Chapter 27: We did it! (Patreon)

And that was how that went, Alexa learned many things, and she got to meet [Humans] who had all kinds of weird powers…She didn’t manage to get blueprints from them since they all seemed to be checking each other at all times.

“Okay, class, as for the next part…Let’s go this way.” And suddenly Gabriel clapped to get everyone’s attention and pointed to a door that led them into a hallway. “Move along, we are almost done.”

This one they walked for around ten minutes, it was empty and besides their footstep, no other sound was detected, and there were heavy footsteps to be had, since her meatshield size and weight meant that he caused too many sounds and rumbles when he moved.

“Take care little one, I can’t move well in closed spaces.” Said her meat shied turning to her.

“It’s okay.” Alexa answered, “I’m fast enough and I keep a safe distance.”

She also wanted him near so she could take cover should [Gun] type emplacement weapons spring from within the walls, these had the same style and color as those in her [Den], so she was leery about them.

“We are almost done, when you get through this next part we can get you the correct credentials and you can use the normal hallways,” Gabriel said from the front, he had walked ahead and was now standing near a door. “Sorry about this part, but white masks need to use this one before being accepted. Black Masks are weaker so we can deal with them, but most of the time White Masks are more…dangerous.”

…So there were [Gun] type emplacements after all.

“And only two got the meaning of this? Well, that is fine too.” Gabriel shrugged opening the door, “In we go, your next part of this will be with my partner Cerberus. Don’t mind her too much.”

The what now?

“What about you?” Alexa asked, she didn’t want to deal with new Core Power Users, she hadn’t plotted a way to deal with this one! And now she was meeting another one?

“You will see me around, of this batch you are probably the only one guaranteed credentials, and only because of your situation.” Gabriel smiled at her, “You will still need to take the test, but I was told that you fulfilled most of our needs, so this is mostly for show.”

“The brat is in already? So what? She is the daughter of a Villian? Hah!” Snout's face barked, “So even Super Villain organizations fall to nepotism.”

No one else answered at that, or at least they waited till snout face ended his barking laugh. Gabriel did wait at least.

“You can ask that to Cerberus too, and you will understand why she is the one that we will accept even if we need to fail everyone else for it. I am not sure about if I believe it either, but the big boss trusts Cerberus. And that is the one vouching for her.” Gabriel shrugged and started walking in the other direction.

“I WILL!” Snout's face said and he walked in, one by one the rest did so. 

Alexa waited since her meat shield was waiting, the other [Human] that seemed to manipulate wind also waited, but she got the impression that she waited because the other [Humans] had piled into the [Door].

“I don’t mind if you got in because of influences, god knows I would have done the same.”Her Meatshield said, “But if you are doing it for fun, please at least reconsider it, this is a dangerous life. And your family will be sad if something happens to you, even if they too, like you want to be, are Villains.”

“Does your Mother even know that you are here?” The other [Human] asked, “I thought you were around my age and had a smaller build, but…you aren’t are you?”

So this one was [Of age]? Did those bulges only grow in people around that [Of age] thing?

“I don’t have a [Family] or [Mother], nor a [Home]. That is why I want to get this job.” Alexa answered the questions, “As for [Age]...I think this [Form] is twelve years, but I was told it would be the bare minimum age.”

And on that note, she walked in, no other [Human] was waiting to enter, and as far as she could tell, these two wanted to keep her [Safe], so they wouldn’t attack her, she still kept her guard up of course. It wouldn’t do to be sneak attacked.

This new [Room] she walked into was different once more, it had open spaces on each of the four sides and in the middle had a…interesting construction. 

Four pillars with vine-like objects joining the four pillars making an area in the middle, this area seemed to have a different type of [Floor], if she was seeing it right, this one seemed to be softer since the [Human] standing on it sank a few millimeters on it.

“[So these are the last ones.]” The [Human] spoke, it seemed to be a [Female] variant, but her voice was distorted by her mask, it was…different from the ones she had seen so far.

This one had three [Faces] and each of them was designed to look like one of the [Hound] type bioweapons she had fought before, it looked as if someone had taken a similar approach to snout face and used that to model that mask.

It was weird because the mask was black, but it had some decorations in black, the [Hound] parts of the mask were black, but the rest of the mask was white. And the voice of the [Human] came from the three faces on the mask.

Weird.

“[My name is Cerberus, you may think of me as…Human Resources and Training. I will need to know as much of what you think about yourself or as much as you want to share with us.]” Cerberus spoke, then pointing at snout face she added, “[Starting with you WolfMan.]”

