Chapter 8: Tested

Dr.Frig typed on his holographic panel in front of him. “Before we begin in full, how about a show of good will?” He said, motioning one of his 4 arms towards Dea who was floating around the glass prison that held Catherine. “You can ask us anything and we will answer it if we can, only one question for now though!” She said.

Catherine scoffed “How generous, fine.” She rolled her eyes before speaking “Why is me taking out that ship not such a big deal, but at the same time is.”

Dea giggled “Do you get angry at a baby for anything it does?” She raised both arms in defeat and shook her head.

“We have dealt with a lot of dungeons and creatures of said dungeons. If they show intelligence and can be worked with we try, when possible, to work with them. Until that step is reached its only natural to attack hostile entities that invade your space.” Frig added “Plus, even if we lose thousands of lives if we can somehow convince that force to join our side? All the better!” he smiled.

Catherine thought for a moment, but when she tried to speak up Dea flew in front of her face “Also interesting trivia about that ship you were on. Full of utter dumbasses. People fresh of their planet besides the select few babysitters, all but one you killed!” Dea giggled, spinning upwards before resuming her circling around the tank.

“From our point of view, even if the majority of the people were, as Dea put it, dumbasses. It was still one thousand to one, not on your own turf, and without sustaining any major damage.” He said then coughed lightly “Truthfully the only regrettable loses where the… babysitters… and Jiji. A human that can use magic is very uncommon after all.”

Catherine frowned it was like her work was being downplayed while at the same time being valued. It gave her a complicated feeling. “Even the captain? Surely he was worth something.”

To that, Dea stopped flying, slowly turning to look at Frig who meet her gaze and after a brief moment of silence they started bursting out laughing. Catherine’s frown deepened “What? I fail to see what’s so funny.”

Frig held up a shaky finger as he struggled to type on his panel as he was laughing, after a moment he cleared his throat. “Abused his position of power. Abandoned protocol. Hesitation in serious moments. Physically assaulted his crew on multiple cases…” He started listing. Dea flew over and landed on his head “Oh! And get this, remember Dolan?” The fairy asked and Catherine nodded. “He would of survived his injuries from both you and himself! But that fucking idiot blew a hole into him!”

Catherine blinked, it was true that even with all those injuries, he was still alive as Rose dealt the final blow to him. ‘durable bastard’ she thought to herself.

Frig cleared his throat “Do you honestly think a captain like that was going anywhere within our organization? Or rated highly? No, with Rose’s report he would have been fired, placed on a random rock in the furthest corner of space and left there to die.“

“If he was even that lucky” Dea giggled.

Catherine sighed, defeated she accepted the answer. Still feeling a bit complicated after the whole ordeal. ‘Would feel better if they feared me a bit more…’

Frig clapped “With that out of the way, and with a good segue…” Frig briefly messed with the panel, a section of the floor opening in the room. “… let use this as an example of what happens when you are not so lucky” Out of the section that opened, a half-naked man with dark skin dangling from a machine rose out of the floor. The only thing to note was that his face was covered. A few more buttons pressed, and the glass prison Catherine was in started expanding in size, what was once small to the point Catherine couldn’t even move around was now a decent sized room.

“Behave~” Dea said as the machine moved towards the glass and phased right threw it. Catherine was now locked in the room with the strange man. She raised an eyebrow, looking between her new roommate and the two outside.

“This is a prisoner on death row, now we don’t like to waste so some of these death row criminals get used in other ways. One of those ways is a test subject, or fodder to some races that find humanoids tasty.” Frig said

Dea raised her hand, placing her other hand over her chest “To those that question the morals of this~ we simply remind them what these fools have done, in this persons case-“ Frig stopped her with a clap.

“Getting ahead.” He coughed “We will be testing your memory theft with this one, also apparently skill theft?” His eyes gleamed, looking towards Catherine. He then motioned with his hand to give her the go ahead.

Catherine crossed her arms, glancing at the man who was now struggling in his binds. “…I need to see him do it.”

Dea crooked her head to the side “No lie?” Catherine nodded “well, will be fine with his ability.” Dea flew over to Frig’s control panel, hitting a button that dropped the man on the floor.

The man, struggled for a bit to stand up, he then took of the band that covered his face revealing white hair and pointed ears. The man looked around the room, eyes lingering on the fairy before he noticed Catherine. He chuckled, standing up straight “What? You sick fucks got me locked in a room with a hot chick?” He grinned approaching Catherine “Some kind of ‘test’ again eh? Hopefully its to fu-“

He didn’t get a chance to finish his sentence as a spear pierced his skull “Ah…” Catherine leaked out, watching the body go limp.

“Temper…” Frig noted then shrugged “We will just test the memory theft then.”

“Hopefully that wasn’t on purpose?~” Dea giggled.

“Didn’t like his look… really don’t want to eat this guys brain…” She sighed, extending her hand towards the freshly made hole in the guy’s forehead before slamming her fist inside. The body quickly getting drained of all its fluids. She then turned towards Frig and Dea “So, what, just rattle off what I got from that?”

Frig nodded “Absolutely everything.”

