ALEXiThymiA: Chapter 15: The Consultant's First Case

Chapter 15

The Consultant's First Case

There are many things that Alexa knew she wasn’t good at, bartering was one. The reason being is that it required her to want to interact with people on a deeper level. The problem with that was, dealing with people always seemed like a waste of time. Especially, when there were more important things she could be doing with her time, like training to earn augmentation crystals, or the ever present going into dungeons to earn crystals directly. All of which seemed like a better use of her time, than trying to lie and deceive others.

Alexa had no impulse control, and she knew it. That was why she almost felt sorry for the way she cut off Bullford before he could protest her income. See, Alexa herself knew she was being undersold, which likely meant she could get more tasks, rather than just a one time payout. That was what she wanted, a steady revenue stream of crystals.

Mmm.

Just thinking about the crystals she would get from this made her mouth salivate. They already had a few, that was the word used, few. Meaning she would gain at least 20 crystals before leaving here today.

“I will warn you. You have been hired as a private consultant. As such your employment with the Tri-State Investigation Team cannot be used as a job reference. You cannot claim to work with, or for TSI. Any disclosure to the contrary without the express written consent of the TSI Deputy and Commander can result in a termination of your contract, and a ban from future work. Any questions?”

Bullford began, as he made his way forward, leading her down a back alleyway. Then once Bullford was sure his voice wouldn’t echo around; he continued his mandatory speech.

“You position as a consultant also means that you do not need your parents’ consent to work here. In fact, given the nature of our work, it is highly encouraged that to keep your employment a secret, you do not tell them anything if at all possible. Know we cannot force you to not tell your parents, but should your parents disagree with the nature of your work, they can nullify your contract.” Bullford said.

With that one statement, he had made it, so Alexa’s lips were sealed. Alexa figure that this was part of why he brought it up to her in this manner. It was clear that she would be someone who the TSI would want to keep quiet.

Alexa for her part was salivating at the idea of the different types of crystals that might be available.

“Do you have any questions for me?” Bullford asked after he ran out of things he needed to cover on their walk.

“Do you have skill crystals and other types of crystals available?” Alexa asked.

Bullford just smiled knowingly. “That we do, though know you will likely have to trade in a few base augmentation crystals for higher quality crystals.”

“Do you have Psychic Crystals?”

“No, we do not have Psychic crystals, that or if we did, they would be so rare that they could not be given out to a consultant.”

Alexa nodded at this.

Of all the different crystal types so far, Psychic crystals had been the one to last the longest for her. While she had not experienced a Skill crystal, she figured they would be fairly nominal in difference of time allotted between them and standard augmentation crystals.

With the rationale made up, she decided to stick with the idea of working through augmentation crystals only. At least for the time being.

Finally, the two got to a secure wing of the TSI compound. Here Bullford had to be badged, fingerprinted, retinal scanned, enter a pin code, then he had to answer a number of questions quickly that popped up on a screen.

Watching over his shoulder Alexa noted the answers: Mother, Gretty, Green, and Esurivi sicut lupus as his final answer.

“Hungry like the wolf?” Alexa asked, of course referring to the last option he chose.

At that Bullford just stared back, “thought you were spying on me. You know, you might have the makings of a pretty good PI if you keep that up. That is, if we can keep you to stop flapping your gums at everything you find.”

“Flapping my gums? What an archaic term of phrase. Just what decade are you from?” Alexa asked.

With that Bullford just shook his head. “You’ve got the instincts, but you need to come up with a better way to phrase your questions.”

“Okay, answer these questions. Who do you think is better Sinatra or Elvis?”

“Sinatra.”

At that, Alexa nodded. “Sinatra or Louis Armstrong?”

At that Bullford paused. “Armstrong, why?”

Alexa nodded, then continued. “Armstrong, or Scott Joplin?”

“Armstrong.”

At that Alexa nodded again. “1910s?”

Bullford balked at the question. “What? How did you…” Then shaking his head he just reached into his large pockets and pulled out a blue augmentation crystal of his own. “Here, for the impressive magic trick.”