“I’m a Beast Core, Wolf type. I can grow stronger the more fresh meat I eat, no hard limits found yet. If I hunt it then my power is stronger.” Snout's face started, “Also I despise nepotism.”

And added the last part looking at Alexa, she wasn’t quite sure why, but she felt that he was being rude.

“[Now for this part…I have a Core Power that lets me measure the truth of statements. I don’t like to use it so this is one of the few occasions that you will have it used against you, unless you do something stupid that is].” Cerberus started saying, hadn’t she just met someone like that? Someone that had a Core Power like this…

Was Cerberus Eleanore!?!?!?

“[So with that out of the way, answer me this WolfMan.]” Cerberus said pointing at Snout's face, the eyes of the face in the middle of Cerberu’s Mask shone in red light, “[Will you use any information you find while working with Haephestu’s Forge against a fellow member of this organization?]”

Snout's face turned silent and after thinking for a few seconds he answered, “No. So long they are fair to me. I will stay loyal,” was his answer.

Cerberus nodded at that, then said “[Of those around you, how many are you 100% sure you could defeat.]” 

What was the meaning of that question?

“...None.” Snout's face answered, “At least not of the White Masks, fights against Core Users are hard to predict, if I knew what they can do and how, then I might be able to win against some. But my pack alpha always said, only an idiot says he can hunt 100% of the prey they chase.”

…That was stupid, if you can’t hunt it, then it wasn’t prey but predator. 

Snout's face was stupid, as was this [Alpha] he spoke about.

“[Okay, next…]” And like that Cerberus repeated with everyone else. Most answered like Snout Face.

“I will stay loyal to those that help me.” Her meatshield answered, and then when the question about if they could defeat anyone else…” Only Wolf Man, and maybe the fan girl.”

Wolf Man only grumbled about ‘Stupid rocks not working for his Core Power’. Or something, and Cerberus laughed at these interactions, so maybe it was okay for her to answer what she had thought?

The Fan Girl's answer was more or less the same, only answering “I don’t think I could defeat anyone…” while eyeing her, and then doubling down on her answer. Had she discovered her true might?

“[I will let the lie slip since it is actually true,]” Cerberus said, making the fan girl tilt her head.

“But I didn’t…wait that was true?” Was the confused answer of Fan Girl.

And so, it was finally her turn arrived!

“[And now you….First question, only because we do need to have witness, even though we already know the answers.]” So she was indeed Eleanor? “[Will you stay loyal to Haephestus Forge, and do you promise to not use what you learn here to cause damage to your coworkers?]”

No wait, wasn’t this question different? “[To clarify, a coworker is someone who will share the same mission with you, and be there to help you. They are allies who will fight at your side.]” Cerberus clarified before she asked what the meaning was!

So it was indeed Eleanore!

“Yes, so long they aren’t hostile [Predators] I will not attack those that are deemed allies to the [Mission] assigned to me.” So Alexa answered as such in a happy tone, more allies were welcomed! She hadn’t had too many missions with allied units in her tests. Mostly because even those tests that had other non-hostile targets always ended in those targets attacking her too.

“[Truth…okay, and this is just to clarify some doubts we had…But…of those in this batch…How many could you defeat?]” Cerberus asked, again, the wording seemed different? “[To clarify, we count them as defeated so long they aren’t able to continue fighting back.]”

“Hmm….” Alexa stopped to think for a second.

“As if the midget could defeat even one of us.” Snout's face smirked, “Besides the stupid Golem who may surrender on its own, why are we making this mockery? Just be done with it, nepotism, no matter how you try to frame it.”

Rude! She was thinking.

“All of them.” Alexa answered in the end, “I may have some trouble with Mister Golem since his biology may be different, but for the rest, I should be able to deal with them all.”

Silence.

Snout's face seemed to be about to say something when Cerberus spoke, “[Truth…Okay, how are you thinking about defeat?]” Cerberus then asked as such, this time the three masks she had the eyes shining in red. “[Is it because they surrender? Because they can’t fight anymore? Or because you use your Powers to deal with them?]”

That was a silly question.

“Of course, it’s by ceasing of functions. That is why Mister Golem may be a problematic one.” Alexa then turned to Snout's face, “Him for example, even though he has some [Parts] of a [Hound Type] sample, most of his form seems close to the human [Blueprint], so if we take into consideration that, most of the vital organs are around the same spots. I should be able to [Pierce] them easily enough in close combat before this form takes too much damage. Then using his biomass as fuel to move and repair I can move to the next target.”