Catherine sighed “Name was Dix, Dark elf, ah wait…Fallen dark elf. Apparently was a serial rapist and murderer. He seriously wanted to use the fairy as a cock sleeve and then eat her, and then use me for dessert.” She paused, her eyes squinting a bit in disgust “He had wind magic, no I can’t use it before you ask, and he used to be a high elf like Catherine before, well, ‘giving into his natural urges’ as he justified it. He was an engine operator on a ship.”

“Do you know what ship?” Frig asked and after Catherine shrugged he made notes on his panel “Birthplace? Parents? How to operate the equipment at his old job?”

Catherine groaned “I only get recent thoughts, strong memories, and things considered important. If he worked more recently instead of….5 years ago I would know.”

Frig nodded “The information you said was correct, why the trouble with race?”

“…He had a dark elf fetish?” She shrugged, not knowing how to put it exactly “Lot of twisted thoughts around them and his fallen status. What even is that anyways? Catherine was a high elf too and was obsessed with it, Can they really not lie?”

Frig raised his hand ready to say something but Dea flew in front of him with a smirk “Even though you get all that you really do just get screwed on some specifics?” She said mockingly before flying over to the control panel, hitting a switch that caused triggered Catherine to move to the furthest wall away from the body as the floor opened, dropping the corpse into the black hole that shredded and deleted every last bit of it.

Dea gave a quick snort, the floor closing again. “Racial trait of High elves is they are born with high magical power, the trade off is that they have to live ‘righteously’ or else they fall. There is a bit of leeway with it but the purer the high elf the stronger they are. Catherine was no were near being the purest but was still pretty strong.” She said then added with a shrug “Lying is one of the easiest things a high elf can do that can cause them to fall, besides just flat-out unjust murder.”

“So what’s the difference between a dark elf and a fallen dark elf?” Catherine asked, aware of the races but not specifically.

“Dark elves are a normal race, for one. Above higher magic capacity, good at dark magic… A fallen dark elf is a joke in comparison, weaker then the average human mage, but not quite as bad as Trogs.” Catherine raised an eyebrow before the fairy pointed to Frig, who waved.

“Weakest magic out of all the races that can use magic.” He shrugged “Pretty damn smart though and I wouldn’t go near the mouth during a fight” He said, giving a toothy grin.

“Anyways, simply put its an insult to compare the two, they are different races and their have been movements to rename them but~ Who cares at the end of the day.” Dea shrugged.

Catherine gave a shrug, satisfied with the answer to a degree. She then noticed the floor opening up, allowing the machine in the chamber to float down and grab ahold of something. lifting it up, this time lifting another half-naked man into the room before dropping him. “This time the skill, if you would.” Frig waved his arm dismissively.

“How many of these do you have?” Catherine asked, watching the man get up, removing his mask he instantly focused on Catherine, his eyes going wide “Oh hell no.” He said, backing to the wall.

“thousands” Dea said before flying over and tapping the glass next to the man “Go ahead and attack her pal~ Go all out! If you defeat her we can reduce your sentence?” She giggled.

The man glanced at Dea, then at Catherine, then at Dea again “You guys are sick, I don’t know what that thing is but I am not going near it.”

Frig narrowed his eyes, then tapped his panel and causing the room to slowly shrink.

“You fucks!” The man yelled, turning around and banging on the wall “Let me out! This is inhumane! I didn’t do anything to deserve this!” He turned around briefly to see Catherine on the opposite side of the shrinking room, casually leaning up against the glass with her arms crossed. She smirked and waved. The man gulped, turning around and banging more on the glass, his fists started to glow red and his muscles on his arms swelled slightly.

The mans fist started to carry more force, pounding on the glass. Catherine guessed this was his skill but still she did not kill him ‘not yet’ she smirked watching the man grow increasingly more panicked the closer he was forced to get to her.

“Let me out! Let me out! Please!” he screamed. As he got close enough for Catherine to touch him, she leaned over “Man, you really are going to go out like a bitch huh?” She chuckled, watching as the man turned around, sinking to the floor. The red glow fading away, his muscles returning to normal, and tears growing in his eyes.

Catherine grinned, but the grin broke once the man started laughing. He had snapped, tears rolling down his face as he laughed uncontrollably. “Wow, correction. A HUGE bitch. Can’t wait to see what got you into this mess” Catherine said, then sliced off his head with her arm. Catching the head with a tentacle and inserting another one into his body she drained the corpse.

“Sadistic” Frig noted, making the room bigger again.

“Oh fuck off, let me have my fun.” She said then focused “Drug smuggling? Really?” She looked towards Frig who waved her off “The leader of a drug smuggling ring, nasty stuff he was selling.”

The fairy giggled “Makes you feel REAAAALLY good~” She said, floating down with a loose look on her face, lost in the apparent nostalgia of it.

Catherine raised an eyebrow “You put him on death row for selling it but she apparently takes the stuff?” She asked.

“Ignore her, for most races the drug he had is illegal because, while it makes them feel good, it also destroys their insides and mutates them into zombies.” He then pointed to the fairy “Fairies are immune to poison that would kill them.”

