Some people said that the first step was the harder one to make, that it was filled with doubts and insecurity, and that it was the reason why everything seemed hard.

Alexa didn't think so.

*step*

She didn't have that many problems taking the first step out of the elevator, nor the second...or the third, for that matter.

No, what Alexa had more problems with was...

"Look, look, its the small Minion they talked about. Isn't she cute?" Was people pointing at her admiring how cute she was.

Granted, she was the cutestest of all...

"Wonder what her Core power does that someone with a stick as long as Cerberus has up her ass allowed a child like that to work as a Minion..." And how people seemed to wonder what Alexa did.

Which, to be honest, was a fair question to make. When a new [Predator] prances around your area of influence, the first thing you need to worry about is your own position in the food chain after all. But even so, it annoyed Alexa, since she wanted to be sneaky!

It was so hard being sneaky when your cuteness radiated so strongly... Perhaps she could make herself less cute?

It was not worth it.

Instead she just waved and continued running. To make sure she was going as fast as possible, she started speeding up, to make sure she had as little drag from the wind as possible, Alexa leaned in forward significantly, at one point on her run she had her torso almost parallel to the ground. Since she had a hard time with her arms in this position, she just extended them straight behind her.

She was using them as if they were wings (She hadn't shifted them, these were the normal [Human] arms she always had) to balance herself and stabilize herself. Her legs started to move incredibly fast, almost turning into a blur (They did, in fact, not turn into a blur).

This was the optimal running form she had come up with after extensive use of her AI to create the ultimate running stratagem (It was not, in fact, something cooked up by Main Core). Alexa was sure that if there was a group of paramilitary armed superhuman soldiers trained in stealth, assassination, and rescue of cats, they would run like this.

Till she found such a group, she would deem this running style The [Alexa Run].

She could almost taste the speed even! And while seeing on this form was hard, Alexa solved it easily enough by just growing some cameras atop her head and closing her eyes so she didn't get dizzy.

No one is as smart as Alexa. The rooms blurred as she sped through (She wasn't paying attention to them). Only her memory (And the map [Main Core] provided) helped her navigate at the unimaginable speeds (8.7 km/h) she was running.

No one could stop her at this speed, and Alexa arrived soon enough to the staging area, it was thanks to her speed that she was among the very first (The second to last) to arrive!

"I HAVE ARRIVED!" So Alexa declared loudly and proudly as she was totally not out of breath (She was) from the running she had just done to get here.

Some people turned their heads at her magnificent and incredibly cute form, "Rhapsody! Get over here, we need to go over some things!" And started fawning over her.

Alexa understood that, of course, it was entirely natural behavior to someone as devilishly cute as her.

"STOP DALLY DINGING AND MOVE IT GIRL!" But that was enough about how Cute Alexa was, she had achieved her first mission of the day, and now needed to see what the [Elder] wanted from her.

So Alexa dusted herself of from all the debris(there was none) made from her supersonic (normal) run to get here.

As she walked towards the voice of the [Elder] who kept getting more and more angry at something, Alexa started noticing that most of the minions here seemed to be busy moving things from one side to the other, great canvases with pictures of some parts of the city, trees, plants and one even had the image of a man that looked weirdly familiar laughing madly like her [Teacher]. Not Miss [Baking], but the other crazy one whose laugh had the bad habit of breaking reality.

It was weird.

"Alexa is-" Alexa was about to introduce herself, but [Elder] raised his hand and stopped her, rude.

"Yes yes, we know." The [Elder] said and shoved a belt with several pouches, "These pouches contain the clothes we want you to use, now. Come this way."

And in that tune, the [Elder] started walking away from her.

Another minion nearby sighed and shook his head, "Just follow him, we set up a private boot to test your powers, we need to know if your power can extend to your clothes or not. Some alterations to your suit can be made to prepare it so it turns and changes form with you better." The Minion said.

That was...good to know? Alexa could do that on her own though, but saving on energy and biomass would be good.

"Okay!" Alexa nodded and then ran at her mundane(normal) speed after the [Elder].

She sure enough found him standing in front of a door, "In you go, change into the required forms in order while I monitor your vitals, the bodysuit we gave you should change as you shift, if possible try to affect your clothes with your Core Power. Some shifters can affect their clothes later on in life even if the original power didn't allow such change." The [Elder] said.

But she could affect her clothes? She had done so a few times... Hadn't they been paying attention?

Either way, Alexa walked inside the booth and started rummaging through the pouches. She needed to see what they had put on it to make sure she could imitate these things.

"Main Core! Start analyzing while I start shifting!" Alexa declared as she started the shift.

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"[...starting shift.]" Main Core only answered that as her body changed in form.

"Hmm....Mana levels within normal threshold...weird..." The voice of the [Elder] sounded at the back, "But the vitals and overall weight and height did change..."

What was the problem? She used her power to change form?

"Rhapsody, did the clothes change?" The [Elder] asked Alexa, and sure enough...they didn't.

Alexa felt quite...compressed right now, but a quick push and pull into the correct buttons and hidden levers within her belt allowed her bodysuit to expand and fit snugly to her new, more round(Robust) figure.

"They did change now!" Alexa said in her now less cute and more deep voice, this voice was not cute. And while having the extra handless seemed cute, she rather liked being aerodynamic more; she could see plenty of advantages to having extra fatty tissue to protect her vitals, though.

"Change to the next one, don't worry about the clothes. I will increase the sensitivity of the bodysuit, if you are hurting you can destroy the bodysuit." The [Elder] said and Alexa felt a small discharge of electricity course her bodysuit.

