyes could see the bones in Claire’s chest fracture and splinter into many pieces as her whole body went limp and crumpled to the floor, where she lay in a broken heap of herself vomiting up a considerable amount of blood.

Onnica then throttled Claire by her throat and easily lifted her high into the air with one hand. Blood kept pouring through Claire’s clenched teeth as tears continued to roll down her cheeks…she clawed at Onnica’s vice like grip around her trachea with her one good arm as she gagged on her own blood and struggled for breath. She shockingly gazed straight into Onnica’s cold and menacing gold and red cybernetic optical sensors with a look of utter despair and fear as she tried to remain conscious. Onnica stood with her fist cocked and deployed her sharp, spike-like rippers to deliver the deathblow, however Scarlette interjected before Onnica continued her onslaught.

“I think that’s enough my dear…I believe she’s gotten the point by now. This was also a test for you…I wanted to see just how far you would go to prove your allegiance to me. I can see you still have deep feelings for her; I’m not a complete monster…that would be downright detestable of me to have you kill her for the sake of proving a point, especially when she didn’t stand a fighting chance from the time she set foot in my lair.”

Scarlette used her magnetic powers to grab Claire Black from Onnica’s clenches and continued to hold her limp body in the air, dragging her back over to the apparatus which Sapphira was connected to. Scarlette actually made Claire’s lightweight stealth armor constrict tightly and uncomfortably around her body; the faint sounds of bones cracking could be heard after several seconds….blood could be seen trickling through her fingerless gloves from where the suit had torn into her skin. Claire was weakened to the point where she could do nothing but whimper, whine, and cry as her body was suspended in the purple aura of Scarlette’s magnetic field…Scarlette held Claire in front of where Sapphira hung as she lambasted her.

“Look at the consequences that your irrational actions have caused. You look at it!!! I told you…Sapphira also defied me and invoked my wrath; look where she is now; she literally almost died for her rebellious antics. For your foolish behavior you will soon be joining her. I wouldn’t have made you suffer if you would have just complied with my wishes. But as I told her and as I will also tell you now…no one crosses me without facing the repercussions of my anger.

And no one definitely ruins my work!!! Look at what you’ve done…who knows how much you’re impeded Adora-2’s progress; two months of work could be all for naught thanks to you! You have postponed my Agenda with your meddling…and for that you will pay the ultimate price, with your life! Your pitiful existence belongs to me now and you will serve me well in your next lifetime as a cyborg in my legion once your transformation is complete. As for right now, the very sight of you disgusts me.”

Scarlette released Claire from her magnetic clenches and let her body crash to the hard metal floor. She pressed more buttons on her console and talked into her wrist console as she remorselessly stepped over Claire’s broken body and walked away. As Scarlette spoke, her voice loudly rang through the intercom system throughout her vast complex.

“I need a tech team to the main lab stat. I have an interloper here that must be dealt with accordingly. I want her prepped and subjected to emergency level 4 cybernetic transformation surgery immediately. The Adora-2 unit has been sabotaged; to what extent, I’m not yet sure…I will be busy working to get her progression back to optimal standards to put us back on schedule as well as preparing to make the gradual move of our headquarters to our new mobile space satellite location starting tomorrow.

Her intrusion is exactly why I am moving our base of operations in space…with my actions becoming increasingly more questionable in the eyes of the law with the initiation of my Agenda, I must make myself untouchable for any law enforcement, superhero, or vigilante that thinks that they can just pop up at my door and kick it down in hopes of stopping me! I implore you to be here in less than 3 minutes…the subject has sustained multiple critical internal injuries and is hemorrhaging badly; her vitals are rapidly dropping and I don’t want to lose her. Plus, I’m not in a pleasant mood and I have absolutely no tolerance for insolence right now…so I’d advice you all to be prompt on your arrival to the lab.”

Onnica stood there in place as she looked down at the bloody mess that was her cousin as she writhed about in agonizing pain wheezing and coughing as she struggled to breathe through her blood clogged windpipe. Claire looked up with tears in her eyes at Onnica to see a single tear rolled down her face…Onnica stood over Claire and whispered.

“I’m sorry Claire Bear…I love you.”

Although very weak and drained, Sapphira was conscious and had witnessed the entire brutal massacre of Claire at the hands of Onnica as she continued to hang spread eagle in the mechanical apparatus…very similar in nature to the thrashing that she had received from Onnica weeks ago that put her in her current state. She whispered and shook her head as much as the mechanical collar around her neck would allow for her to as she whispered.

