And with this power, I will fulfill the last wish of my commandant. — Tifa
Tifa, designated Iron Maiden, is an Ascendant-class entity transformed by the Ascendant Roland. Following her transformation, she became entirely consumed by the pursuit of power, rampaging through Corrupted clusters to absorb Punishing Virus energy and launching unprovoked assaults on Construct squads in the surrounding area.
Her primary weapons are body-mounted spikes used for both attack and defense. These function as torture instruments capable of breaching Construct exterior armor and amplifying Punishing infection on contact. Her ghastly appearance alone is sufficient to induce M.I.N.D. deviation in Constructs with compromised psychological stability.
Virus-contaminated cables cover her frame and can be deployed to bind targets and corrupt both humans and bio-machines. A reinforced outer armor shell provides resistance to physical damage. Within the armor is a heavily infected Construct body with visible limb deterioration. She fires thorn missiles at close-range targets, deploys spherical explosive charges, and is capable of emitting a high-frequency scream that deals area damage to surrounding units.
- See Location: City 015 - MISSION LOG 2: [IRON MAIDEN]
Following the engagement, Tifa's body was retrieved by Babylonia personnel and placed in a containment unit at a nearby facility. Liv conducted a M.I.N.D. reading to extract available intelligence.
Tifa was a Construct assigned to the Babylonia Task Force Suzaku, a Support-type who grew deeply attached to her Commandant, described as kind and attentive. Before his death, he left her a single instruction: to keep herself alive, no matter what, which became her core motivation and shaped her actions.
During a Corrupted assault, the Suzaku Commandant was killed in the field. The surviving squad members, including Tifa, were encircled with no viable retreat route. An unknown Construct arrived and helped repel the attackers, then offered her a chance to join him. Committed to honoring her Commandant's final request, Tifa accepted, which gradually led her to accept Roland's offer of transformation.
When she regained consciousness, her body had been extensively modified. Roland directed her to adapt to her new power by engaging Corrupted units in combat trials. Her hunger for further augmentation grew stronger, making her behavioral decline more evident. During this period, she extracted the head of Musashi IX and examined it, an act that reflects her deteriorating mental state and increasing aggression.
During one engagement against a Construct squad, she encountered Nozzle and criticized it for failing to neutralize human targets, extending an offer to join the Ascendant faction. Nozzle refused. The two entered armed conflict before separating.
In a separate incident, she encountered Kamui and initiated combat. The engagement continued until the structural collapse of a bridge nearly claimed both parties. She had gained the upper hand by that point and referenced the strength of the Ascendant Network before withdrawing, leaving Kamui behind.
She was subsequently defeated in engagement with Gray Raven.
ADDENDUM I - SECURITY FOOTAGE REPORT [UNAUTHORIZED ACTIVITY]:Following the conclusion of Gray Raven's on-site investigation,
Vera was observed removing Tifa's preservation pod from the designated containment area without authorization. Vera transported the pod to an unmanned corridor section outside standard monitoring rotation and manually connected it to a facility power node.
Pod status at time of activation: brain unit confirmed non-functional due to combat damage sustained prior to retrieval. Tifa's body was inoperable. Vera was recorded establishing a data link via Gray Raven's connection protocol, initiating forced memory playback on Tifa.
Vera made direct physical contact with the pod exterior. Duration of interaction: approximately 4 minutes. Verbal exchange detected; audio reconstruction is partial.
Those who don't feel pain are not actually alive... Leave all your pain to me... That's all I can do for you, Tifa.
At the conclusion of the interaction, Vera delivered a single high-force strike to the pod's cranial section, resulting in full structural breach and immediate cessation of residual consciousness activity. No distress signal was triggered. She departed the corridor unaided. The incident was not reported to facility command.
