"I don't believe you," he replied, watching her puff another cloud of smoke out her lips.
"Which part?"
"The part about you being able to protect or keep my 'secret' safe," he answered, continuing.
"You said you wanted me to work for you, not for we—which means you're most likely just a loner with no organization backing you."
"The Mechara Organization alone is continent-wide with possibly hundreds of powerful Core Users beneath them. If those Cores were ordered to bring my head to the table, are you saying that, all on your own, you can fight against more than a hundred Cores?" he asked, watching her inhale her cigarette and puff out again.
"And this is just one organization. In ElosciousCity alone, there are two more just as strong. You'll be helpless. So your first promise was a lie; you can't protect me.
"Your second promise, to keep my secret safe, has no guarantee but your words. And words, especially from someone weak, are fickle.
"If pressured enough, I'm an easy card you can drop to have your life spared, and just as you said, even gain something from.
"So the least benefit working for you would bring me is already impossible, giving me no advantage at all."
Everlearn made it clear, watching the woman's hands holding the cigarette pause before she placed it on her lips, taking an inhale that reduced the stick to half.
"It's really funny, isn't it?" she said, a puff of smoke leaving her lips as she turned to Everlearn.
"Here I am thinking you're not worthy of my plans. You're too weak, with doubtful potential of what you can really do."
"And here you are also, thinking my promises are impossible."
"So, you think I'm not enough, and I think you're not enough…" she said, drawing in a slow breath before sitting on the desk.
Her legs crossed gracefully, hands propping her face as though lost in thought.
"What to do... what to do..."
BEEP!
BEEP!
A sudden beep echoed throughout the room as Everlearn watched her dip her hands into her pockets, bringing out a seven-inch glass-like device.
"Oh," she muttered to herself, a glint crossing in her crimson eyes before she slipped the device back into her pocket.
"I have a solution," she said, taking one last puff of her smoke before flicking the butt toward the glass Everlearn was in.
When the tiny cigarette butt, no heavier than a pebble, landed on the glass,
CRACK!
Cracks instantly appeared all over the glass surface and then—
SHATTER!
It broke apart, sending shards of glass raining down onto the lab floor as Everlearn naturally fell off.
The liquid came gushing through the lab, yet for some reason, a five-centimeter radius around the woman was completely cleared of it.
Everlearn remained buried beneath it, but he soon burst out.
The first thing he did was reach for the heavy nose mask on his face and pull it off.
Following that were the steel cuffs used to hold his hands, which he broke off before also yanking off the restraints fastened to his ankles.
With his freedom gained, it was like a new life had been given to him as he felt his strength return.
But then he paused, turning up to see the face looking down at him.
Only now did Everlearn realize how truly abnormal this woman was.
He had been hanging high above, so she had seemed smaller previously, but now she wasn't just tall.
She was almost double his own height, approximately 3.0 meters!
"You'll come with me to Mechron City," she announced, her voice cold and grating to the ear, before she turned her back to Everlearn, heading for the door.
Everlearn's fingers immediately tightened into a fist, as his body leaned forward, only to pause when he saw the golden panel blink:
[DONT!]
[DON'T EVEN THINK OF IT!]
The system panel flashed before Everlearn's gaze, blinking in bold red.
He had thought this was his chance to escape.
He only needed to destroy her, and he would be out of this place and free.
The organization didn't know he was alive, and nobody would know his secret.
He could grow in silence, under no radar, with the only thing in his path being this woman.
'Why?' Everlearn asked, and the panel appeared.
[Her power level cannot be accessed by the System.]
[That means she most likely has enough power to One-Shot Host out of his life.]
It said, as Everlearn's jaw hung in shock.
The woman paused, her eyebrows furrowing as she noticed Everlearn still standing there.
She raised an eyebrow, but then it occurred to her, as she replied,
"If you need some clothes, you'll find some in the room opposite."
"I'll be waiting outside..." she said, leaving the lab.
'Wait, some clothes?' It occurred to Everlearn, and he looked down at himself, only for his face to redden up like a tomato.
Right now, he wasn't just butt naked.
He was dick naked, and instantly, his legs crossed together, hands over his koochie.
"She... she saw everything!"
[The Whole Time, hehe]
The system teased, as Everlearn's breath grew ragged, his head turning crimson before he screamed at the top of his lungs.
"NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!"
---
"Quite the interesting kid," the woman mused with a mocking grin at the corner of her lips.
But it didn't last three seconds before the usual cold expression on her face returned.
Her hands reached into her coat, and she brought out the cigarette box, before stepping away into the darkness, the sound of a lighter switch being fired following a moment later.