“Damn Claire…I told you to run while you could! You ain’t had to tell me twice…I would’ve left your ass right here and hauled my ass up outta here. You just had to be miss perfect goody two shoes and save the day!”

She then turned her sights to Onnica and seethed as she watched the menacing cyborg stand over her unlikely would-be rescuer in the form of her longtime rival. She growled under her breath.

“Ooooh…Just you wait until I get outta these restraints…yo’ ass is mine, you fuckin’ bitch! And when I’m done with you, Tamzarian’s gotta ass whoopin’ with her name on it waiting for her as well!!!”
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Hours after a lengthy session of cybernetic surgery within an adjoining laboratory of the Ultima Complex the result of the first phase of Claire’s transformation into Scarlette’s next cyborg bio-weapon had literally rested scattered about the lab. Being that Claire had sustained critical injuries to her vital organs and most of her bones were completely crushed from the beating at the hands of Onnica-1 and Scarlette’s magnetism powers there wasn’t much from her original organic body that could be salvaged and was just easier to replace with mechanical components and parts at this point. Claire had been dissected into pieces by the cyber technician's surgical buzz saw...her body parts were then taken, worked upon, and extensively transformed into something no longer human. Claire's scattered body parts floating within all of the separate tubes in the sterile laboratory looked like a scene from a macabre science fiction horror movie...very reminiscent of something from the "Bride of Frankenstein" or the "Head That Wouldn't Die" yet with a futuristic twist. Monitors were located at each tube with energy readings and vitals for each body part, showing it's progression to the cybernetic transformation.

Her broken bones had been completely removed and her entire skeleton was replaced with a near indestructible alloy infused cybernetic endo-skeletal frame. Her major joints were replaced with indestructible hinges...her veins were replaced with a system of complicated wires and microfibers. Her blood had been completely drained and replaced with a synthetic blood infused with millions upon millions of nanites which began to rebuild her remaining muscle and flesh tissues on a cellular level. Her organs had been replaced with synthetic mechanical ones…an intricate system of highly durable intestinal tubing and other tubes and wires hung from the opening of the base of her torso, which had been detached from her pelvic bone below. Her head had been removed from the rest of her body and extensively worked on...much of her skull was replaced with machinery and part of her brain was replaced with an internal computer processing unit along with her eyes being replaced with a high tech pair of bionic optical sensors. Despite the fact that it was currently in many pieces, Claire’s body was well on its way to becoming more machine than organic.

The tube with Claire's head was the centerpiece of the collection of tubes the that contained her transformed remains...her eyes were closed as her lips were slightly parted; her face looked eerily calm and peaceful as her head floated within the tank. Several wires and tubes were connected into the gaping hole at the base of her neck as part of her metal spine protruded from the same hole. Scarlette approached the tube which contained Sapphira's head. After observing Claire’s active brainwaves for several minutes, she pressed her metal hands on the glass covering of the stasis tube with a wicked smirk on her face as she spoke to the bodiless head.

“Welcome to the family, my daughter.”

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END CHAPTER 2

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All Characters Created By and Belong To Any resemblance to any real persons or existing characters and intellectual property belonging to established organizations are purely coincidental and not done on purpose.

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And here's chapter 2 to Sapphira's return story...yep, some of you may recognize the pic from the original ending that I wrote for "All Falls Down" Well since Sapphira doesn't end up with her head floating in a tank a la Futurama, I had a picture that didn't really make sense. I was gonna make the head in the tube belong to Onnica, but I didn't really have a reason to put her head in there either. (I actually colored it with Onnica's skin tone and will probably post it soon just b/c) So I got to thinking...since I'm not killing Sapphira off, who's head could I put in the tank and make it make sense.... CLAIRE BLACK, that's who!!!!

Once again for the benefit of my newer watchers, if you aren't familiar with Claire, you can see what she looks like here

Claire was at one point my flagship character...before I started focusing on Diamond, Sapphira, Raina, Angie, Simone, or anyone else during my years here on DA. Claire was always my pristine clean good girl...and I believe that's the reason why she hasn't really peaked my interest much in the last several years. Looking at her, she was a Mary Sue character who became very boring to me in comparison to a dynamic character like Sapphira, who was originally created specifically to be Claire's main antagonist...Sapphira's words at the end is me taking a jab at myself for making Claire such a Mary Sue.

