Back in her room, she continues to sit and crawl to a ball atop her bed. The metal door to her room is still open, as outside activity time is not over yet.

  *THUMP THUMP THUMP*

  All of a sudden, a large group of footsteps barges in from the outside, and they enter her room. It was a group of six adult males who worked as security in the facility, marching towards her room.

  "Experiment #496! Experiment #496! Get up and put your hands above your head!"

  The girl in black was startled. She immediately gets out of her bed and does exactly as they order her to.

  "Experiment #496! You have committed a crime within these metal walls! You are to be punished according to the rules!"

  "What? What crime did I commit?"

  "You've hurt other children, precious lab subjects that belong to the facility! This is an act of treason against the facility itself! Please be obedient and come with us!"

  "What? But that girl tried to hurt me first! Of course, I have to defend myself! Aren't I the more precious lab pigs for you guys anyway? I am in a black gown after all!"

  "You're not obedient with us! We have to use force!"

  "What?"

  One of the six security guards pulls out a remote and points it towards the girl.

  *BEEP*

  *ZRRRRRRRTTTTT*

  "AAAAARRRRRGGGHHH!!!"

  All of a sudden, the girl in black was electrocuted by the metal collar around her neck. She was zapped for five entire seconds before the security pressed the remote again, and her metal collar deactivated.

  *THUMP*

  The girl falls towards the floor. It was such a painful five seconds for her that she lost her breath and lost the ability to move her body.

  "(Why did I even try to invoke empathy towards these people? I already know that the adults here no longer see us as human beings. We're simply lab rats to the facility. Very precious goods for them to use and experiment on.)"

  "You are coming with us, Experiment #496!"

  "Urgh. . ."

  The girl in black lies helplessly on the metal floor with her face down. Six security personnel approached her and picked her up by holding her upper arms, carried by two of them, and she was taken outside the room towards a specific destination.

  .

  .

  .

  "Experiment #496!"

  ". . ."

  "Experiment #496!!!"

  "Urgh. . ."

  The girl in black opens her eyes. She wakes up and sits on the floor. She looks to her right and left and notices the location she's currently in.

  "Oh, this room. . ."

  The girl in black is now inside a wide white room that is 10 x 10 meters square. The room had windows, but only on the upper parts of the wall near the ceiling. There are adults wearing lab coats behind those windows looking down towards the inside of this room.

  "Experiment #496! Are you wide awake now?"

  There's a voice coming from multiple speakers in the room located near the windows.

  "As for your punishment, we will advance your usual experiment ahead of time before the scheduled time, but remember, you'll still have to do your scheduled experiment on the scheduled date. Is that clear, Experiment #496?"

  ". . yes."

  And then one of the lab workers behind the window presses a certain button on a computer. All of a sudden, miniguns are rising behind covers from the floors, the ceilings, and the walls. There are exactly 120 miniguns in total inside the room. All the miniguns are aiming right towards the girl in black's direction.

  "Experiment #496! Another portion of your punishment is that you must survive this barrage of miniguns for 15 minutes straight instead of the usual 10 minutes. Are you ready, Experiment #496?"

  *nods*

  "Well then, let's begin the experiment! Use your Faith power to dodge these bullets!"

  The girl in black closes her eyes. She reopens them, and then her entire body emits a dim light blue light.

  The 120 miniguns in the room start rotating their barrels. After a few seconds, all 120 of those miniguns start firing their rounds towards the girl in black.

  The girl in black swiftly dodges away from the bullets. She is running faster than the bullets by only a small margin. The miniguns are following her trail, and they are all moving in trajectory with her movement, yet the girl in black dodges the bullets away with no problem.

  After an entire five minutes have passed, thirty of those miniguns stop following the girl in black's movement. Instead, they all fire at different angles and directions inside the wall and stay at that angle and direction. This is an attempt to limit the girl in black's movement inside the room.

  At first, the girl in black struggles, and she is barely dodging the bullets that are following her as she keeps dodging into miniguns with fixed positions and bullet trails. However, the girl improves at every second, and her movement becomes more and more efficient as time goes by. And yet she slips at the eight-minute mark and falls towards the ground, becoming helpless, lying on the floor.

  "AAAAKKKHHH!!!"

  *!!!*

  "STOP THE MINIGUNS!! NOW!!"

  "Y-YES SIR!!"

  The scientists behind the windows were panicking when they saw multiple bullets piercing the girl in black's stomach.

  "EXPERIMENT #496! USE YOUR FAITH POWER TO HEAL YOUR WOUNDS! NOW!"

  "Urggh. . ."

  The girl places her right hand on her stomach, and the area around the gunshot wounds glows in a light blue color. Her wounds are very slowly closing up as she has yet to master the ability to rewind time as of this moment. After 15 long seconds, her wounds had completely closed with no defect whatsoever. But the bullets were still inside her stomach, killing her slowly.

