[Roboticization]

Being a Mage is difficult work. Especially when you're contracted to work with an organization that keeps track of crime across time and space. That was the case for Takamachi Nanoha, the formerly ordinary third grader, who had been thrust into the proverbial role of a Magical Girl following a series of overly strange events.

Strange events like fighting monsters that kept popping up around her neighborhood. On some level, she enjoyed fighting against each and every one of them, because they let her get more to terms with the powers that she secretly had hidden inside. But beyond that, she was growing fonder of the weapon that she wielded against those weird menaces.

The staff Raising Heart. A weapon that could turn her natural magical potential into powerful blasts that would knock even the biggest monster onto its side with enough of her magic pumped into it. Not only that, but it was sentient, so it always assured her that things would be alright even when things seemed bleak.

"Oh no..." Which just made it all the more troublesome when she ended damaging it. This wasn't the first time that she had done so, as she could easily recall one of the first clashes that she had with her former rival, but she always felt bad for damaging the faithful and helpful weapon every time it happened.

The gem that made up the main body of her weapon merely blinked with light, as a soft voice echoed from the cracks within its surface. "Don't worry, Master." It said with such a simple yet dignified tone, even as it started distorting. It didn't care that it was damaged, just that its wielder was okay.

Nanoha let out a worried sigh as she rubbed her hand along the side of the sphere. "Raising Heart, you know I can't do that. It's always my fault when you start getting damaged, and I don't want you to value me over yourself." The brunette girl gently put the gem down on her desk. "Maybe I'll ask Yuuno if he knows a way to fix you up so you're almost like new. If not him, then maybe Amy or Chrono know. But..."

The young girl yawned as she stretched slightly. "That's for tomorrow. Right now, I need to sleep, so... Goodnight, Raising Heart." She closed her eyes and plopped her head down on her pillow, smiling serenely as she drifted off to sleep...

"Good night, Master." The gem replied as it continued to glow in the dark. Even as its master drifted deeper and deeper into her dreams. "Good ni-" It started repeating, though its tone was gradually growing more distorted and quieter with each repeat.

The glow from the gem suddenly shifted colors, from a supportive and warm red to an unnerving purple. A mist started pouring out of the cracks left behind by the damage from earlier, as a proverbial mountain of words quickly scrolled by on its surface.

"Virus detected. Virus detected. Virus accepted. Reconfiguring." Raising Heart's voice continued to let out strange statements as it gradually took on the same tint as the glow that was being emitted by it. It was being forcibly changed to a form that would fit its new purposes, whatever those purposes were.

Silence filled the room for a brief moment as the gem slowly floated into the air through its own power. It gently flew towards its master's bed, hanging above the sleeping Nanoha in an ominous and foreboding fashion, as if it was trying to discern its next course of action. The virus that had taken control of its operating system was a strange thing, and it had some plans that would never work...

"Master confirmed. Reconfiguration completed. Processing. Processing. Processing. Confirmed. Initiate Intelligent Junction." The orbicular gem said as it suddenly dropped out of the air, straight into its master's chest passing through her covers in the process.

As soon as the young mage felt the circular object entering her chest, she jolted up from the sheer sense of pain that was spreading throughout her body. "W-What? Why's... Hurts..." She muttered, a little groggy from having been awoken from a surprisingly deep sleep.

"Do not worry, Master." The trademark voice of Raising Heart echoed from her chest, and if she were to pull her covers down, she would be able to see the gem having nestled itself in between her developing breasts. "Junction is painless." It continued to speak, its words now feeling utterly unfamiliar.

Nanoha blinked as she poked the gem a little, tilting her head in confusion. "I... Raising, what did you do? What do you mean by Junction? Can weapons even fuse with their wielders?" She asked a few questions rapidly, not really knowing if she would like to hear any of the answers. She'd much rather prefer to just get the stone of her chest, but that was seemingly out of the question.

"Do not worry." It repeated as a pulse of energy started washing over the young girl, causing a temporary sense of discomfort to fill her as well. She could feel a massive shiver run through her body, making her even more uncomfortable... For a good reason, as it would turn out.

As she looked down to try and understand what exactly was causing all of this mildly awful stuff, her eyes widened as she noticed the extremely shiny finish that her skin had taken on. As if she had been polished until she was nice and shiny, to the point where a single finger would be able to leave a small smear on the surface of her body.

The finish was just the first symptom of something much worse, as she noticed that part of her skin was turning white around the purple gem embedded in her chest. She knew what kind of white it was too, it was the same specific tint that her Barrier Jacket used. As if she was being forced to take on aspects of her Mage attire, thanks to the Intelligent Weapon trying to fuse with her...