Click.

Bullford looked up to see that the Enter sign was lit. “Finally,” he said, as he gestured for Alexa to follow him inside.

That was when she saw it, or rather them.

Monsters.

Half starved and completely feral.

“Five werewolves. Most have been three days without food.”

“Since Friday?”

Bullford nodded, “since Friday.”

Alexa turned to the first monster that even in its emaciated form, appeared to be able to rip a normal human apart.

“Is there anyway I can get in here?” Alexa asked.

“You want to get in there, with that?”

Alexa nodded.

Bullford debated for a second, but then remembered the video that showed she was clearly more powerful and faster than a recently turned werewolf, let alone one that has been starving for nearly three days straight. He also remembered that she had the power of Telekinesis (R) and figured at the very least she could use that to hold the beast back.

“Okay.” Bullford said. As he placed his thumb over the scanner. Then entered in an 18-digit pin.

Click.

Stirring.

The beast that had been nearly asleep was suddenly awake as it heard the rustle of the door opening, but before it could even get up.

Wham!

Alexa moved in with a power punch that sent the wolf rocketing towards the reinforced walls.

The room was soundproof. A recording mic was in there, but it was almost never listened to, as most of what could be heard were unintelligible gurgling noises made from creatures that had gone completely feral.

Just as on the video Bullford saw the girl pause long enough to say something.

Then she blurred.

What wasn’t shown on the video, what no mortal sense could pick up was the flow of energy. To werewolves, energy was key. Energy was life, energy was what gave them supernatural strength, speed, and vitality. All of this was clearly visible to the eyes of all who contracted Lykanthropy. This was the basic way that pack hierarchies were able to be established. The strong led, and the weak followed.

To werewolves, strength was a measure of one’s energy. This way wolves knew to respect an alpha like Bullford. Even now he had been assigned to Alexa as a babysitter. Granted he was likely going out of his way by letting Alexa go into the cell by herself. But if she turned, he would be here for her. He wouldn’t let her go feral.

Also, if he was entirely honest with himself, he really wanted to see what she could do with this slotted class of hers.

That was why it was a little concerning for Bullford to see the feral grin appear on Alexa’s face as she began slowly wearing down the power of the werewolf.

Blam! Whomp!

With each strike, Alexa found more and more of the aspect of the werewolf flowing from the person before her, into her own body.

She felt the way the energy surged within her.

She felt the high and thrill of battle. A feral smile crested her lips as she struck out over and over against the beast. Each one of her strikes slowly whittled down the energy of the werewolf before her.

Until finally, the last vestiges of energy filled her.

Energy gained.   Do you wish to convert energy absorbed into class experience? Attributes? Or werewolf only power.   Current work: Regeneration: 2 of 5.

Seeing the message, Alexa smiled, as she converted this energy towards the same Regeneration ability. When she first began the path of Regeneration, she hoped that having part of it would allow her to use the ability, albeit at a limited capacity. Unfortunately, this was not the case. But a glance around the different cells showed her that she had more than enough werewolves here to complete her stolen power, and then some.

You have chosen werewolf only power. Powers available: Regeneration, Night Sight, Pack Bond, Pack Mind, and Paralyzing Howl.

With that Alexa once again chose Regeneration, as she didn’t know if her rapid healing was a sign of the Lykanthropy virus coursing through her system. But a test cut on her arm, showed that her healing was in fact back to normal, ever since she swallowed that wolf spirit inside her. The same one that actually unlocked her slotted class, and acted as her first wolf spirit that was added to replace the Regeneration that she lost.

Current work: Regeneration: 3 of 5.

With that done, Alexa’s eyes stopped glowing, while the reverted female began shivering on the ground.

“Blanket.” Alexa said, but then turned to see Bullford just staring at her and the human female that was clearly in an emaciated state.

“Blanket.” She said, this time Bullford nodded having read her lips through the glass.

He spoke into a communications device on his wrist.

“Thank you,” the woman at Alexa’s ankles said.

Alexa cocked her head to the side and stared down at the woman. Then Alexa nodded.