That would be why I used Claire as such in this story...it's time to retool and repackage her character some. Since Sapphira pretty much took her spot as one of my main characters, I figure why not have her suffer the original fate that I had planned for Sapphira before the rewrite of the end of "All Falls Down"? Here is the beginning of her redux and unlike Sapphira, I have a clear idea of what I'd like to do with Cyborg Claire! It's way past due for Claire to receive a revamp...and it's coming your way courtesy of Scarlette Tamzarian and the Ultima Corporation! I find it funny that I created Sapphira to be Claire's antagonist, and now it looks that Sapphira has become the heroine and Claire is being forcibly made into an evil villain!

I apologize to those of you that read this the first time...I realized that I tried to pack too much into the first chapter, so I chopped it up. The majority of this chapter was from when I first posted the first chapter. Some of you may recognize the end of this chapter from when Sapphira was to receive the same fate that Claire is now enduring...I liked the excerpt from that part of the old story so I bought it back for this new story!

Well, Claire's goose is cooked; hence the title of this chapter being "Fade to (Claire) Black"...we've seen what Scarlette turns people into once she's done changing them into killing machines...what's to become of the unrealistically sugary sweet perfect hot-yet-boring Mary Sue character that used to be Claire Black? And will Scarlette be able to complete Sapphira's transformation, or will Sapphira be able to somehow escape? Stay tuned!!!

I have a thing with heads floating in tanks, don't I?

Description
Chapter 1

Chapter 2-Fade To Black
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Upon Claire’s decision to sporadically firing upon the machines that were busy transforming Sapphira into Scarlette’s latest cybernetic masterpiece as well as pulling loose important wire connections and such, Scarlette summoned a few of her C.O.D.E. soldiers to capture her. The C.O.D.E. units advanced on Claire, who didn’t let them get too close before springing into action herself. She used her quickness and formidable hand to hand fighting skills to fend off the cybernetic C.O.D.E. soldiers…she utilized some dazzling striking techniques in the way of kicks and punches to keep her foes at bay; she looked as if she belonged in a martial arts flick as she combated the C.O.D.E.s. She was even able to disarm one of them, and turned the C.O.D.E.s own gun against her…shooting her and the other three. She stood coiled ready for more action breathing heavily as she watched the C.O.D.E. units disintegrate one by one until nothing was left of them. Scarlette arched her eyebrows in amazement as she watched a single unarmed woman eliminate four of her highly trained cybernetically enhanced soldiers with relative ease. Scarlette spoke again.

“Bravo, Agent Black…bravo! Once again you continue to amaze me…but that doesn’t change the fact that you must be punished for your actions. And who else better to administer the ultimate punishment than family? Onnica-1…annihilate her!”

Onnica-1 hesitated at her master’s command. Although she had been all in for Scarlette’s plans and sworn her allegiance since she hung in the very same apparatus that Sapphira now inhabited also midway through her transformation into becoming Scarlette’s most powerful enforcer, this was the first time where she mentally questioned Scarlette’s command. She looked over at Scarlette, who didn’t take her steely eyed gaze off of Claire. Claire could tell that Onnica-1 didn’t want to carry out her task…she dropped the gun in her hands to the floor and spoke.

“I’m not gonna fight you, Vanessa.”

Scarlette returned.

“Onnica, attack her…now! That is an order!”

Onnica begged Scarlette.

“Mother please…can’t we do something else to punish her? Surely I don’t have to…”

Scarlette sternly interrupted Onnica.

“I am growing impatient, my daughter. My command was for you to assault her…remember, you pledged to me your unyielding devotion and to carry out every command from me with no qualms, regardless of how questionable the circumstances are! She was Vanessa Ellis’ cousin, not yours…you have no allegiance with her! Do you dare object to my command?”

“No Mother…I wouldn’t dare defy you!”

“Then break her!”

“Yes mother.”

Onnica descended from her state of hovering to the ground as she slowly approached her cousin. She addressed her cousin before they engaged each other in battle…out of frustration, Claire had begun crying.

“Forgive me, Claire, for what I am about to do.”

“C’mon Nessa…you don’t have to do this! Please…resist her!”

Onnica threw a series of punches at Claire, who dodged them all and jumped back in a defensive stance; it was obvious that Onnica wasn’t putting all of her force into her attacks, making it easy for Claire to telegraph and predict Onnica’s moves. Onnica continued to press the attack as Claire continued to either block or dodge each attack…Claire’s fighters’ instinct had kicked in and she counter attacked Onnica, catching her across the face with a spinning kick. Claire surprised herself by her speedy counterattack…however, the kick didn’t faze Onnica at all; she stood with her head turned and tilted down with her eyes closed.

