A Bio-Weapon’s Rhapsody

What followed the conversation was somewhat calmer; they stood in silence for some minutes till a bell sounded and the lighting of the [Classroom] changed into more warm colors.

No one else seemed to react to these changes, nor to the atmospheric changes; Alexa could detect a sweet aroma flooding the area and soothing [Sounds] starting to sound; also, a cool breeze started flowing, making the sweet and calming aroma more pronounced.

“Break time huh. That is just fine. We covered most of what I had scheduled for today’s Ethics and World History classes.” The [Teacher] said nodding and the whiteboard was cleansed once again with a flourish of his hand. Only this time the projection above changed to one of a body of [Water] and some sand-like shore. “Enjoy your meal.”

And on that note the [Teacher] left for the main door. Alexa had attempted to follow him, but the sound of other doors opening made her change her attention; when she tried to return to look back at the [Teacher], he had disappeared once again.

Dang it.

“Is anyone allergic to fish or any marine product?” The newest [Human] spoke, this one was dressed in a modified white covering similar to those that the people at her previous den used. Only these ones covered the front fully instead of only working as pseudo jackets. “No? Then today’s menu is sea food, please enjoy the fish consome and the side dishes of Sashimi, Sushi and other servings. As always, please ask for what you wish for today, and we will provide.”

As this one spoke a new menu showed on Alexa’s [Desk], it had some pictures of what Alexa could assume were food to be served.

Unsure of what to do, Alexa turned to look around and found the other [Kids] selecting some servings. After a few moments, they got the same type of food served to them. So, following that logic, Alexa picked one of each option and punched the button for ‘Ready.’

A few moments later, a nice lady carried a small metal instrument with wheels at the bottom with multiple plates of food. Alexa had asked, “Alexandra? Are you sure you can eat all of this? There isn’t a strict penalty for not finishing, but CRADDLE will mark you as wasteful, and while that doesn’t reduce your overall score, it can be a reason for some teachers to think twice about giving you extra responsibilities.”

The nice lady said as she passed a cup-like plate with what Alexa could only assume was a [Soup] with fish ingredients.

Alexa…hadn’t really fought any P-Series subjects that focused on acuatic movement, she had the information of them since they had asked her how she would deal with them, but they never actually used them against her. Alexa assumed it was because her answer had been to pour a few gallons of a highly flammable liquid and light it on.

Perhaps they had wanted her to fight them face to face? Alexa didn’t see a reason to do so obviously.

“Yes, I can finish these, I have a [High Metabolism],” Alexa answered as she took the first [Soup] plate and started eating from it.

She obviously followed the [Human] customs and took the small [Spoon] (Honestly, this was the weakest one; her SPORK was obviously superior) and ate one spoonful at a time. The nice lady stayed near her and kept placing new plates on her [Desk] whenever possible.

Alexa noticed that the [Soup] was the harder to consume. Since it was a liquid with a higher volume, [Sushi]? She could eat one piece in one bite, and it was barely seven pieces.

So she took seven bites between seven spoonfuls of her [Consome]. That was replaced by the Sashimi, what seemed to be [Raw Fish Meat] cut in small thin pieces, she was supposed to eat that with some greeneries and some sauce. But Alexa just took all the components she was able to shove into one hand and just ate them a a [Burger].

Some of the other students had stopped eating and were just staring at Alexa.

Alexa of course ignored them, she was too busy!

The [Shrimp] had been somewhat more challenging, they had served her about 33 shrimps, since these were smaller they had been placed into a [Cup] with the center covered in a red sauce and Alexa had been offered a small cup with another green sauce and some extra red sauce.

She was supposed to eat one by one, these were small enough to pluck with her fingers and dip into each sauce. She did as instructed for these ones since her [Consome] was running out of… Soup.

She now only had some vegetables and some…weird chewy meat.

What surprised her the most was that at the bottom of her consome Soup was a chitin object, Alexa was quite curious about these, it seemed to be quite hard one.

“Oh you got to the crab darling, you need to rip open the claws to access the meat, here you can use these ones if you can’t open it with your hands.” The Nice lady said offering what looked to be some…pliers.

Alexa just stared at the small chitin object, it did had a claw…

And the rough form she got from the parts that were on her Soup…did look a the blueprint form for her [CRAB] form…

But…

“This is a [CRAB]?” Alexa asked, poking the chitin exterior.

“Yes, you don’t want it? We can make exceptions and find you some lobster…” The Nice lady said attempting to take her Soup away.

“No, it's fine…” Alexa however plunged her hand towards the…crab. “I may as well…”

And focusing some extra muscle mass into her fingers, Alexa ripped apart the crab chitin. The sound it made was pleasant to her eyes as it cracked and sure enough. As the nice lady had said, there was white flesh within this crab. So Alexa focused and ate it, she made sure to take some samples of the chitin part as her lips touched the chitin exterior.

