"Delores! Take me with you," I called out aloud, but my pleas fell on deaf ears as Delores took the lead, giving EAD Matthew a ride on her board while Agent Sugarmite and Evil Eyes hurriedly followed at their fastest speed.
"Ace, I can take you there," Ava offered, seeing an opportunity, but I ignored her and turned to Janice asking, "Do you have something that will help me charge my Rail Rifle to max?"
This one was personal for me. So, even if others didn’t want me getting involved, I was going to do so and ensure these assholes die regretting ever coming after me. Once the curse spell marked me, it was obvious to all that the curse terrorist group was here for me. If not for the urgency of the situation, I would be lying my ass off to the C.I.B. and the McSuiles about my actions that caused me to be targeted by such a dangerous curse terrorist organization.
"You know I do. You know my rental fees, half of your loot. Do you still need it?" Janice asked, taking out a stone bead-shaped curse tool. From the curse signature of electric sparks it was emitting, it was most likely a sky-tier curse tool.
Just as I was about to make a counteroffer, Ava butted in, exclaiming, "Only a fool would agree to such a rental fee. $1000 an hour—" Listening to Ava’s pitiful quotation, Sonia hurriedly elbowed her ribs but Ava brushed it off and continued, "I’m being very generous here, take it or leave it."
Ava’s actions astonished me. I clearly rejected her advances and publicly humiliated her several times now, yet she still did not give up. Instead, she seemed to grow more persistent. Regardless, just as I was about to tell her to mind her own business, Janice destroyed her, asking, "Where did this little beggar girl come from? Anyway, here’s $10,000 to keep your mouth shut for the next hour."
Seeing Janice about to throw a stack of hundred-dollar bills at her face, Ava warned, "You better stuff that back in your purse. Otherwise, I promise you I will stuff it in your bottom."
Listening to Ava’s warning, a smirk formed on Janice’s lips as she threw the stack of hundred-dollar bills at the former’s face under the shocked gaze of everyone present, uttering, "I would like to see you try." However, I reacted almost immediately and caught the stack of money mid-flight and stuffed it in one of Emi’s talismans, and then dragged Janice to the side, adding, "Ignore her. Let us talk business. How about 300 million dollars for the curse tool?"
"What are you doing?" Sonai asked in concern, seeing Ava struggling to unstrap her wristwatch consumed by rage. The latter fumingly replied, "This is a vintage Patek Philippe that my grandma gave me for my sixteenth birthday. It is easily worth over $100,000. Let us see how she feels when I throw this in her face."
"Have you gone crazy? That’s the Martin family heirloom. The symbol of how they not only survived the Great Depression but prospered," Layla exclaimed, commandeering Ava’s wristwatch using her lightning-fast curse ability, wondering why anybody in their right mind would give something so valuable to someone so irresponsible. But she knew that, being the only female grandchild in the Martin family, Ava was the choice by default. The Martins spoiled her to the high heavens.
"Give me my watch back, Layla."
"I’m sorry, Ava. You will have to collect it from your father."
I offered to buy the stone bead-shaped curse tool without asking about its curse abilities, trusting the Aurelian Eyes brand. For a Sky-tier curse tool, my offer was generous considering I paid about the same price for a Sky-tier curse tool at an auction. Here, I don’t see any bidders for the stone bead, but I needed it and Janice knew it. Hence, the generous offer.
"Deal," Janice agreed immediately and handed me the bead wishing me, "Happy hunting!"
"Thank you. And the payment will reflect in your account in two or three business days because my personal accountant is busy with something else," I informed, but seeing Janice’s eyebrows grow narrow in skepticism, I defended, "Come on, it’s me. You know I am good for it."
"There is always a first time for everything," Janice said in a tone filled with wisdom from experience before sternly reminding me, "Make sure the money is in my account in two days."
"Got it," I assured and then, holding the stone bead up, I asked, "What does it do exactly? How do I use it to charge my Rail Rifle?"
"I call it the Thunder bomb. You chuck it at the target and detonate it. You can use your thoughts to change its trajectory, or to detonate it, or to retrieve it. It can hold up to six-charges for a week. Each charge is as strong as a Sky-tier lightning strike. Also, you can also detonate all charges at once at risk of compromising its durability. However, the lightning strike produced from it can rival an attack from a Void-tier," Janice briefly explained to me as the situation didn’t allow a detailed explanation.
"Awesome," I blurted in excitement, glancing at the thunder bomb curse tool. If what I was thinking worked, then the Rail Rifle will finally have a stable power source. But if it didn’t I could wreck it in the process.
Seeing my hesitation to put the thunder bead into the power chamber of the Rail Rifle, Janice informed me, "Don’t worry, the thunderbomb also has a charging option. The curse batteries being designed for the curse gadgets inspired this curse tool’s design."
Inserting the thunder bomb into the Rail Rifle, I had Specroll take me to the hill where the explosion happened at full throttle. Ignoring that Ava was following me. It was a free country, as long as you were born in it. Even if you were a psycho stalker, as long as you didn’t cross any laws, you had rights.
Lola and Sonia wanted to , but Layla stopped them from doing so. As for Ava, Layla was ashamed to say that she couldn’t control the former.
Even though she was a curse user now, Layla cannot help but feel like she wasn’t the team leader, but the team nanny. What bugged her the most was that she was still stuck with Ava. However, this time the latter was a lot stronger than her. Not to forget, she was her boss’s daughter. Making this worse than her experiences as Ava’s glorified nanny despite being a highly qualified government agent. Hence, she considered Ava as her biggest obstacle to establishing herself as the team’s leader.