“After confiscating the stash the guys upstairs sold it to the fairies for really cheap, taking that shit feels like I’m swimming in a carbonated drink~” Dea said.

Frig coughed “Anywho, that human male had two skills, danger sense and body enhancement.”

Catherine smiled “I can tell, His last moments the skill was blaring into his mind. Screaming he had no chance.” She chuckled, then raised her arm which started to glow faintly but stayed the same size. She then punched the glass, her arm getting squished and deforming in the process as the glass did not budge an inch. “More punch.” She then tried the other skill, focusing she looked towards Frig. Not noticing anything different she looked towards the fairy who by now was laying on her back with drool rolling down her cheek. A chill ran down Catherine’s back “The fuck?” She said to herself.

‘the feel its giving off its telling me fighting her would be tough? Its not like I remember from the drug guys memories when he looked at me so, means I have a chance but what the hell is up with that tiny body.’ She thought to herself then faced frig, who was grinning a toothy grin. “…both skills work.”

“Good!” Frig clapped “Any known restrictions you’d like to share?” He asked “I’m aware you copied Jiji’s skills but Rose noted you did not use all of them. Note able the short ranged teleport.”

Catherine groaned, thinking back that if she had that her life would have been a lot easier “If it’s too complicated I can’t take it after only one instance of it, so I think.”

“Interesting, we will be sure to test the limits of that.” He noted. “And you have storage magic?” He looked up.

Catherine clicked her tongue “…I store things inside my body” She admitted “It just goes in, don’t know how it works” She said, extending a hand to the headless corpse, the hand deforming and enlarging to swallow the body that vanished without a trace.

Frig lit up “And its capacity?”

Catherine shrugged “twenty or thirty corpses worth? I didn’t test it.”

“What do you have in there now?”

“…few corpses, some armor, and Jiji’s bow.” She said, looking away.

Frig narrowed his eyes, extending a hand to Dea and poking her. “Huh, what?” She snapped up.

“Going to have to ask you to empty it.” He said then turned to the fairy “She does have a storage, have to empty it.” He said.

“Yeaaaah, that’s not a good idea, I can give you the armor and all that but everything is going to be a problem.” Catherine said.

“Well~ lets start with that and see what you are unwilling to give later.” Dea giggled.

Catherine looked at her, giving a slight glare before her stomach split, spitting out the drained corpses of women, all still in their respective uniform. 40 corpses,a bow, several swords, 3 stun batons, and an expanded room later frig groaned. “And you can fit more in there, is there more in there?” He asked

Catherine smiled “There is, that’s all the important stuff. “She then gave an innocent smile “I’m telling you, you do not want me to bring out the other stuff in there. Honest”

Frig looked over the corpses from the other side of the glass, then gave a look to the fairy who nodded. “Sorry, we will have to make sure, and I doubt anything you have in there is that bad.” He said, snapping his fingers.

Dea giggled “This might hurt a bit” She said, flying over and pointing her open palm towards Catherine. Magic formed in a circle in her palm, then quickly shot out. Penetrating the glass and hitting Catherine who made no attempt to dodge.

Catherine soon felt sick, a growing pressure violating her being as it spread about her body. “Oh, you guys are going to regret this.” She chuckled, her skin growing red before bursting. A fountain of blood spewing out of her body and filling the room.

Frig and Dea’s eyes went wide “Eeew! I thought she was eating all that!” She screamed, then noted the different shades of fluid that mixed into the red as it filled the room. “Ok, ew ew ew. She was right, I regret it. Frig just shook his head.

The glass chamber soon filled to the top, the poor machine floating around in the glass chamber along with the bodies. “Jeez, that’s a lot, is that the entire crews worth?” Dea asked.

Frig simply shrugged “Who knows, might also have a way to replicate fluids. Would explain the way it fought with Rose.” Frig made more notes as they watched, soon they noticed a change. The machine that was floating around in the cell was now on the floor, pushed to the bottom of the tank, the same happened to the bodies that previously managed to float.

“Pressure is getting high in there…” Dea said, noting a few of the bodies were now flat, crushed. They also noted a creaking sound coming from the machine inside the cell. “Ok, That’s getting a bit much.” Dea turned to Frig “Can I cancel it?” she asked.

Frig nodded “Better now until it becomes an actual issue.” He said. Dea nodded, using the same spell again and firing it into the chamber.

“That work?” Frig asked, then gave a sigh of relief when he saw Catherine form her body in the middle of the chamber, flipping them off with both of her hands as the water level started decreasing.

“You guys fuuuuucking suck.” She said once her head was above the liquid “Also told you you’d regret it.”

Frig gave a deep sigh “Yes yes, you win that won.” He said, watching as the liquid finished draining and giving an irritated look towards the now broken robot.

“Ha! Suck it.” Catherine said, collecting the bodies back into herself. “What even are you using all that for?” Dea asked. Catherine looked towards her and smiled.

“Emergency food.” Catherine answered, giving her the biggest shit eating grin she could muster. Glad she finally made them at least the slightest bit warry of her.