64 Working on Base

She laid on the top bunk while staring at the ceiling, thinking.

First was Noah and her betrayal. When she initially saw the news article, she already felt that something was off and this confirmed it. Noah definitely had an agenda. While she could not confirm whether Noah was affiliated with the organization through this, she could at the very least confirm that Noah was dangerous and an unknown that may interfere with her plans in City M.

Second was the more complete understanding of Variants. She learned a lot from hearing Lucier's personal recount of his experience and transformation. Her own transformation was skewed by her blood and she was unconscious for almost the entire time, so she wasn't able to draw from her own experience to gain a better understanding. If possible, she would like to experiment with the possibilities further. There were so many unanswered questions about the virus and how it impacts the human body.

For example, why would some infected become Variants while others became Reapers? It could potentially be because of some specific attribute within the body, or if the body was too weak. However, if that's the case, why would the duration of transformation from Enraged to Reaper/Variant vary for each person?

Additionally, it is quite curious that Reapers would be stronger than Variants. Given that the only visible difference between the two is that one was driven by consciousness while the other was driven by instinct. Aida suspected the source of the Variant's weakness was their inability to free their mind from its worldly constraints.

After a couple days of being locked up, Lucifer finally managed to get them out of the cell and into a normal suite. They had decided to stay in the base until Rin woke up. Because they were insistent on staying together, they were given a larger suite with 2 rooms to accomodate the 5 of them. In the room were 2 beds and a pull out sofa.

In addition to being provided a room, they were given tasks to do as well. Light and Ace would be conscripted to help with building a wall and farming while Aida and Yukio were sent to the kitchen. Hearing these instructions, Aida didn't know whether to laugh or cry. She pitied herself and everyone on the base who was forced to eat food that she made.

The next morning, they said their goodbyes as each of them went off to their respective stations. Walking to the kitchen, it was bustling with activity. Cooking for 100 people was no easy feat. The leader of the kitchen was surprisingly a robust female, Ms. Potts. Introducing herself in a stern tone, she said brusquely, "We have a lot to do, so prepare yourself for hard work. We serve two meals per day. Tell me your superpowers, so I can put you at the right stations."

"Mine is not working right now and he doesn't have one," responded Aida.

Grumbling, Ms. Potts voiced under her breath, "They gave me the useless ones again."

In a normal voice, she said, "Okay, you will be part of the cooking team and you will be part of the dishwashing team. Don't let me see you slacking or I will kick you out of the base."

Nodding, they both went to their stations. Aida willingly joined the cooking team as she wanted to see if her skills would improve with the guidance of others.

Unfortunately, her hopes to be proficient or even cook something edible quickly disintegrated. Her many trials led to much wasted food and she almost even burned down the building itself. Ms. Potts was extremely angered by this scene and directly sent her to wash dishes with Yukio. She threatened to starve her and feed her to Reapers if she didn't perform well.

Ms. Potts then walked her over to the dish cleaning area and began supervising Aida. She would nitpick every mistake that Aida made and inspect every dish that she finished hand washing. If the "shine" wasn't to her expectation, Ms. Potts would throw the dish back into the sink for re-wash.

After some time, Ms. Potts got pulled away to attend to some other matters, leaving Aida to clean dishes alone. Aida washed the dishes with great focus and care, not at all minding the menial task. She was extremely deft with her hands due to her training as a killer and performed very well. Proud of this accomplishment, she stacked the dishes to compare her performance to others. Soon, her pile grew to the height of a human itself. The dishes were endless, so the pile continued to grow.

CRASHHHH. Just as she finished washing the last dish after the midday meal, someone accidentally brushed against her carefully stacked dishes and they all came crashing down. Hearing the loud noise, Ms. Potts ran over to see that all the dishes had been broken. She was absolutely furious and ordered Aida to clean it up at once. The others in the kitchen watched on and laughed at her plight.

From then on, she was assigned to just cleaning duty. Yukio, on the other hand, had been diligently washing the dishes without any comment or complaint.

After finally finishing up the cleaning, they were finally allowed to eat. Yukio sweetly waited for Aida to finish cleaning before going to get food. When they walked up to the room where all the food had been laid out, she saw that there was none left.