 

It was underwhelming to be honest, she had gotten a blueprint for…something she should already have, from what she was seeing however, what she had was totally different from the original, she only had rough blueprints about the form, but she was missing so much…

She didn’t had the stalk-eyes, she didn’t had the correct [CLAW] settings, neither the proper organs, she could of course compensate for most of these things using her [NANITES], but why should she?

She now had the correct [Blueprint], now she only needed to scale it up.

“Was it good?” The Nice Lady asked from the side. Alexa didn’t notice it before, but at some point she was no longer getting new plates.

No one else seemed to be eating, and some of those even seemed to have green faces for some reason.

“Yes.” Alexa answered with a smile as she licked her lips, “It was a very good and fruitful [Meal].”

Alexa had probably gotten the best from this alone.

“Okay, we have marked you as someone with a higher-than-average metabolism; next time, your menu will be personalized, even if you can stomach that much food. No lady should eat that much in public; we will provide higher calorie density food for you, so please just take the suggested meal programs.” The Nice lady said as she took the empty plates that Alexa had left and then carried away those.

Alexa had wanted to take a nibble at those plates!

Alas, injustice, thy name continues to spread around.

“Hello, I am Glory Blackthorn.” Alexa turned her head to the voice of the interlooper as soon as it started speaking, it was the girl that had glared at her before.

“...I am Alexa.” Alexa answered as she prepared for a fight, she wasn’t quite sure why this girl hated her, but she would not be caught unprepared!

“Bullying the new girl so soon Blackthorn?” Then the voice of the kid who fought back against Glory came, “I am Alan Harmonia, you can depend on me to deal with Glory.”

What were these two doing here with her?

“Sorry about that, I wanted to ensure you weren’t just using the Saintsworths name to achieve your goals. You have no idea how many people just use that sacred name in vain.” Glory shook her head, then turned to Alexa, “But you proved you are at least worthy to sit there.”

….What?

“You are confusing the new girl Blackthorn.” Alan said from the side while sighing. “We want to confirm whether you are a Core User or not.”

What?

“Alexa is not…” Alexa started saying to defend her honor! She was supposed to keep that a secret!

Why?

She had forgotten!

“Don’t pretend, you may deceive normies, but we are the elites. We are taught how to catch on these things.” Glory said with a sigh, “It’s okay, we aren’t normies. We will not hate you, we just want to make sure. If you are a Core User we need to take you into consideration for class wars.”

….Wasn’t she like…the enemy?

“At least while you are with us, we need to make sure to know what you can do so we can plan better, if you are someone who can control fire, we need to know so as to plan around possible fire hazards, if you can speak to animals we can ask to fight on exteriors near the park. You get it.” Alan said from the side helping Glory, weren’t they antagonising before? “It is for the benefit of the whole class, we both came to make sure you don’t get taken advantage by the other side.”

The other side?

Weren’t both in the same class?

“And now you are the one confusing her Harmonia.” Glory smirked, “I am part of the side who sides with the changes the Saintworths provide.”

She assumed as much, Glory was always defending the Saintsworths after all.

“And I am part of the side that thinks that they have too much power,” Alan said afterwards, “To be honest it is more like what our parents say, but we follow in since…you know, we are kids.”

….YOU DON’T SOUND LIKE KIDS! ALEXA WAS A KID! AND SHE DIDN’T SOUND LIKE THAT!

“I have a Miscellaneous Core.” Alexa answered, she had been told to say that after all.

“Miscellaneous, huh? So that means something that doesn’t fit on the normal schema.” Glory said thinking, “I assume an adult told you to answer like that, so what can you do?”

….hah?

“Don’t look at me like that, I need to know how to deal with you. That answer only stops adults because they must respect your wishes, I am not an adult.” Glory said proudly hitting her chest.

That looked like it hurt.

“Blackthorn is right; you need a better answer that only works with responsible adults. If a Villain asks you and you answer that, you will only get a scolding or hurt.” Alan said from the side, “You don’t need to answer us and give us all that you can do, a simple answer is enough.”

A simple answer…

How could Alexa simplify her power?

“I am…strong and have regenerating abilities.” Alexa said, that was…close enough?

“So that explains the higher metabolism…” Glory said, mumbling from the side while biting her nail.

Was it tasty?

“We assumed as much, it was that or a Beast Core Shapeshifter.” Alan nodded from the side.

“We can put her at the back as heavy hitter for tug-o-war and for the wack-a-mole war games.” Glory continued mumbling from the side.

Alexa really wanted to taste test those nails, her own nails didn’t had anything that would make them tasty, but Glory kept munching on her, perhaps her makeup was different?

“Yes, you will do fine. I will ask Mama to get me some high-calorie snacks; you will get one per war game you use your Core Powers in, fair?” Glory suddenly snapped out saying that. High-calorie snacks?

“MRE?” Alexa asked, “You mean the speedster MRE?”