  This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  "Not good! QUICK! DISPATCH THE EMERGENCY MEDICAL TEAM! WE CANNOT AFFORD TO LOSE EXPERIMENT #496! NOT AT THIS STAGE! QUICK!"

  The medical team was quickly dispatched towards the white experiment room to retrieve the girl in black in quick fashion. The girl passes out as she grunts in pain, holding her stomach. She was quickly brought to an operating room to remove the bullets from her stomach.

  .

  .

  .

  12 hours later. . .

  "Ugh. . ."

  "Hey!"

  ". . ."

  "Hey!"

  The girl in black opens her eyes.

  ". . . Where am I?"

  "Oh, my goodness, you're finally awake!"

  "Huh?"

  "You were asleep for the past 6 hours or so since you were brought in here!"

  "Asleep? Oh right. . ."

  The girl in black finds herself lying on a similar bed, hanging against the side of the metal wall. She also realizes she's inside a metal room similar to hers, yet the entire room's size looks a bit bigger than what she remembers. There's also an extra bed hanging on the side of the wall next to her bed.

  The girl wakes up and sits on her bed with her legs hanging off the side.

  "Who are you? And why are you here?"

  "Eh? You really don't know anything?"

  A girl wearing the green hospital gown is sitting on the bed next to hers. She has a pair of bright green eyes. She has short orange hair that rests above her shoulders, and the edges of her hair curl so much into a circle. She is only a bit shorter than the girl in black in height. She seems to be the same age as her as well. The most noticeable thing about her is the giant green ribbon a top of her head.

  The girl with the ribbon stands up and walks towards the girl in black. She offers her a hand and introduces herself.

  "Hello! My name is Michelle! My full name is Michelle Paradias. Nice to meet you!"

  ". . ."

  The girl hesitates to take the girl's hand. And in the end, she ultimately decided not to take up her hand, yet she still introduced herself to Michelle.

  "I. . . don't really have a name. The facility just labeled me Experiment #496! Don't bother befriending me! I'm not friendly at all! You'll get hurt!"

  "Eh? They didn't even give you a name? That's pretty cruel! And c'mon, don't be like that!"

  Michelle sits down on the bed next to the girl in black.

  "Oh, by the way, since you're wearing a black gown, you must have a pretty strong Faith power, huh?"

  "Hm? You seem to know a bit about the black gowns! Who are you really?"

  "Eh? I'm just someone who's very interested in Faith powers! I love seeing Believers with all of their different Faith powers! The most amusing part is how, when two Believers have the same Faith power and even the same type, they still utilize their Faith power completely differently from each other. I think that is so awesome!"

  "(Wow she's quite talkative. She's a legit nerd about Faith power.)"

  "Are you a Believer yourself? What's your Faith power?"

  "Ah. . . Unfortunately, I myself am a Non-Believer."

  "Hmmm, is that why you're so fixated on Faith powers and Believers? Because you wanted to be one yourself?"

  "Hehehe! That's correct! I can't believe you're already figuring me out, and it hasn't even been 30 minutes since we met! You're so smart, Experiment #496!"

  "I just think that you're easy to read!"

  "Is that so? Ahahahaha!"

  ". . .pfft! Hahaha!"

  *!*

  The girl in black was laughing without realizing it. She immediately stops afterwards.

  "Wow, Experiment #496, you're really pretty when you laugh!"

  ". . ."

  "Ah, I guess it's one of those! You know? When you see someone act a certain way and then all of a sudden, they act differently, and it's a totally new feeling seeing that in person! You know that feeling?"

  "Uuuh, no. . ."

  "Aw shucks! I feel like talking to a wall."

  "Well, I said I'm not friendly. . ."

  "Sheesh, drop that act, okay, Experiment #496?!"

  "Okay, putting all of that aside, where are we? Why are we together? Aren't all children supposed to be locked up in their rooms in isolation from others? I thought that was one of the rules inside the facility."

  "Wow, you really don't know anything, huh? We were brought here as punishment, actually."

  "What? Punishment? How? Being alone is a much worse punishment than having someone next to you."

  "Hmm, now that you mention it. . . Weird. . . Eh, to be fair, whatever the facility intends to do with us, I don't really care! We're confined here anyway, no use wasting time thinking about it."

  "You're such a carefree girl. By the way, what were you punished for?"

  "Oh, uuh, uum, uhh. . . I. . . broke. . . one of their equipment during one of my experiments. Hehehe!"

  "(Why was she stuttering? Is it really that embarrassing?)"

  "So, what about you? What did you do?"

  "I fought back against a bully and smashed her to the ground."

  "WHAT? WOW, YOU'RE SO COOL, EXPERIMENT #496!! How on earth did you do that? Did you learn martial arts or something?"

  "Martial arts? No, it's just my Faith power."

  "Oh! Oh! That's right, you haven't told me! What is your Faith power?"

  "So. . ."