“Oh my God…I’m so sorry Vanessa! I don’t want to hurt you!”

“I didn’t feel a thing. It’s not me that I’m concerned about; I assure you, you cannot physically harm me…I don’t want to cripple you if I can help it! I offer you one more chance to surrender yourself to the Matriarch’s will.”

Claire’s sobs had turned audible and she began screaming at Onnica as she continued to coax her to return to her normal state of mind.

“Please stop this and snap out of it!!! Turn on her and let’s get outta here!!!!”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that. I wouldn’t think of laying a finger on my Mother.”

“Listen to me…It’s me, Vanessa…it’s Claire Bear!!! We’re like sisters, remember?!!? I’m your family…your own flesh and blood! You’ve known me for your whole life; she’s nobody! She’s not your mother…your real mother’s name is Linda!!!”

“Lies!!!! The Matriarch is my mother…she gave me life anew!!!”

“No she’s not!!! Please Vanessa…come to your senses!!!”

Scarlette watched the emotional exchange with one hands on her hip as if she were bored. She interrupted the standoff as she once again typed on her wrist console.

“Okay, I think I’ve had enough of this unnecessary drama fest…you gave her one last chance for mercy and she spit in your face; no more pulling your punches! Onnica-1 programming activated. Commence combat mode…attack target with extreme prejudice!”

At Scarlette’s command Onnica eyes snapped back open…her visual heads up display via her cyber-optic sensors had targeted Claire and read the message to attack. Her movements went from loose and free flowing to precise and robotic…Claire remained on the defensive and continued to plead her case with Onnica through her tears.

“Vanessa…you can fight it! Don’t listen to her or the programming…please listen to me, Vanessa!!!”

“There is no more Vanessa…only Onnica-1!”

With those words Onnica went into full attack mode…she swung at Claire with much more ferocity than she had moments before. Claire wasn’t able to dodge all of the blows and caught a couple of stiff body blows and kicks, breaking some of her ribs and dropping her to her knees. Scarlette’s scowl soon turned into an evil smirk as she watched her creation carry out her orders. Claire struggled back to her feet and clenched her midsection as she wiped blood from the corner of her mouth…Onnica had stood in place as she watched the woman that she once viewed as a big sister fight to remain on her feet after the bone crushing blows that she endured.

She rushed Claire again; who tried to fend her off by wildly swinging at her…Onnica quickly disappeared and appeared behind her, grabbed her arm, and wrenched it in a direction that it wasn’t meant to bend in. A sickening wet pop could be held as Claire squealed to the top of her lungs in immense pain…Claire’s broken and dislocated arm dangled by her side as Onnica kneed her in the back, shattering several vertebrae in her back. She then turned Claire around and delivered a punch directly between Claire’s breasts to her sternum; her bionic eyes could see the bones in Claire’s chest fracture and splinter into many pieces as her whole body went limp and crumpled to the floor, where she lay in a broken heap of herself vomiting up a considerable amount of blood.

Onnica then throttled Claire by her throat and easily lifted her high into the air with one hand. Blood kept pouring through Claire’s clenched teeth as tears continued to roll down her cheeks…she clawed at Onnica’s vice like grip around her trachea with her one good arm as she gagged on her own blood and struggled for breath. She shockingly gazed straight into Onnica’s cold and menacing gold and red cybernetic optical sensors with a look of utter despair and fear as she tried to remain conscious. Onnica stood with her fist cocked and deployed her sharp, spike-like rippers to deliver the deathblow, however Scarlette interjected before Onnica continued her onslaught.

“I think that’s enough my dear…I believe she’s gotten the point by now. This was also a test for you…I wanted to see just how far you would go to prove your allegiance to me. I can see you still have deep feelings for her; I’m not a complete monster…that would be downright detestable of me to have you kill her for the sake of proving a point, especially when she didn’t stand a fighting chance from the time she set foot in my lair.”

