The flames of jealousy, an off shoot from both the flames of love and that of fear, now swallowed Ally. She has felt this flame before when Ally and Imogen both had their eyes on Jon back in the superhuman association resort, but this time, it burned so bright that Ally almost stepped off her modelling station and attacked Freya right away.
Jon immediately noticed her fury, and gestured for her to calm down before leaving the area with Freya, but how could she calm down?
HOW COULD SHE...when Freya was holding onto Jon's arm the SAME WAY she always does, on the SAME ARM she always uses?!
This is a blatant disregard of her dominance, and Ally simply cannot allow it. Yet, Jon appeared to have been completely fine with it. Now, Ally is caught in the vortex of emotions, not knowing what to do and think. She looked around with a mixture of worry and anger and now wanted to burn away this stupid outfit and go find her man right away.
This modelling job posted by Imogen's producers certainly pay well, and all Ally had to do is to wear the objectively beautifully designed clothing and stand around the stage. However, there is nothing she could care less about this moment than looking good.
'Are you alright?'
Just as Ally is about to lose her mind, a low, calm and smooth male voice came from in front of her. She looked down to see a tall and handsome man with glasses standing in front of her. He had a pale skin which only contrasts greater with his light grey hair and the red frames of his glasses. His nose is high and eyes deep and dark. If anything, Ally certainly would expect him to be the owner of the voice.
Ally opened her mouth, but wasn't sure if the man in front is asking about her. His eyes are lifeless as if they are blind, though Ally can tell all of his focus is on her.
'Are you alright?' The man repeated, 'you looked rather stressed.'
'I-am-stressed.' Ally replied honestly, 'I-want-to-get-out-of-here...'
'Well, why don't you?' The man asked, his eyebrows raised slightly when he heard Ally's synthetic voice. Those that made Ally made her to near perfection, though her voice box sounds ever so slightly mechanical that only those with the finest of hearing can distinguish it from the voice box of fully 'organic' humans.
'Cause-this-is-my-job....' She replied, looking back up and acting normal as a model should, hoping the man in front will stop bothering her.
'You are different from all the other models around here, aren't you?' The man said.
'Everyone-in-S-Prime-has-a-different-power.' Ally said sternly, and the man smiled lightly, though that smiled looked more robotic than Ally would like to admit.
'That's not what I meant.' He replied before lowering his voice, 'I know you are made different, and I love it.'
Glancing down with her eyes again, Ally scanned him with her glowing eyes through the contacts she is wearing. This man in front looked normal, and yet he is spouting all of this.....
'What-do-you-want?' She asked.
'I want to speak with you.' The man said, 'Over a cup of tea or coffee.'
'But-I-cannot-leave-my-job-unless-someone-buys-this-outfit...' Ally said, glancing around at all of her colleagues who are looking at her with jealous glares. All of them will get a commission for every outfit they sold today, and it appeared that Ally will be one of the lucky few.
'I will.' The man snapped his fingers towards a robotic salesman, and quickly performed the transaction.
Ten minutes later, Ally was offered a choice to continue with another outfit or end today's work, and she gladly takes her paycheck and steps away.
The grey haired man with red glasses was waiting for her in the cafe and he smiled coldly when Ally walked towards him.
To be honest, Ally knew how petty everythinng is, and she hoped that Jon will see her sitting with another man and get as jealous as she is. She knew how stupid this is, and yet...
'Did you get much commission?' The man asked, sitting down across from Ally and giving her the menu. Ally nodded and ordered a simple cup of tea as she pressed her finger on the electronic menu.
'Why?' Finally, Ally asked, 'why-me? What-do-you-want? Who-are-you?'
'My name is John Cutter.' The man replied, 'I am a doctor and a surgeon.'
'And?'
'No...that's all the interesting facts about me.' John Cutter smiled coldly before turning his dry gaze towards Ally's silver complexion, 'who are you?'
'I-am-Ally.'
'And you are not made the same way as those other models, right?' John asked, 'I work with a variety of...people, and I can tell when someone has an assortment of cybernatics on them. However, I have not seen anyone quite like you before.....'
Ally's eyes opened wide, and she didn't say anything.
'You are special, brilliantly put together and beautiful.' John said, leaning closer to get a better look at Ally, 'you are perfection, if I may...but let's not get ahead of ourselves. Do you use your body for anything other than modelling?'
'I-fight-professionally.' Ally replied with her cheeks warming up slightly due to John's compliments, 'don't...don't-think-compliments-do-you-any-favors....'
'All of my compliments are genuine and true.' John said with a straight face, 'I actually am a combat medic for Gold Majors and above, which level are you fighting at?'
'I-am-at-Silver-major-now.' Ally said, 'the-fights-are-few-and-far-between-modelling-gives-better-money.'
'I can understand.' John said, 'but if you go above Gold Majors into the Diamond and Platinum levels, you can become a fully fledged professional fighter. If you want, I can talk to a few people behind the scenes and give you a boost.'
'Really?' Ally asked, sounding a little too excited on the outset as she quickly realized after.
'That's not it.' John said as he drew circles on the table with his finger, 'I can also offer you further enhancements which will greatly enhance your combat power. Since you are likely registered as an android, you are allowed to add on specific modifications and augmentations within a certain limit.'
'What-are-you-suggesting?'
'You looked strong, but you can also become much much stronger.' John said, 'I need to examine your base components, but with the right adjustments, you may even be able to rival the TEN FINGERS in strength.'
Ally felt herself froze for a quick moment, and she quickly took a sip of the tea just to appear normal. However, part of her knew that John saw her reaction clearly.
'How-much-does-it-cost?' Ally asked.
'I will have to examine your body first.' John said with a earnest look, 'I cannot make suggestions otherwise in good conscience. But I will take payment in forms of percentages of your future winning, so helping you win and get stronger is also helping me out too.'
'Ok.' Ally said, 'I-will-think-about-it.....'
'That's all I'd like to hear.' John said, sliding his business card across the table, 'you looked stressed a bit earlier. If you don't mind me asking...what was the matter?'
'I...' Ally opened her mouth as her mind rapidly processed through the variety of reasons why Jon was giving as much attention to Freya as he was. She knew that the entire point of him being there was to ask her about the details of the RED BLOB, and that information wouldn't come freely, but...still...
Was it because Freya is prettier, or stronger?
Was it because she is part of the TEN FINGERS?
Ally can feel the flames of rage stirring from within her, but she is able to suppress it this time. Instead of lashing her feelings out, she needs to channel it inwards. All she had to do is to get stronger, and Jon will never leave his side anymore. If she is strong enough, then no other woman will be able to lay a hand on her man.
'I...just-wanted-to-get-stronger.' Ally said at last, 'A-LOT-stronger....'
'That, I can help you with.' John said, standing up from the table, 'Of course, I would like you to keep the details of our discussion a secret, just so we don't draw any unwanted attention from your competitors, if you know what I mean.'
Ally nodded slightly, as her body heats up slightly due to her nervousness.
'Anyway, a pleasure meeting you today, Miss Ally.' John stood up from his table and nodded at Ally.
She nodded back, and the man walked away after paying for his coffee and her tea. Looking at the business card in the middle of the table, Ally grabbed onto it and slit it inside a secret compartment in her arm.
Looking at what remained in her tea cup, she wondered why the sweet tea tasted like shit.