Hidden behind the halfwall serving as the storefront counter was a small trapdoor that blended in perfectly with the rest of the grey floor tiling, sitting so flush that it was almost impossible to see the seams of the break. For the normal customer that happened to catch a glance of the back, such as peering over the counter when checking out, they would never be able to tell it was there. The bar style high stool sitting on top of it helped the secret tunnel conceal itself even more, sitting on the top of it during normal operating hours. As the current shopkeep turned off the open sign, her other companion moved the seat off of the tile.
Stepping over the square cutout on the floor, the calm and tallest one of the group crouched down and placed his hand over the cutout piece of solid andesite. A bright yellow glow extended from the tips of his fingers and expanded into a thin film coating, shimmering across the hard rock with a glimmer catching each of their eyes. Squatting down opposite of the only other customer, the chaste store employee placed her hand on the protective electrical aura, connecting her nerves to the same gold electrons. Taking a glance at each other once more, they lifted the lid together, unveiling a rickety ladder descending into an abyss.
"Oh, sorry, I forgot to turn the light on! Miss, could you please press the smaller button under the counter?"
Kanashima stood a few feet away watching the duo work, still reeling from the previous encounter. She barely recovered from the previous conversation, only managing a shaky affirmative to the invite in the face of the compliment. The supercharger was enticing, and spending some more time with the pretty auburn haired woman would be nice, but at the end of the day, she still agreed to go into a basement with two strangers she had just met not even ten minutes ago. What's the worst that could happen?
I can't believe she called me cute. She's quite attractive herself… She'd love Morgan.
It took the rest of the five minutes to drop the blush dusting her face. She always knew she wasn't pretty, and when Kory said what he said during their encounter, it was hurtful, but deep down she knew it to be true herself. Maybe she wasn't his type, but that would also mean she wasn't her own type either. Did people have to be their own type to feel pretty? Would somebody kind enough to see her as cute be enough for her to actually be pretty?
Shelving that train of thought for a later time, she finally got out of her head and proceeded with the simple request. It wasn't like she was wasting time here anyway, she had already long since missed her window for the sanctuary she believed was waiting for her at the cozy coffee shop, and learning more about this contraband machine was pretty tempting. Hiding under the ground for a while too would be helpful in her evasion of the authorities, assuming they had no alternative way of finding her. This would all be great if they actually meant well, hopefully somebody calling her cute for the first time would be harboring no ill intentions. A few moments later, the bottom of the ladder and hidden level of the unassuming store was illuminated by a soft and warm radiance.
"Thanks cutie! After you!"
I swear, this woman. Once in my lifetime was already quite enough. My heart doesn't have enough blood to move throughout my body to be beating this fast.
Trying desperately not to look at those endearing burnt orange eyes, she took a deep breath and dropped herself onto the rungs, one arm keeping her steady. About halfway down the track, Kailao began his descent. She was already fully down and onto the andesite tiling when the last member of their group began their trek. A few ranks down the ladder, her comfy bronze shoes emitted a spark off the heel she was becoming all too familiar with.
Losing her grip and balance off of one of the ranks, her lower half dangled off of the actual ladder, allowing her body to plummet down to the below ground floor. She attempted to grab hold of the sides, wrapping her hands around the outside of the cylindrical constructs, hoping that friction would slow her fast descent and save her from gravity's promise.
"Shit! I lost my footing, what the hell!"
Just in time, like her own personal knight, Kailao stepped up to the bottom of the ladder with his arms outstretched and knees slightly bent. His yellow eyes stared up at the falling girl, careful to avoid her fluttering skirt. Moments later, his legs dropped him further to the floor, absorbing the impact of the catch. More gold electrons trickled and shimmered across his feet as he popped up from the full squat just a few seconds later. The entire song and dance somehow reminded her of when Morgan caught a kid off of the grand willow tree. The purple spark only appeared after she came out of that hell of a simulation, but was it possible that it was hidden back then?
"Oh geez, I'm so sorry! I don't know what happened!"
Their eye contact held for a few moments longer as she enjoyed the embrace of the tall man in a bridal carry. Her auburn hair cascaded down his right arm, flowing over it as Kailao stood her upright on her feet. The entire exchange was weird and unsettling, she was slowly getting used to the oddity of her little visual notifications, but nothing like this. It usually resulted in something happening that was loosely in her favor, but this time it seemed to display just a stroke of back luck for the bubbly lady.
She just slipped right? These aren't slippery at all. Her slip wasn't even special, why highlight? What's going on?
"Well Miss, welcome to our little hideout!"
The ladder was against one of the shorter black stone brick walls of the single room basement. On the other side of the room, six rather large and ornate chairs sat, three on each side of the subterranean room along the longer walls and facing each other in pairs. A couple basic wooden chests were in between the furthest of the sizable seats and the last shorter wall. Once the youthful clerk balanced herself upright once more, she tapped a red button to the left of the ladder, closing off the trapdoor above them once more with a soft thud.
"Yes, little lady, welcome. You must have a few questions."
"I still don't know what a supercharger is."
The man pressed his gloved fingers against his own forehead, a quiet sigh escaping his lips. Besides the audio clues, his expression didn't change much with his disappointment. Stealing a glance at the six machines behind him, he stared back into gunmetal grey eyes.
