Chapter 26: We finally got answers! (Patreon)

The room they walked in was…interesting, unlike any other room or den Alexa had seen, this one seemed different in design, she didn’t understand why it had so many [Chairs], each one with an included square-shaped platform that didn’t seem sturdy enough to stand in.

“A Classroom? First a Super Heroe now a Classroom? Are you sure this is a Villain organization?” The big [Human] that worked as her personal shield spoke.

So this room was a [Classroom]?

What was that?

“It’s the room we use for capacitations, so yes. We have Classrooms. As for SuperForce…” Gabriel spoke while playing with his mask, making sure it was in place. “That was more of a favor, usually we would have done the whole act of him attacking me and me fighting back, he may win or lose but it would have been on the news…”

So that was a play?

“Don’t get me wrong, we would fight for real. But in this case…He came straight to us for help, we make exceptions in our fights, that is why most Heroes turn a blind eye to us, because they know we will help when needed.” Then Gabriel stuck the drawing of her [Child Stage] form into the wall, “A lost kid, or in this case, a probable kidnapping is one such case, if any of you know has taken her hostage, release her. Or give her to us and we will not hurt you. So this is as good as a moment as any for you to know our rules.”

“Rules? Aren’t we Villains? Rules are for the weak!” One of those who had only the upper half of the mask spoke, his face was closer to a snout than a [Human Mouth].

“That is true, well spoken!” Gabriel smiled as he clapped, “But you are missing a very important point.”

He then started walking toward the human that had spoken, each step measured, and yet… Alexa couldn’t help but move a little to try and get her seat to stand behind her shield.

“You are weak.” Gabriel said as if he was stating the most obvious thing, “And we are strong, so we make the rules. And if you don’t want to follow them, you aren’t welcome here.”

Then pointing to the door they had walked in a few seconds ago, he added “Either Leave, or start listening to what your betters tell you.” And then turning to everyone else Gabriel made sure they nodded at his words, so when Gabriel turned to her, she also nodded (Perhaps faster than needed too). “Okay, let’s check, why do you think we need to draw this line in our activities kiddo.”

She was [Kiddo] now? What was the thing with these humans giving her names that weren’t hers!?!?

“Because you want to limit the amount of conflicts to a bare minimum, keeping the [Heroes]happy would allow you to have a greater amount of freedom to act. And if all you need is to let a few [Prey] alone to get other more powerful [Predators] away, then the cost-benefit is balanced enough.” Alexa answered, “Also I’m not Kiddo, I have a name.”

And after, she totally didn’t pout while adding the last part.

“...not the answer I wanted, but a very logical conclusion, so your Core is closer to a Tinkerer huh, wouldn’t suspect that.” Gabriel said with a shrug, “As for the name, unless you come out and give us we will keep using what we have.”

She wanted one too! But…she would need to think about what to use for her name, she had already failed when giving her name the first time, and while she liked the name, Alexa, it was a problem the fact that it hadn’t been the name she had intended to give.

It was good they fixed it, since she had found that this name was female and the one she had intended to give was for males.

“Now I have been playing around answering the question about Cores, so may as well keep the bit going, Rules!” Gabriel said turning back and walking towards the wall where he had stuck her drawing. “First, don’t attack civilians unless that is part of the mission given to you.”

That seemed easy enough, she now just needed to find what those [Civilians] were!

“Second, your work will be that of a Minion, our organization [Heaphestus’s Forge] specializes in training Minions, and our boss rents those Minions to other villains. That will be you.” Gabriel pointed at them, sticking more images to the wall, this time of masks the white and black masks, and some variations with half masks too. “A black mask is for non-core powered Minions, the Heroes know that if they see a black mask then they need to put on the Civilian Gloves, if one of you ever dons a black mask you can’t use your Core Powers.”

“Wouldn’t that be a good way to ambush them?” The same human as before spoke, making Gabriel give a long sigh.