Scarlette used her magnetic powers to grab Claire Black from Onnica’s clenches and continued to hold her limp body in the air, dragging her back over to the apparatus which Sapphira was connected to. Scarlette actually made Claire’s lightweight stealth armor constrict tightly and uncomfortably around her body; the faint sounds of bones cracking could be heard after several seconds….blood could be seen trickling through her fingerless gloves from where the suit had torn into her skin. Claire was weakened to the point where she could do nothing but whimper, whine, and cry as her body was suspended in the purple aura of Scarlette’s magnetic field…Scarlette held Claire in front of where Sapphira hung as she lambasted her.

“Look at the consequences that your irrational actions have caused. You look at it!!! I told you…Sapphira also defied me and invoked my wrath; look where she is now; she literally almost died for her rebellious antics. For your foolish behavior you will soon be joining her. I wouldn’t have made you suffer if you would have just complied with my wishes. But as I told her and as I will also tell you now…no one crosses me without facing the repercussions of my anger.

And no one definitely ruins my work!!! Look at what you’ve done…who knows how much you’re impeded Adora-2’s progress; two months of work could be all for naught thanks to you! You have postponed my Agenda with your meddling…and for that you will pay the ultimate price, with your life! Your pitiful existence belongs to me now and you will serve me well in your next lifetime as a cyborg in my legion once your transformation is complete. As for right now, the very sight of you disgusts me.”

Scarlette released Claire from her magnetic clenches and let her body crash to the hard metal floor. She pressed more buttons on her console and talked into her wrist console as she remorselessly stepped over Claire’s broken body and walked away. As Scarlette spoke, her voice loudly rang through the intercom system throughout her vast complex.

“I need a tech team to the main lab stat. I have an interloper here that must be dealt with accordingly. I want her prepped and subjected to emergency level 4 cybernetic transformation surgery immediately. The Adora-2 unit has been sabotaged; to what extent, I’m not yet sure…I will be busy working to get her progression back to optimal standards to put us back on schedule as well as preparing to make the gradual move of our headquarters to our new mobile space satellite location starting tomorrow.

Her intrusion is exactly why I am moving our base of operations in space…with my actions becoming increasingly more questionable in the eyes of the law with the initiation of my Agenda, I must make myself untouchable for any law enforcement, superhero, or vigilante that thinks that they can just pop up at my door and kick it down in hopes of stopping me! I implore you to be here in less than 3 minutes…the subject has sustained multiple critical internal injuries and is hemorrhaging badly; her vitals are rapidly dropping and I don’t want to lose her. Plus, I’m not in a pleasant mood and I have absolutely no tolerance for insolence right now…so I’d advice you all to be prompt on your arrival to the lab.”

Onnica stood there in place as she looked down at the bloody mess that was her cousin as she writhed about in agonizing pain wheezing and coughing as she struggled to breathe through her blood clogged windpipe. Claire looked up with tears in her eyes at Onnica to see a single tear rolled down her face…Onnica stood over Claire and whispered.

“I’m sorry Claire Bear…I love you.”

Although very weak and drained, Sapphira was conscious and had witnessed the entire brutal massacre of Claire at the hands of Onnica as she continued to hang spread eagle in the mechanical apparatus…very similar in nature to the thrashing that she had received from Onnica weeks ago that put her in her current state. She whispered and shook her head as much as the mechanical collar around her neck would allow for her to as she whispered.

“Damn Claire…I told you to run while you could! You ain’t had to tell me twice…I would’ve left your ass right here and hauled my ass up outta here. You just had to be miss perfect goody two shoes and save the day!”

She then turned her sights to Onnica and seethed as she watched the menacing cyborg stand over her unlikely would-be rescuer in the form of her longtime rival. She growled under her breath.

“Ooooh…Just you wait until I get outta these restraints…yo’ ass is mine, you fuckin’ bitch! And when I’m done with you, Tamzarian’s gotta ass whoopin’ with her name on it waiting for her as well!!!”
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Hours after a lengthy session of cybernetic surgery within an adjoining laboratory of the Ultima Complex the result of the first phase of Claire’s transformation into Scarlette’s next cyborg bio-weapon had literally rested scattered about the lab. Being that Claire had sustained critical injuries to her vital organs and most of her bones were completely crushed from the beating at the hands of Onnica-1 and Scarlette’s magnetism powers there wasn’t much from her original organic body that could be salvaged and was just easier to replace with mechanical components and parts at this point. Claire had been dissected into pieces by the cyber technician's surgical buzz saw...her body parts were then taken, worked upon, and extensively transformed into something no longer human. Claire's scattered body parts floating within all of the separate tubes in the sterile laboratory looked like a scene from a macabre science fiction horror movie...very reminiscent of something from the "Bride of Frankenstein" or the "Head That Wouldn't Die" yet with a futuristic twist. Monitors were located at each tube with energy readings and vitals for each body part, showing it's progression to the cybernetic transformation.

