Asha Claire stood at the topmost viewing platform with a scowl on her face. Unlike the usual bubbly self she showed to Silas Fidi, her eyes were hawk-like and cold and her demeanor was even more frigid. Her back was as straight as an oak. Her head was tilted upward like a ruler looking down at her insignificant subjects. But since she was a queen – the disciple of a great Magno Deorum, she had every right to do so.
Aside from her, no one was in the viewing area. The observation room she was using was restricted to her, Silas Fidi and a handful of their trusted senior researchers. Most of the senior researchers were at the operating theater, getting ready to get their hands dirty. Silas Fidi refused to go out of his study because of something 'important'. Although she was used to it, it never stopped Asha Claire from being irritable.
Highly irritable.
The blue-haired woman heard the locks behind her disengage after a series of beeping noises echoed in the room. She didn't turn around to look at the new arrival. The coffee tumbler that was suddenly placed on one of the utility tables was enough for Asha Claire to deduce who had arrived in the room. It made her more irritable than she already was.
The female's blue eyes narrowed into slits as she paid attention to every detail in the operating theater bellow her. They researchers looked like little white ants scurrying and dodging obstacles on the floor. Among the white specs, Asha Claire saw familiar mops of red hair. No one aside from Maria and Michael Caelum had glaring red hair that was as brilliant as a firetruck's emergency lights. The scowl on her face deepened. Her high-pitched voice rang in the room like fingernails on a newly cleaned blackboard.
"That useless woman can't even find a little girl and yet she thinks she can play the role of a researcher in Master's laboratory? The nerve," she muttered to herself. She didn't expect a reply. She didn't need a reply. But the person beside her had other thoughts and he obviously paid no heed to how pissed off she was at the moment.
"Give her the benefit of the doubt." Jeorge Marcus Grin took a sip from his tumbler before setting it down on the table again. "You can't even find the missing kid even with that Talent of yours, so how do you expect an ordinary researcher like her to find all the clues and all the missing puzzle pieces? Besides, as of now she's being useful. Isn't that the most important thing to you?"
"Ah, yes. Useful," She drawled. Her left eye twitched at how the male had deliberated said that she – the successor of a Magno Deorum – had been unable to do something. The Great Apothecary's disciple snorted. "She's the only researcher here who enjoys being useful and killing children in the name of alchemy while saying she doesn't like it."
Asha Claire glared at Maria Caelum's bright red hair and snorted for a second time. "Hypocrite."
Jeorge Marcus Grin took a sideways glance at the woman before tucking his hands in the pockets of his wrinkled laboratory coat. "We'll, she wants to look like a compassionate mother in front of her son. Just let her keep up appearances. By the way, what Talent are they trying to implant this time? I heard we had a Talent of Teleportation? Is it similar to Adicio but, like - on steroids?"
The woman rolled her eyes and groaned. "Just read the goddamn data."
She placed her palm on the glass pane in front of her and watched as the place she touched glowed a faint neon blue. Lines of light pulsated from her hand and branched out to the rest of the glass panel. The glass panel came to life and showed her numbers, figures and charts coming from the multiple computers and digital monitors set up in the operating theater below her.
With a flick of her wrist, Asha Claire changed the display on the glass panes to show the various angles of the operating theater that were being captured by multiple cameras. The sight of the Caelum mother and son pair talking worsened her mood. The Caelum matriarch was oozing an air of pride and benevolence it was making Asha Claire sick. On the other hand, Michael Caelum's body language reeked of impatience that wasn't exactly fitting for pre-operation procedures. Who's idea was it to bring student interns into Elisium? Asha Claire made a mental note to kill the said person before her visit to Elisium was over.
The Apothecary's successor waved her hand and the numbers and data about the children in the operating theater reappeared. The data on the screen reflected eerily on the lens of her red eyeglasses. As she stared at the figures and made mental calculations, her sharp gaze slowly turned lifeless until her blue eyes seemed dead.
"A failure. That one too. That one will probably succeed. That… we'll be lucky if he wakes up tomorrow-," Asha Claire yawned and covered her mouth. She turned towards the utility tables before facing Jeorge Marcus Grin. "Where's the chart and historical data for subject 124?"
"Here you go." The man handed the metal clipboard in his hands to the blue-haired woman.
Blue eyes scanned the data in her hands. She flipped through the pages carefully before modifying the data on the glass panels. After a few minutes, she snorted, readjusted the glasses on her nose and tossed the chart on the utility table. "Another failure. And she's going to end up dead."
A big hand scooped the tumbler on the table before the metallic folder could knock it over. Bob cradled the coffee in his hands and proceeded to mutter about human rights and having mercy upon innocent beverages. For a split second, Asha Claire's eyes met Jeorge Marcus Grin's. She suddenly remembered a matter she had heard of the moment she stepped into Elisium.
"Who in the world authorized our researchers to set up a betting pool?"
Jeorge Marcus Grin shrugged. "I don't know who, but I know the Great Apothecary knows and he's acting like he doesn't know so I assume he that he knows but he's acting like he doesn't know so it should be fine."
"Master doesn't mind because he doesn't care. But I do," Asha Claire muttered through gritted teeth. "Those fools are getting paid well enough and yet they're actually going around, wasting their time, wasting their money, and gambling on a test subject instead of working. This is a research facility – a holy grounds for science and alchemy - not a casino."
"But the kid really is interesting, though. Number 373's in class Aquarius just like subject 124. I think they had a sparring match a few hours ago and 373, the female kiddo who's ranked 12th, completely suppressed number 124 who's rank 1 in their class," The male researcher explained before taking a swig on his tumbler. "-sides, the researchers are betting on how soon she'll be brought down to Elisium but they're not doing anything aside from placing bets. It's all harmless stuff, I tell you. No need to worry."
Asha Claire's blue eyebrows rose. "Rank 12, huh? Does she have special traits? A high affinity for spells?"
"She's good with spells. Although, it seems she's been holding back. Kid's been stuck in the middle ranks for the last two years and only managed to catch the eyes of the maintainers like… what?," Jeorge Marcus Grin massaged the six o'clock shadow on his chin. "Two, no- three weeks ago?"
"Useless teaching staff can't tell whether a kids acting or not," The female muttered. "Any other defining characteristics? Signs of a Talent?"
"No Talent and no signs of awakening one either. She seems like a genius at spells. Based on the data we got from her latest fight with Subject 124, 373 has an almost bottomless reserve of energy. If she gets older, she'll probably be a formidably Spellcaster."
"That's it? She's no different from 124 then. If she doesn't have any defining characteristics, mutations or malformations then she'll end up dying on the table like the rest of them. Not that it matters." Asha Claire gave a non-committal grunt. "We can always find more replacements. I'm much more interested in finding that traitorous bug for Master."