“Yes, that would be a great ambush indeed. But then the next Hero would come with all the fury of a god into the next black-masked Minion. “ Gabriel said, snout man didn’t seem to find a problem with that, “Now that will not be a problem to you, even if all your powers amount is having the brain of a dog. But we do love having living Minions to work with, and if the Heroes are using all their kit no one will want to do that work. So that means we will need to make an example of the IDIOT who decided to use a black mask to ambush some random weak-ass Hero.”

Oh, yeah, she could see how that was a problem, it was a problem of allocating their resources smartly, they needed to make sure the weak links in the chain were safe by making sure the strong chains were visible.

“So we use White Masks to make sure that the [Hero] pays attention to us instead of the [Prey] within our side, so that [Predator] fights against [Predator]?” Alexa asked.

“....We will work in your words later, but yes that is about it. You all use white masks to make sure you are visible targets, but your work isn’t to fight. But to distract the sidekicks while the Villain does their thing.” Gabriel said turning to the white masks. “Your work is to do whatever the Villain asks, if they ask you to dance on top of a moving car, you do it so long you can guarantee your safety, if they ask you to attack civilians…well, we will not fail you if you decide against doing that. But if you do decide to do it, more jobs where that will be needed of you will be assigned,”

…She would look into getting those jobs. If it meant an easy way to get biomass then that was her type of job. Oh right! Food!

“My skills require me to get an increased amount of biomass to work with, how will that be accounted?” Asked Alexa while raising her hand, she wasn’t quite sure why she raised her hand, but both her meat shield and Gabriel smiled and shook their head as if it was something funny. 

“How bad is the conversion? Also, do you need a specific type of food? You refer to it as biomass but I assume any kind of food works?” Gabriel asked, way more information than she expected. Well, at least this meant that it wouldn’t be nutrient slurry.

“If it’s for immediate use the conversion ratio is 1:1 if I need to stockpile it…” Alexa didn’t want to increase her body mass….”The conversion is 2:1, per each two kilograms of biomass I can only save 1 for later use.”

“Does it matter the type?” Gabriel asked once more.

“ I don’t think so? If I want to use muscles of a certain type it would help to have that type as food, but I can turn any type of biomass into what I need, the limit is only the amount of change I make and how much energy that consumes.” Alexa answered, she wasn’t quite sure if there was a hard limit to her nanites, but since they worked by realigning the material there shouldn’t be, unless the material was some that refused her changes…

“And this energy I guess it will be sugar…So if your forms are other animals or forms we need meat, and to fuel the changes we need sugar…Ugh….This will be annoying, but if the change is good…” Gabriel mumbled, “We will check with you later when we plan your uniform, we don’t need all your skills to their full extent, it will help us plan better, but how much you want to show is up to you. The more you show us the better we can prepare for you, but that is up to you.”

Gabriel said, she was about to say that she wouldn’t mind saying more, but her meat shield shook his head at her.

“I only need construction materials, my Core integrates them and turns my form into them, the change is permanent the only change I can make is changing the type of material, but I can’t return to a human form.” Her Meat shield said, “So just get me good base materials and I can tank pretty much anything.”

That was one interesting tidbit, what could come of his blueprint? Alexa wanted to know.

“That is easier, we will get some material set for later and check, but if we can alloy it...Yeah, prepare to test with metals, we will probably settle with Durasteel for now, we will check how your body deals with alloys and more exotic materials later.” Gabriel seemed happier with her meat shield than with her. Rude.

“Anyone else with exotic needs?” Gabriel turned to the others, but no one seemed to want to answer.

“I only need a place to stay,” The other Human Girl said, the one that fell after their time running. “My power only requires wind around, the energy seems to stockpile on its own and refills with some rest, so I don’t need anything fancy.”

“A normal metaphysical one, we will teach you some methods to deal with this energy,” Gabriel answered, she had noticed the spikes on the weird energy that seemed to be a catalyst for her [Core] formation. 

“Can I attend those classes too? My power lets me detect that thing too.” Alexa said, making almost everyone turn to look at her. “What?”