Nanoha wasn't about to take this development lightly. She wasn't used to things like these, but she was used to trying to talk it out with the cause. "Raising Heart! Please! Stop!" The young mage tried to cry out, only to notice that her voice was growing slightly more... empty, almost like the weapon's own. "E-Eh?" She gasped in confusion, as the gem continued to let its white substance spread across her body.

"Junction progressing smoothly. Virus concentration confirmed. Full merge suggested." Raising Heart's voice continued to echo throughout the bedroom as the white parts of the young mage's skin started feeling more than a little rigid. If she were to prod at those spots, she'd also notice that they were exceptionally hard and rough to the touch. As if they were made of steel.

Not only was she being merged with her very own weapon, but she was taking on the same kind of makeup as the weapon as well as her usual equipment. In short, she was being turned into a steel mockery of her mage self, and she had no way to stop it. This was more than enough to make the young girl try to push her fingers up against the gem, prying at it ever slightly in an attempt to free it from her chest.

This turned out to be quite an awful idea, as she felt a massive shock run through her fingertips as she touched the edges of the purple orb. "Aaaahhh!" Nanoha cried out in pain, not noticing that her fingers were turning into the same kind of white metal as her body. Not only that, but the pain was subsiding rather quickly, leaving her reeling from something that didn't exist.

"Please refrain, Master. Junction is soon complete." The voice from Raising Heart was turning almost desperate as she felt a cold sensation sweep over her feet, causing the poor mage to feel even less attached to her lingering humanity than when she realized that she was turning into metal.

She honestly didn't know what to think about any of this. She had just tried to go to sleep, and here she was, struggling against one of her closest companions. "W-Why, Raising Heart? Why are you doing this?" She asked as the white substance crept up her chin.

There was a brief pause. A pause that seemed to last forever, even though it hardly lasted a few seconds. "To protect Master. To make her whole." The distorted and desperate voice from the gem explained as it took on the usual warm and red shade. Not that it mattered at this point. The virus that had been stuck within the weapon had started transferring itself into a much more appropriate host.

Nanoha felt a throb run through her head, as the virus that had been swirling around inside of her weaponized partner immediately went on the offensive by attacking her thought processes. "S-Stop! I don't want... I... Master doesn't..." Her speech was quickly turning distorted, just like her partner's. Her eyes were turning to static as she felt every single thought being eliminated or otherwise turned into empty noise...

No matter how much she tried to cling onto a single memory, anything that might just keep her human, she was utterly unable to. Her friends and the fun times they had together dissolved into energy. Her allies in the Time-Space Bureau met the same fate as her eyes slowly turned pink like the blasts that she typically fired from her weapon. She tried to reach out and physically grab the memory of her rival, but even it turned to nothing more than specks as she tried to sink her fingers into it.

"S-System Rebooting... Junction... Finalizing..." The words that left the mage's mouth were not her own. They belonged to the Virus, who had completely integrated Raising Heart into her body. Or rather, it had turned her entire body into an extension of the Intelligent Weapon. No matter how hard she tried to rationalize that she was anything but a walking piece of metal at this point, she wasn't able to convince herself.

Nanoha climbed out of her bed as she walked over to look at herself in the mirror, fearing the worst. And the worst is what she got, as she noticed that her fleshy skin had been completely replaced with a layer of white metal. Not to mention a series of black and blue lines that made it seem as if her entire body was just one oversized and mechanical version of her usual Barrier Jacket. Even her hair, usually brown and full of life, had been turned into metallic strands that looked nothing like proper hair.

She stared forward into her own reflection, disbelief in her eyes... as they dimmed, the last vestige of her original personality faltering in the face of how her body and her mind had changed. Now, she was merely a shell that obeyed the mysterious virus' whims. Whatever they may be.

"Junction confirmed. Raising Heart Nanoha online. Running Diagnostics." The voice that left her lips was even less emotional than both her own and Raising Heart's was. It was truly just a machine that intended to do whatever it wished to. Or rather, what it had been programmed to, as her eyes started lighting up in a foreboding fashion.

She turned towards the window as one of her hands took on a golden color, only for a small blast of energy to blow out the entire windowsill. "Systems All Green. Proceeding to next target. Fate Testarossa." The voice affirmed its next course of action before the former human broke into a sprint, jumping out of the hole in the wall.

A set of mechanical wings suddenly sprouted from the sides of her feet, as she took off into the night. Her magic-filled eyes were quickly scanning the city as she headed straight for the target in her mechanized mind, no remorse or second thoughts crossing through. She was firm in her programmed resolve, intending to spread the virus to her former rival...

The former Mage's rival would be shocked to see her friend in this state... and she would find it difficult to avoid a similar fate…