Ethereal Flux: Carl's New Dilemma

[ She hung up on you. ]

'Yes, and she destroyed her phone.'

[ Are you going to call her again? ]

'I doubt she has a landline, and even if she did, do you seriously think she will talk to me again?' I asked the system with some slight mockery in my voice.

Isabella was a hard nut to crack, I knew that from the very start, but I didn't imagine this to happen. I thought that by mentioning the illness and telling her I can help her cure it, which was not a lie, she would agree to at least talk to me in more detail, but the opposite happened.

Isabella's mother was sick, really sick.

She was suffering from an unknown illness, well, unknown to the average person, but one that was familiar to villains and heroes.

You see, Isabella's mother was once upon a time a hero, a C-grade hero that couldn't go further and did little, but a hero nonetheless. I don't know exactly why Isabella had chosen to be a villain, she knew that her mother was a hero in the past, but who knows, maybe that was the main reason.

Her mother was suffering from a sickness called "Ethereal Flux." This affliction is unique in that it exclusively affects individuals endowed with superpowers. Those blessed with abilities, be it flight, telekinesis, or elemental control, are susceptible to this enigmatic sickness.

Ethereal Flux manifests as a fluctuation in the individual's inherent energy matrix, causing their superpowers to become unstable and uncontrollable. The symptoms vary from person to person and can include erratic bursts of power, loss of control over their abilities, or even a complete inability to access their superhuman traits temporarily.

Of course, those symptoms are only the initial ones, as more time progresses, the weaker the person becomes. Their abilities start weakening and they feel tired until finally, they fall into a deep sleep, a coma from which they never wake up.

So far, the heroes and villains have done their best to find out more about the illness and how to combat it, but they have only managed to create a drug that slows down the progression of the illness, allowing the people that had it some more time before inevitably falling into the never-ending sleep.

Isabella's mother had been diagnosed over 10 years ago, and it was merely 6 years ago, when Isabella was still in high school, that her mother went into a coma. Unfortunately, the drug that slowed the illness down had only been created recently, a mere 3 years ago, so her mother didn't even have access to that.

That might have been the catalyst for Isabella's powers awakening, and who knew, that might be the reason why she became a villain. Compared to heroes, that have to work together and help the innocent, villains don't do such things, they do as they wish, nothing else.

She had been trying her best to research more about the illness and to try to find a cure, but I have to admit, I didn't expect that a person with such high intellect like her had done such a mistake.

Instead of doing it by herself, why not join either one of the agencies?

After all, both the VSA and the HA were researching the illness, and they were the leaders when it came to that particular field. She would have access to samples, she would have access to a lot more data, help from other geniuses around the world, everything, and yet, she choose to do it by herself.

Of course, I didn't doubt her intelligence, who knew, she might be able to do it, to find a cure by researching it alone. Still, many factors slowed her down.

For one, she had to work, she had dropped out of university, or to better say it, she never enrolled and instead, she became a villain, but without the agency, being a villain was not as lucrative as it sounds.

Yes, she could break into banks and steal money, she could go around stealing, pillaging… but compared to those working with us, who get money from the agency and any help they need, she was simply far too behind.

So far, even though she was placed as a C-grade villain, she barely did any villainy things. The worst she had done was kill a hero that tried to kill her when she was breaking into a bank. She didn't even do it on purpose, the hero went all out and tried to kill her, which led to her using her ability and freezing him instantly, spelling his death.

A D-grade hero was killed just like that, and that was why the agency had placed her as a C-grade villain.

I didn't even know what she would do if she joined us, she would just probably become a researcher working with the others in the agency, but for some reason, I don't think that will happen, had she wanted to, she would have been able to do the exact same thing months ago when the other handlers tried recruiting her.

She also had a job and had to spend 8+ hours almost every single day working, so that didn't help either. That was valuable time that she could use for her research, or for making money using 'illegal' means.

From the data the system had given me, she had started working as a waitress about 5 months ago, which was slightly more than a week after she had killed the hero.

Ah, I see, she stopped stealing and such because of the death of the hero, the poor girl must have been traumatized by the entire thing.

Hmmm, do I really even want to recruit her?

She was talented, that much was certain, but … she reminded me a bit of Nicht, she simply doesn't seem like good villain material.

No, I have to get her, she is simply too valuable to let go.

[ So, what do you plan on doing, are you going to give up on her, or … ? ]

'I'm not giving up, but I can't do it now, tomorrow, I'll try again tomorrow.'

[ Seems like you already have a plan, are you sure you don't want to call the other candidates, some of them are quite good, you know? ]

'They are, which is why I saved their files, but compared to her, they just fall short to be honest, I want to try again if I fail, then I will give up and try a different person, but not before that, not before I am sure that I can't win her over.'

[ Ambitious and unyielding, I have to admit, my perception of you has changed for the better, only slightly, but still, it did change. ]

'Thanks, my perception of you is still the same, so stop annoying me, I gotta think.' I said as the system shouted some profanities at me before shutting up. In order to get Isabella, I need to be smart, I need to make sure she understands just how much joining us will benefit her, and just how much help she would receive.

It was tough, but nothing in this damned world is easy anyway, so why settle for less when I haven't even tried my hardest to get her?

Who knew, maybe she just got shocked when she realized I knew about her mother, maybe she thought I was going to use her mother's state against her?

I mean, I was kind of doing that, but not in a negative way.

'Isabella, Isabella, what shall I do with you, just what kind of a carrot should I dangle in front of you and have you follow?'

[ That … was a weird choice of words man. ]

'Shut it, I'm thinking, I need to think of a perfect plan.'

[ Perfect plans don't exist, some things just don't have a solution, no matter how hard you try to find one. ]

'Yes, but this one isn't such a situation, it just isn't, I know it.' I said as I played around with a coin in my hands. And just like that, my day passed, spent entirely me thinking of how I would recruit Isabella.

I had her on my screen, I was still using the cameras and following her movement.

I lost her a couple of times and she used some alleys to pass unnoticed, but I had complete control of any camera around that place, so noticing her again wasn't a problem.

'Is that her hideout?' I asked myself with a confused expression as she entered a run-down building, and that was where she spent most of her time, not in her apartment, but there.

Even when I was packing and getting ready to leave, she still hadn't left. I left the office, got in my car, placed my phone right in front of me, and drove.

I was looking through one of the cameras with my phone, the camera that was right across the old building she had entered.

[ So, still no plan? ]

'I have a plan, at least a part of it.'

[ Oh really, well come on, I dozed off before, say it, what are you gonna do? ]

'I'll have to think about it during my drive over there to be honest, like I said, I got a part of it down, not everything.'

[ The drive, what do you - ]

[ You're driving to her city, are you insane?! ]