“Well, we all have felt it at least once, when the [Core] was forming. But you say you can detect it? “ Gabriel said turning to her, “Can you detect it now? What number?”

Gabriel raised one of his fingers and then formed a number with the weird energy, she could only see it because her eyes had been modified to detect it with a transparent lens in there to see it. “Seven.” Alexa answered, “So can I attend?”

“...Yes, yes you can,” Gabriel said while pulling a phone from his clothes and reading something on it. “So Eleanore gave you the address…and your contact was Frank of all people….that is interesting…”

“[Frank The Bettle] helped me when [SuperForce] was fighting [Scorcher], he told me that I could get housing and food here.” Alexa nodded at those words and added her opinion, “So I will require at least food.”

“...yes we do pay quite well, you should be able to pay for your food after the rent…Actually, Eleanore deals with these things, just go to her and show her your mask, she will deal with the paperwork” Gabriel said turning to the rest.

Most of the people there said that they didn’t need much, the ones with beast-like parts just needed a place to stay and more allowance for food, Gabriel passed them some tubes with a plastic exterior.

The human with the snout opened his and grimaced, Alexa also grimaced since her nose was testing a more sensible configuration and she was able to pick on the smell, nutrient paste.

“It doesn’t taste as bad as it smells, and it gives you the extra boost you need,” Gabriel said, he was lying. Or he never tasted it.

Snout's face however emptied the contents of that in one go and ate it, then closed his eyes and took a breath, afterward he seemed more at peace, was he that hungry? With that design for a mouth and his other modifications, Alexa didn’t see a reason why he would be hungry. 

“Now with that out of the way…I guess there is nothing more so…” Gabriel turned with a more serious face to them, “About the reason why we lie to those that aren’t Core users…and even to those that are.”

This made everyone settle down.

“The Core Powers we have….what do you think they are?” He asked them, Alexa…wasn’t quite sure what they were.

“They are manifestations of the powers we absorb from those around us. I lived near Beast Core Users so I turned into one of them, had I known I would get them I would have moved near the center to get a more human form.” Snout's face said, “Not that I mind these powers or the feeling of being part of a Pack.”

That was his answer, Alexa…wasn’t quite sure about that.

“They are the powers granted to us by a higher entity. I needed a stronger body in a time of need, so I was granted this undying body.” Her meat shield answered, “I miss the feeling of touch and taste, but I am grateful for this gift.”

The answer seemed to oscillate in those two opinions, either the powers granted to them by association or powers granted by a higher life form. And neither seemed to be the right answer to Alexa.

“And you little girl who is definitely not a Kiddo?” Gabriel turned to her.

She hadn’t been called Kiddo, and yet she felt offended, weird.

“I’m not sure. I was told that association would alter the type of [Core] I would get, but after awakening my [Core] I didn’t feel such a thing. Then I was told my [Core] was already formed… Now I find that some kind of entity is granting these powers?” Alexa said turning to her meat shield, she…was inclined to trust him, if only because he seemed to want to protect her. “So I’m not sure. What I know is that these skills…helped me greatly. So I want to study and learn what I can.”

“The Core Powers we have….aren’t affected by those around us, we aren’t quite sure what is the catalyst for the formation of a Core. What we know is that…” Gabriel said while turning to the weird wall where he had stuck all the pictures before and written on it, his words weren’t neat like most of the letters she had seen, if anything they seemed to not follow any form and even the same letters looked slightly different, she was still able to read them though, “...The Core Power we get answers to something primal.”

And the word he wrote? It was [Wish].

“They answer to our wish, to our prayer in time of need, to what we desire the most. You formed your Core while in danger? Chances are you will get a Core Power to get you through it,” Gabriel then turned to snout face, “You are surrounded by people with beast-like powers? If you envy their power, their forms, their freedom…chances are you will get a similar form.”

“What about me then? I didn’t get a Core Power that granted me a sturdy body nor did I get a power that changed my form.” The wind human girl asked, “I got the power to be a fan.”

