"After three weeks of non-stop work, I've finally done it!" I declared, spinning in my lab chair to admire the gleaming glass vial cradled in my hand. The liquid inside a swirling, blue.
"Z23! Call them. It's time to show them the fruit of my labor!" My voice was practically vibrating with pride.
A subtle shimmer caught my eye, and I glanced at the transparent window floating in my peripheral vision my System.
"Plus, I have this now," I muttered, tapping a finger on the mental interface.
[Status]
Name: Agnes Tachyon
Race: Umamusume / Demi Kansen / Newtype / MS Girl
Assimilation: 39%
Strength: 9
Speed: 12
Endurance: 8
Intelligence: 15
Skills:
I am the Smartest!: Able to learn anything faster than regular people and understand it to an advanced degree.
Mad Scientist: No moral values will affect you. Able to create and make new technology, and of course, data is more important than morality.
The Greatest Mind: Knows all knowledge on Earth and knows how to make or produce it.
U=ma²: I am faster than light! Run faster.
Ship Girl Rigging: Able to summon a Kansen rigging.
Ms Girl rigging: Able to summon a ms girl rigging.
Newtype Powers: Have enhanced spatial awareness, precognition, telepathy, and heightened mental and sensory abilities.
Equipment: The Tachyon Device Mk. 3 (My Ultimate Masterpiece), Mobile Suit Rigging (not active), Ship Girl Rigging (not active)]
"My work paid off. Plus, the money they're giving me is absolutely insane, so best use it for my own gain," I chuckled, placing the single completed vial on the counter next to a batch of ten others, which were filled with modified minecraft milk as if it's given without the modification the person who drinks it will be met a gruesome death.
Still... am I still me? Or Agnes? Maybe even both...
A prickle of existential doubt made me pause.
No matter what, I will survive this world, even if I have to lose myself or—
"They are here."
Z23's curt voice snapped me out of my musings. I turned to see her standing by the door, framed by the figures of the Doctor, Kal'tsit, and Amiya.
"I heard you have results," Kal'tsit stated, her expression flat, devoid of emotion.
"That's right! I have done it. A cure for Oripathy!" I announced, dramatically presenting the vial.
"Many people have said those words a million times. I came here for results, so where are they?" Her tone remained utterly unimpressed.
"Of course! Z23, bring her in!" I commanded, snapping my fingers.
Z23 ushered in a sick-looking, haggard person, who stood nervously in the doorway.
"Now, watch! My cure!" I gestured for the patient to sit before turning back to the Rhodes Island leadership team the Doctor, Kal'tsit, and Amiya.
"Be amazed! For I, AGNES TACHYON, CUR—"
"Enough talking, more action," Kal'tsit interrupted, her emerald eyes cold and demanding.
"Understood," I replied, a sly, calculating smile spreading across my face.
I approached the patient, who was trembling. "Alright, drink this. And… try not to die," I said, handing over the vial.
The person hesitated for only a second, then quickly grabbed the vial and gulped the strange, iridescent blue fluid down.
"Okay, the effects should be kicking in now!" I said excitedly.
The patient's muscles immediately seized up, and they started to twitch violently before falling out of the chair and onto the cold floor.
"Agnes! What's happening?!" Kal'tsit demanded, hostility rising in her voice as she took a protective step toward the patient.
"Calm down, look, she's fine," I waved dismissively.
The fallen patient then began to move again, but not in convulsions. Instead, they launched into an involuntary, spasmodic session of what could only be described as breakdancing on the lab floor.
Three long, strange minutes later, the bizarre episode ceased. Z23 helped the dizzy but now alert patient stand up. The Doctor, Kal'tsit, and Amiya immediately moved to perform a rapid on-the-spot Originium scan.
The silence was broken by Amiya's gasp.
"H-how?!" Amiya stammered, looking at the scan results display. The patient's Oripathy was gone. Cured.
"Heh. That's what happens when you're a genius like me," I mocked, basking in the stunned silence.
"Do you still have another vial we can research?" Amiya asked quickly, her eyes wide with desperation and hope.
"I do have nine more, but… this is my work and my time. To make them, I need some kind of… payment," I said, leaning back against the counter, crossing my arms.
Before anyone else could speak, Kal'tsit simply nodded. "We will discuss this in my office. Doctor, Amiya, join us."
She didn't ask she commanded.
Once we were settled in her sparsely furnished, sterile-looking office, Kal'tsit looked me straight in the eye.
"Name your price," she said.
"Heh." A wide, hungry grin stretched across my face.