Her broken bones had been completely removed and her entire skeleton was replaced with a near indestructible alloy infused cybernetic endo-skeletal frame. Her major joints were replaced with indestructible hinges...her veins were replaced with a system of complicated wires and microfibers. Her blood had been completely drained and replaced with a synthetic blood infused with millions upon millions of nanites which began to rebuild her remaining muscle and flesh tissues on a cellular level. Her organs had been replaced with synthetic mechanical ones…an intricate system of highly durable intestinal tubing and other tubes and wires hung from the opening of the base of her torso, which had been detached from her pelvic bone below. Her head had been removed from the rest of her body and extensively worked on...much of her skull was replaced with machinery and part of her brain was replaced with an internal computer processing unit along with her eyes being replaced with a high tech pair of bionic optical sensors. Despite the fact that it was currently in many pieces, Claire’s body was well on its way to becoming more machine than organic.

The tube with Claire's head was the centerpiece of the collection of tubes the that contained her transformed remains...her eyes were closed as her lips were slightly parted; her face looked eerily calm and peaceful as her head floated within the tank. Several wires and tubes were connected into the gaping hole at the base of her neck as part of her metal spine protruded from the same hole. Scarlette approached the tube which contained Sapphira's head. After observing Claire’s active brainwaves for several minutes, she pressed her metal hands on the glass covering of the stasis tube with a wicked smirk on her face as she spoke to the bodiless head.

“Welcome to the family, my daughter.”

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END CHAPTER 2

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All Characters Created By and Belong To Any resemblance to any real persons or existing characters and intellectual property belonging to established organizations are purely coincidental and not done on purpose.

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And here's chapter 2 to Sapphira's return story...yep, some of you may recognize the pic from the original ending that I wrote for "All Falls Down" Well since Sapphira doesn't end up with her head floating in a tank a la Futurama, I had a picture that didn't really make sense. I was gonna make the head in the tube belong to Onnica, but I didn't really have a reason to put her head in there either. (I actually colored it with Onnica's skin tone and will probably post it soon just b/c) So I got to thinking...since I'm not killing Sapphira off, who's head could I put in the tank and make it make sense.... CLAIRE BLACK, that's who!!!!

Once again for the benefit of my newer watchers, if you aren't familiar with Claire, you can see what she looks like here

Claire was at one point my flagship character...before I started focusing on Diamond, Sapphira, Raina, Angie, Simone, or anyone else during my years here on DA. Claire was always my pristine clean good girl...and I believe that's the reason why she hasn't really peaked my interest much in the last several years. Looking at her, she was a Mary Sue character who became very boring to me in comparison to a dynamic character like Sapphira, who was originally created specifically to be Claire's main antagonist...Sapphira's words at the end is me taking a jab at myself for making Claire such a Mary Sue.

That would be why I used Claire as such in this story...it's time to retool and repackage her character some. Since Sapphira pretty much took her spot as one of my main characters, I figure why not have her suffer the original fate that I had planned for Sapphira before the rewrite of the end of "All Falls Down"? Here is the beginning of her redux and unlike Sapphira, I have a clear idea of what I'd like to do with Cyborg Claire! It's way past due for Claire to receive a revamp...and it's coming your way courtesy of Scarlette Tamzarian and the Ultima Corporation! I find it funny that I created Sapphira to be Claire's antagonist, and now it looks that Sapphira has become the heroine and Claire is being forcibly made into an evil villain!

I apologize to those of you that read this the first time...I realized that I tried to pack too much into the first chapter, so I chopped it up. The majority of this chapter was from when I first posted the first chapter. Some of you may recognize the end of this chapter from when Sapphira was to receive the same fate that Claire is now enduring...I liked the excerpt from that part of the old story so I bought it back for this new story!

Well, Claire's goose is cooked; hence the title of this chapter being "Fade to (Claire) Black"...we've seen what Scarlette turns people into once she's done changing them into killing machines...what's to become of the unrealistically sugary sweet perfect hot-yet-boring Mary Sue character that used to be Claire Black? And will Scarlette be able to complete Sapphira's transformation, or will Sapphira be able to somehow escape? Stay tuned!!!

I have a thing with heads floating in tanks, don't I?