“That is the next part, our Core Power comes in two forms, Physical alterations, and metaphysical alterations.” Gabriel said, then added two new images to the wall, “Physical alterations are like Golem or Wolfman here, they ended with a body that was changed to give them their power.”

“So since I wanted to survive…No, since I wanted a sturdy body. I got one that would take in the materials around and change to accommodate my needs….” Her meat shield said.

“...And since my only contact with Core Users was with Beast Core Users…I ended as one?” Snout face said while cackling. “And why don’t you tell us this before?!?!? Why hide it ?!?!?”

“And what? What do you think will happen when someone Wishes for infinite power? Do you think it will be granted?” Gabriel smirked at snout face.

“What is the problem with wanting power?!?” Snout's face snarled back, “That is our right!”

“Yes, it is. Tell me…how much meat did you need to eat when your power manifested?” Gabriel asked in an even tone.

“....100 kilos.” Snout's face said, that was…weird, he didn’t seem to have that much mass though.

“And where did you get that much meat?” Gabriel said, what was he getting at?

“....The neighbor had a few Great Danes Dog.” Snout's face mumbled.

“That is one lucky thing for you, if not you may have turned cannibal…Well, you ended up being so anyway since it seems your traits are of that species….” Gabriel smirked at snout face.

“So? Your point?” Snout's face grumbled.

“How much meat do you think Infinite power would take?” Gabriel asked. 

That simple question made everyone very quiet, and snout face eyes dilated as if understanding crossed his mind. 

“Probably more than 100 kilos.” So since no one said anything, Alexa said it for them.

“Very true, I would say at least more than ten times that.” Gabriel smirked at her, “Do any of you know about the meat wasteland?”

The what now?

“It is a desert where an unknown animal developed a core. The place is anathema to life and any organism that walks there is attacked by the very soil that has turned into an amalgamation of meat, bones, and dirt.” Snout's face answered. “What of it?”

“Well, for one, we know exactly the species of the Core user,” Gabriel said unamused.

“...It was human?” Her meat shield asked. “That is impossible, that place is almost as big as Rhode Island!”

“It was human at some point, there is no brain activity in that place, we don’t know what the original owner of that core wanted, but his Core tried to create it, and since he didn’t have enough biomass…Well, it mutated into a way to get it. That is how it started, and now we are salting the earth near it and keeping it at bay while we wait for it to starve.” Gabriel then turned to snout face, “That is why we no longer advertise the true origin of the Core Powers we have. Because we don’t want another event where a smart ass asks for infinity power and their core is a physical one.”

“Then what about Metaphysical ones? What would it make that type of wish?” Wind girl asked.

“Well, do you know about the mirage city?” Gabriel asked, the girl seemed to get the reference….and didn’t elaborate.

“Metaphysical ones tend to try their best, Mirage City was made when the current President wanted a place where no one would bother him, his power got out of control and turned the city he was into a place that no one could access unless he wanted. And it tied him there, so now he is the only one that can grant access, but since you need to go in to ask for permission…Yeah, he is stuck alone there.” Gabriel didn’t seem that bothered in this example, “Usually they are less prone to causing problems for others, but metaphysical ones cause problems for you. So if I had to advise you, if you have a physical one, be grateful, because the metaphysical one would screw you harder than the physical one.”

“Then what is mine?” Alexa asked, “I can change my body, but I didn’t need to eat biomass when I got it.”

“Hard to tell, your Core Power seems to be closer to a flesh shaper, or maybe a shape shifter. We will check later.” And in that tune, Gabriel took the images from the wall, “Now with this information try to check what you were thinking when you got your Cores, and try to work that into your understanding. What we call Beast Cores, Insect Cores, or Whatever Cores are suggestions with no limits. That is why there are Insect Core users with Core Powers that shouldn’t work with the type of insect they seem to have!”

So that was why [Frank The Bettle] could use that weird power to turn totally invisible? So her own Core may give her more power than what she had? But when she got it…she didn’t really desire or have a wish for anything, did she? What had been her [Wish] then?