Snout's face stopped grumbling and then just stared at her, “I would probably go for another of the [Beast] type since they seem to be the dangerous one. Either one of the [Wing] type or [Stealth] type.” Alexa pointed to those that had wings or those that shared the same design with the other quadripedal designs that had a higher focus on agility.

Cats had the book called them?

Yeah, those. “Then I would move to those with weird Core Powers, like the guy who could raise objects.” Alexa pointed to another white mask that had used the same type of powers that [SuperForce], only in a lower degree of strength and mastery.

“And me?” Fan girl asked.

“For last, your power doesn’t seem to grant you too much degree of danger. Besides if I left you for last you could surrender before I got to you….if you are fast enough.” Alexa answered, she wasn’t sure why would she allow her to surrender, but it [Felt] right.

“Oh…thank you.” Fan girl answered.

“Then for last Mister Golem.” Alexa then turned to her meat shield. “I would probably need to burn most of the gains from the other [Humans], but I should be able to produce enough muscle mass to pierce the [Stone].”

“[And that is why she gets a pass into our organization,]” Cerberus said, turning to everyone else. “[From this batch, she is the most dangerous of your group, not because of her powers. But because of her mastery and application of it.]”

Snout's face was still moving his mouth opening and closing it, “If she had any other power, she could probably qualify for Villain…But because of her age, we will accept her as a Minion.”

“SHE WOULDN’T DEFEAT ME!” Snout's face screamed, turning to her. “She is what? ten? As if a ten-year-old girl could defeat me!”

….That was weird, she got the feeling that Snout's face was acting like the [Hound] type acted when they noticed victory was impossible, They turned more vocal and looked as if they would attack when in reality they were searching for a way to escape.

“Control yourself, Cerberus only detects what we think is the truth.” Her Meatshield said while standing in front of her, truly, the best one of this batch!

“Right…that is how these power works, I forgot. Right…as if a brat knew what they spoke about. Got scared for a second.” Snout's face said while returning to a more relaxed stance, one where he was able to volt away from her at a moment's notice.

“Oh right, what is nepotism?” Alexa asked, might as well get that one over.

“[Here, take this,]” Cerberus said while throwing at her a small square-shaped object, Alexa caught it and her nanites analyzed it as soon as it touched her skin.

“[Detected similitarities with storage unit within Cellphone, decrypting….Found database with definitions and information about language and customs.]”

It was a database!

“[You can plug that into any of the computers within the base, it has a few books and a dictionary, also some information about the organization. Everyone else will get the smaller version, but you get also the school one.]” Cerberus said while pointing with her finger to a table that had been raised from the ground with a line of the same objects.

Weird, they all didn’t seem that fazed by the wondrous object that they had been given. Alexa was happy since she had found a database that seemed to have definitions and information, but maybe they already had a version of this?

“Thank you!” Either way, she followed what she had been taught and thanked Eleanore.

“[Also start thinking about a name, you will need one for work since we can’t use your names. Even if your identity is easy to uncover you still need to have a pseudonym to go by, it makes easier in the long run.]” Cerberus added.

A name huh…

Good thing she had just gotten a database full of possible definitions!

Main Core!

“[Searching database for appropiate fake name….List of suggestions is as follow…]”

And so Main Core gave her a list with weird names, some of those were very ugly. She wasn’t even aware a name could be ugly!

“I will go by [Rhapsody]!” In the end, Alexa cut that short and picked one of her own choosing.

“....Why?” Cerberus asked in a tired tone.

Most of the other [Humans] seemed to look at her weirdly, which was weird because she couldn’t even see their faces!

“Because I like it, and my power matches that description. To flow freely and change in tune and form!” Alexa declared as such.

Her power or what she thought could pass as her Core Power was the power to change her form and alter her form, and if the definition that she found of Rhapsody was to be trusted, a Rhapsody didn’t have a strict or defined form. Always changing, moving around freely witouth a defined structure.

“...Yeah, I guess that is a good description, well. Welcome to Haephastus’s Forge, hope you enjoy your stay Rhapsody.” Cerberus said offering her hand, so Alexa matched the gesture and grabbed said hand.

Behind her, her meat shield placed one of his heavy and big hands on her shoulder and gave it a soft squish, she…may have reinforced that shoulder to make sure nothing broke… But only a little!

This meant that her first hurdle had been passed successfully. She had joined this [Organization] and was going to be provided with what she needed, and maybe more!

She wasn’t sure what it could get her, but [Frank the bettle] seemed to believe it would be for the best, so she would see what came from this. Now…what does a [SuperVillain] organization that fosters [Minions] do?

And when do they start bringing out the [Food]?