  The girl in black stands up. She opens her right hand and she summons forth a blue sword made out of light in light blue color that looks more like a clock-hand rather than an actual sword.

  "WOOOOOWWW!!! SO PREEEEETTY!! THIS IS YOUR FAITH POWER?!"

  The girl in black was quite startled seeing Michelle's pure excitement and praise towards her Faith power. She is not used to hearing praise from others.

  "Y-You think this is pretty?"

  "Of course! It's shining brightly in blue! It's very beautiful!"

  "I. . . see. . ."

  Experiment #496 smiles without even realizing it.

  "By the way, is it possible to use that sword on our collars?"

  "No. . . The metal collars are monitored 24 hours a day. If they see any attempt to break it in any sort of way, they'll immediately make the collar blow up, and it will decapitate us in the process."

  "So, what does this light mean?"

  "My Faith power allows me to control time. This light is a representation of the fabric of time itself. It appears as light to the human eyes because of my influence. Although it's very limited, it is a very strong Faith power. One of the most powerful in the world. Or at least that's what the researchers here say."

  "Control time? WHAT? THAT IS REALLY POWERFUL!! NO KIDDING! THAT'S ONE OF THE MOST USEFUL FAITH POWERS OF THEM ALL!! WHO WOULDN'T WANNA CONTROL TIME?? UUUURRGGHHH IM SO JEALOOOUUSSSS!!"

  "I. . . never thought of it that way. . ."

  "What else can you do? Can you turn back time? Can you go to the past? Time travel?"

  "Uuhh, no! Best I can do is to accelerate time on my body to make me run and move faster. I can also rewind time on my body to heal any wounds, but I haven't quite mastered that yet."

  "Woooohhh! How fast can you run?"

  ". . . They told me I can run faster than bullets, hence the experiment I was just. . . in. . ."

  The girl in black suddenly lifts her black gown to check her stomach.

  "It's perfectly fine. Not even a scar is visible."

  "What happened to you?"

  "I was in an experiment where I had to dodge hundreds of bullets for 15 minutes straight. But I slipped and fell, and some bullets filled my stomach. I was on the verge of death. And then I was brought into ER and as you can see, the bullets have been removed and my stomach has no scar."

  The girl in black puts down her gown.

  "Wooooww, the technology inside the facility is that advanced. But I'm more intrigued by the fact that you have no shame lifting your skirt like that."

  "We're both girls, though, and we're kids as well. . ."

  "I'm just scared you'll grow up to be a very dangerous kind of adult!"

  "Hey! What do you mean by that?!"

  "Hehehe! Maybe you're still too young to know it!"

  "I don't understand what you're trying to say. . ."

  "Go ask your dad when we leave the facility! You'll know it by then!"

  "I don’t think I'll ever escape this place. . ."

  "Please, don't say that! Never lose hope! We'll get out of here someday!"

  "Are you seriously thinking we'll ever get to escape this hellhole?"

  "Of course! One thing I've learned after spending years in this facility is that you should never think or act like you'll spend the rest of your life here! Trust me! Adopt this attitude and you'll feel better about yourself! I can confirm this myself, hehehe!"

  "You're so cheerful even under these circumstances. I'm jealous."

  "No need to envy me! Just try to act like this yourself!"

  "I'll. . . try. Oh, by the way, I heard that the children brought to this facility were all either orphans or unwanted children who were sold by their own parents. Isn't it cruel to sell away your own child to become lab pigs to some shady organization like this one?"

  "I. . . my. . . own father sold me to this place for reasons I can't comprehend. . ."

  "I'm sorry. . ."

  "What about you?"

  "I. . . was born here. . ."

  "Huh? What does that mean?"

  "I don't really understand the details, but they told me I was created here. That I never had any real parents. I'm just the result of some experiments done in this place."

  "Wow. . . I have no idea something like that is even possible. . ."

  "That's why I'm telling you; you should not befriend me. I'm not even a proper human being. To be a human being, you need to be born through the womb of a mother. Or at least that's what they told me to my face."

  Michelle stands up. She grabs the girl in black's hand with her own.

  "Experiment #496! You are my friend!"

  ". . .but--."

  "No buts! I am your friend! From now on, we are the best of buddies! I will never let you feel alone again! You'd best remember that!"

  "I. . . I. . ."

  "Oh, by the way! It's really annoying to keep addressing you as 'Experiment #496'! It's a mouthful! It's tiring!"

  "Well, I'm sorry about that. . ."

  "No, no! I'm not blaming you! I'm saying I'll think of a pretty name for you!"

  "What? Really?"

  "Yup! Just give me some time! I'm sure you'll like whatever name I'll come up with!"

  "Somehow I doubt that, hahahaha!"

  "(She's laughing? Good. . .)"

  "Ahahahaha! Looks like someone just learn how to joke!"

  "I learned from such a talkative master after all!"

  "There you go again! HAHAHAHA!!"

  "Hahahahahaha!"