"You agreed to join us without knowing what awaited you?"
"Well, it was hard to say no to… a compliment."
"You're kinda hopeless, aren't you?"
Where did that come from? Why is this guy so rude? At least I have someone that favors me.
"It's alright if you are, Miss! Kailao, you don't have to be so blunt, just tell her!"
She thinks I'm hopeless too. Is that a cute trait? Can somebody like that, like me, be cute?
"It's exactly what it sounds like. It's a fast charger built for Electrogens. You connect to it and it artificially fills your batteries. Some slight side effects, but you get the gist."
Gunmetal grey eyes widened on her small face, staring at the two individuals in front of her. They just confirmed one of her many theories she had about how the ALFA virus actually affected humans and their bodies, and in such a casual manner too. Her brain, connected to the nervous system, could actually sense the energy entering and exiting the small internal storage, as well as the small space itself, especially when she drained her entire reserves for that cloaking technique. If this battery was the source for all of the Electrogen's abilities, replenishing that same source would be beyond useful. If there was something to make it faster, it could better everybody's lives, especially if there were some public use ones. Why would they restrict such a great resource for the communities?
"And it's illegal?"
"Essentially. People like us will never have the political pull or allegiance for such contraband."
"Like us? You don't even know me."
"That's exactly why. You have to be known to ever have a chance of becoming that important."
Staying silent, Kanashima turned to the only other girl in the room, taking in her unnaturally downtrodden expression. The saddened face didn't suit her at all, her face deserved to light up the entire room at all times. Her gaze lingered for a few moments before she saw the store cashier nod in agreement, unwilling to affirm the statement verbally. She felt compelled to comfort her, but had no real clue how to as she felt the same way. In no world would she ever be in a position to comfort somebody, the way that Marcel was handled back there was proof enough of that downfall.
Morgan totally could have. He would've said some sentence or two giving all of us a boost.
"Well, should we get you two plugged in?"
"Yes, let's."
"I'll need some assistance."
"Right right, we just had this conversation! Please sit down, Miss. I'll take good care of ya!"
Dainty, soft hands with burnt orange fingernails quickly took hold of her right, guiding her over to the closest chair in the row of three and sat her down on top of the white cushions. The armrests were thicker than her frail arms herself, and the seat was so wide that she could've probably fit another one of herself right next to her. Maybe even the kind woman pressing some buttons on the side of the machine could join her, the gap was so wide. She found herself watching the pretty color of the nails tap and flutter away, it reminded her of her delectable fruit she learned to love in the simulation.
Sweet, that fruit was sweet. Sweet like her?
"Just a moment… ah! Kanashima Belladonna! What a pretty name! Okay Miss Kanashima, it's going to analyze your circuitry, so you may feel a tingle. Once you start charging, you'll really feel it. If it gets too much, please let me know, I'll stop it and make sure to give you a break."
"Since when did you know my name?"
"Just now. The machine connects to your internals so it has some information. Don't worry, nothing personal! Just a cute name, this and that, no biggie!"
"Right."
Finishing with the control panel on the right side, her rather pretty helper stood in front of her, smiling. Looking on either side, nothing was glaringly wrong with the machinery as far as she could tell. The organizer probably would have said something as well, but she seemed rather pleased with her handiwork. Anything to please a cute girl, she didn't really know much about what that entailed but somehow, she understood.
"Now all you have to do is plug in!"
"Plug in?"
"Ahh, right, you're a blueberry! It's okay, I'll guide ya!"
Without even asking, she took hold of her tattered right hand into both of her own, caressing the back whilst dragging her fingers down to the scarred wrist area. Her fingers prodded around before a seam was revealed. To the normal eye, Electrogens would just have normal wrists, and until now, as a new Electrogen, Kanashima thought the same way. Hopefully she could pick up more and more information, being left in the dark was becoming too often of an occurrence to care for.
Didn't Cipher plug something into my wrist too?
Sure enough, a cable began to reel out of her wrist area, and then plugged into the port on the right armrest just below her arm. A few moments pass without any activity, then the seat itself hummed to life, buzzing with a steady sound. Eventually, the sound ramped up enough to match the cadence of Kailao's, who had started his own charger a few minutes earlier.
"That tickles. It's odd."
"And that's it! Now just sit and charge up! It's like plugging up your phone right before you go out!"
"Uhm, what?"
"Don't mind Kim. She's rather odd herself."
"Uhh, excuse me? Kettle, meet pot?"
The new electricity felt different from the rest of the signatures that had graced her internals so far. Her own purple surges were full of vitality, flowing and rushing every which way inside of her body. The foreign energies, both hostile and not, felt like they were punching through gate after wall after roadblock, all going to one very intended and distinct destination. This time, it felt different, as if the energy was moving at the pace of a snail, dormant and quiet. She herself had to urge on the energy entering, pushing it along her currents and towards her energy cells. The trickle into her battery merged with the extra flow, what felt like a dripping faucet now felt like a steady stream of bountiful electrical charge. It definitely felt odd, a little numbing having so much energy flow, but somehow it felt good, filling. A smile came across her face as she stared at the smile of the assistant.
"Thank you, Kim."