Alan nodded, “Yeah, Blackthorn has some factories that do them, she is pissy about it since most super villians attack her family once in a while to do a hit and run. Her family seems to put low quality stock for them to steal.”

That was evil…

“That is evil…” Alexa said surprised, then the Speedster MRE that [Eleanore] had promised to her and those that [Billy] had given her were of…[Low Quality]?

But those had been useful!

“No, that is obvious. Why would we give good stock to those scummy villains?” Glory said turning to Alexa. “They don’t pay, they don’t get good stuff. They should be happy mamma didn’t put the expired ones like I said.”

Glory was scary.

What the hell was with these kids?!?!?

Alexa was scared! They all spoke weirdly and made evil plans!

She was the one working for [Villains], and she was feeling outclassed here!

“So? Your answer? Will you help us when needed for MRE?” Glory asked as her stare turned to her.

….She should say yes right?

“Can I get special MRE versions?” Alexa asked instead.

Glory narrowed her eyes at Alexa’s answer, but Alexa didn’t have enough time to focus there, for someone else distracted her.

“Hahahahahahahahahah” It was Harmonia, who was laughing while holding his stomach, was he someone that ate something that he shouldn’t and in turn hurt his tummy? “She got you there Blackthorn.”

She did? I mean, Alexa did?

“What type would you want?” Glory asked with her eyes narrowed in a scowl.

Types? There was more than one?

“You can ask for Shifter type, Speedster Type, Strength Type, Elemental Type, Mind Type…There are multiple types depending on your needs, most Villains go with the simple Speedster variation since they are the sort of catch all, and are easier to steal.” Alan answered instead, before Alexa could ask, earning himself a glare from Glory.

“What is the difference between those?” Alexa asked turning to Alan.

“The Shifter Type are special in the sense that they are meant to help the body acclimate to the stress of a change in the makeup; they help to stabilize the DNA and alleviate the psychological distress from body changing into other things.” Glory answered as she got her [Phone] from a cute purse that was tied to her waist. “The Speedster type has increased amount of calories and sugar; the strength type has pain killers and anti-inflammation medicine…”

She continued elaborating on those, but honestly, the physical variations didn’t call to Alexa; she didn’t have the downsides that those dealt with.

“The Mind Type increases the speed at which you can process information and is meant to deal with the overwhelming of your brain from the data overdrive most Mental Type Cores deal with. These are the less popular since most Core Users don’t get these types of downsides.” Glory shrugged at the end. “They are also used as supplements to keep you awake and perk me up in the morning by some.”

“I want those Mind Type.” Alexa said, “Those are the ones I want and I will help you.”

“Those? But you are a physical core, right?” Alan asked confused.

“Yes, but my Core Power puts a bigger strain on my [Calculation Zone] than on my [Physical Zone].” Alexa answered, which only got her confused stares, “I need to measure my strength against what is near me. If I misjudge the strength, I can pull [Muscles] and hurt me or damage where I am standing.”

And as to make evidence of her excuse Alexa focused some strenght into her feet and made a small crack in the floor.

To her surprise the floor was quite sturdy and even started mending itself after a minute or so.

“See?” Alexa said, trying to not think too much about how she had needed to burn way more energy than she had expected.

What had they even used to make this place?!!??!?

“Hmm….I see, so you must be making adjustments all the time, and that is why you look like a childish, empty-headed girl, huh…” Glory said nodding.

That was…rude.

She was not empty-headed!

She had plenty of things on her head! Like a [Brain] and some [Brain Juices]! And [Main Core]! And perhaps [Core] if she ever found it!

“Okay, you made your point; we will make sure to get you those Mentalist MREs; if you need something else, do come to either of us.” Alan said smiling at her.

As if he had gotten something that Alexa hadn’t noticed.

“Preferable to me, but if not, get us both.” Glory said nodding to her and then returning to her [Desk].

Alexa turned to look to Alan who smiled at her and afterwards turned back to his own [Desk],

What was the deal with these [Human - Child Stage] people!

These didn’t act like any other she had encountered before, if anything, these acted closer to what she had thought the [Humans] would act… And then there was the [Teacher], she had still been unable to parse what type of [Core] he had, but if anything he was dangerous.

Perhaps even more dangerous than Meli-Meli. Alexa really needed to get back and talk to [Eleanore] or [Billy] about this.

“I hope you enjoyed the break, because the next part I know you will not.” But for now, Alexa focused on the voice and tracked the presence with all her senses, the figure of the nonchalant [Teacher] blossoming into her perception as the [Human] walked into the [Classroom] once more. “It is time for Math.”

Alexa was not sure what this [Math] was, but she would be ready for it, this [Human] said that they would not enjoy it, so perhaps it was some kind of [Endurance] test, Alexa hated those, they made you waste almost all your energy and biomass for very little (If any) reward.

She would not be defeated.