Creak.

The door opened and a female officer came in with a set of clothes and a blanket.

“Thank you.” The former werewolf said, as she clung to the clothes and then began putting them on.

With someone there to help the female, Alexa felt it was her time to move on.

Alexa’s high she felt during the battle, from her stealing the energy of the werewolf was gone. The minute she pushed the stolen energy towards her Regeneration, the high was gone. Though she had already felt the energy slowly leaking away before she even made her choice.

“Thank you again.” The woman called out from behind Alexa.

Alexa paused, nodded her head, then continued to the other cells.

Each one was like the last. Each had a dying werewolf. They couldn’t feed them, for it would allow the beast to get stronger. They couldn’t just kill them, as they deserved a right to a trial once they were proven mentally competent, as was their right as a former human. The only problem was, that up until now, they never had the chance to turn back.

Alexa of course didn’t care about this nuance. Instead, she focused on the task at hand. Curing another werewolf, getting one step closer to her stolen Regeneration ability, and gaining ten more crystals in the process. This was why she had been so accepting of the terms that were provided.

Even if they were slightly less than advantageous, Rayne might have asked questions about her powers. Questions she would feel compelled to answer truthfully, for that was her way. To her regular mind, lying made no sense and served no true purpose. She was not naïve, she fully understood that people could, would, and did lie constantly, but Alexa found the whole process annoying. Which was why she never bothered with lying, instead she often chose to be brutally honest, so there was no ambiguity of where she stood on any particular topic.

“You ready?” Bullford asked.

Alexa nodded, then just like before she entered the room with lightning grace and proficiency.

Wham!

Rattle!

This time Alexa threw the wolf body right at the door, not out of spite, but because that was the only opening she had.

This time Bullford had the microphone to the room turned on, which was why he was able to hear Alexa, when she said the one word that sent shivers down the progenitor’s spine.

“Mine.”

With that one word, the flow of energy within the room completely changed, as Alexa’s face took on a crazed look.

Seeing the look, Bullford realized, Alexa is a not just a crystal junkie, but a battle junkie as well.

He made a note to track her for a while, to make sure she didn’t have any more of these obsessive types of behaviors. Behaviors that could clearly be used against her, as Rayne proved.

Watching the girl go from jail cell to jail cell without rest or pause was unnerving.

Once they were done, and all five inmates had been successfully cleared of their status, Alexa was allowed to leave.

Bullford himself made sure to pay her the fifty augmentation crystals she more than earned.

“If you want, you can trade them in for Skill Crystals. At an exchange rate of ten to one.” Bullford said, giving deals that were more than fair by most standards.

To his surprise, Alexa just shook her head. “These are fine.”

Bullford just stared at her for a moment, as he imagined going through the pain of absorbing fifty augmentation crystals. Even with his Superior Regeneration, such an undertaking would be enough to bring one to the edge of madness.

But if someone could truly take and absorb that many augmentation crystals, they would go from a relative nothing to a powerhouse in no time, Bullford thought to himself. Particularly with the way she was already a monster. Increasing her attributes by that many would be the equivalent of gaining well over ten levels all at once. The only difference was that she would still be limited in her powers. Slotted classes had very limited options for growth.

The more he watched the girl, the more he realized just how much potential she had. The only question was, what would she do with all that potential? She clearly had addictive traits, but why and how?

The more Bullford watched TSI’s newest consultant, the more questions he found with her. In all, he felt Rayne had some ulterior motive for assigning him as her mentor.

“When should I come back?” Alexa asked.

At that Bullford paused, “that is a good question. We will reach out to you, when we next need you.”

At that, Alexa nodded. Then went home for the night.

Looking at the clock, he saw the final minutes of Monday finally end. 23:59… 24:00…00:01.

As soon as the clocked changed to signal that it was officially Tuesday, Bullford let out a breath he hadn’t realized he had been holding.

I really hate Mondays, fortunately it will all be downhill after this, Bullford thought to himself.

Bullford would later come to regret this treacherous thought.