She had only noticed it because some nanites had been destroyed by the sudden discharge; she needed to log that and prepare for eventualities against it; if the bodysuit could discharge electricity, then it may be a two-edged sword against her...

"[No risk of it affecting current form, only risk against new change of form, care is advised nontheless.]"

But it hurt! Not her, but her Nanites! The little guys had been hurt! They were innocent!

"[Starting shift into secondary mission form.]"

...She was ignored! Alexa was ignored!

"That wasn't-" Alexa started complaining, but soon found herself unable to continue doing so, why?

Because she couldn't breathe! Dang it!

Her bodysuit was pressing against her lungs, her body was too big for this! She hadn't extended her shift into the clothes because they were supposed to test this, but it was backfiring!

"[Alert, integral structure of body not supporting change of form, returning to base form.]"

And she returned!

"*Breath in*" Alexa almost died!

"[Negative, so long host has a Core, she will not die.]"

Almost!

But she survived!

"Rhapsody?!?!?!? Everything okay in there Kiddo?!?!? If you don't answer within 5 seconds I will need to walk in!" The [Elder] said hurried from the other side of the cloth divider.

"Alexa is fine!" Alexa answered while taking in deep breaths, "The thing didn't change again, can I just use my [Core Powers] to change it manually?"

Alexa really wanted the easy way out.

"[Theory: BodySuit searches for mana signatures to initiate the change of form and follow their wearer shift. Providing a mana sign could alleviate the problem.]"

Really?

"*Sigh* Gave me a heart attack there, this thing isn't registering the Mana Signature of your Core Power, maybe the sensors are faulty?" The [Elder] said from the other side, but if it read the [Mana Signatures]...It was obvious why it wasn't detecting any.

Alexa wasn't using [Core Powers] to shift, but her Nanites, there were some that got created by her [Core Power], but most of those weren't made by it.

And while these transformations used some aspect of her [Core Power], most of it was still delegated to her normal nanites...

How to explain...

"[Host may delegate that step to this one.]"

Oh right, Main Core was a chatty cheeky little thing when dealing with these things!

Onwards Main Core!

"I have a solution already! My [Core Power] says it can help!" Alexa said with cheer while hitting her chest with one hand as she proudly puffed out her chest.

"Your...what?" The [Elder] asked from the other side.

"[Greetings human, I was informed you wish to know more about host Core Power?]" Main Core started speaking from one of her cheeks.

Why? Wasn't that uncomfortable? It was for Alexa!

She didn't like the feeling of having one of her cheeks turned into a speaker!

"...So you are that thing Cerberus spoke about, huh?" The [Elder] seemed to already know of Main Core?

"[Host was raised to make sure efficiency and stealth was key, her body is attuned to not leak any sign of her Core Power usage.]" Main Core started weaving the lie.

Or was it a truth? She did get used to maximizing efficiency while using her [CRAB] form.

"So? You are telling me the Kiddo has such control over her power that no mana leakage occurs?" The [Elder] seemed miffed about that.

"[It was that or death, host is not dead as you may have noticed.]" Main Core just answered.

"...Can you tell us the name of...the people that treated you like that?" The [Elder] asked as Alexa heard something breaking.

"[No.]" Main Core merely answered, "[And don't ask host, as for these things...We will manually release some Mana Waves to trigger the functions you built on it, tell me the wavelenght and pulse range these can detect.]"

The what and what?

"...The bodysuit can detect Mana Waves from the 150 nm to 350 nm, most Shifters act within that range when shifting their body. They only go above that range into the 400 to 700 nm wavelength when transforming into materials that aren't part of their normal make." The [Elder] said calmly, "We suspect that Rhapsody should be within the first range while doing these changes, as she never emits any light when changing we suspect either her original body is big or..."

"[Or you suspect that she was altered and her real form is smaller and closer to what she is currently showing you.]" Main Core said as Alexa noticed Main Core experimenting, trying to send those mana wavelengths into the bodysuit.

"Will you answer our question about her age?" The [Elder] asked, Alexa could hear a tinge of [Sadness] in his voice.

"[No.]" Main Core, however, was relentless, his voice cold. "[I will not put at risk my host just because you Humans want to feel better about yourselves for trying to solve a problem that no longer is there.]"

The what now?

"[Host is allegedly safe here, so long host can survive I will not change the status quo, you may ask host herself if you are that interested. If you dare. I will be monitoring you, Hermes.]" And like that, Alexa felt the speaker on her cheek disappear.

"Wait!" [Elder] screamed walking into the room. Only to find Alexa standing there poking her own cheek.

"Alexa is back!" So Alexa declared, "And that hurt!"

"...Are you okay Kiddo?" The [Elder] asked once again.

"Yes!" Alexa answered with a smile on her face...that the [Elder] couldn't see, but Alexa smiled nontheless, that was only right, for she was cute! "The thing is fixed, Main Core said that it would work!"

And on that note Alexa triggered the change yet again.

She felt a small part of her Nanites release a directed Mana Wave and with that felt her bodysuit shift and change in size with her. Mere seconds later she felt herself grow big and weird, a bulge on her lower body started pressing against her shorts.

That was uncomfortable; this was the Tiffany form.

"I really don't like this form; it confuses me," Alexa said as her voice turned higher than it should be, and Alexa felt this voice strain her throat for some reason. As if this body hadn't been using this voice for long.

And that was weird!

Why wasn't Tiffany's body used to her voice? That was weird!

"Detected the change within the optimal range..." The [Elder] said as Alexa shrugged. "And as expected, you emitted a faint light."

Alexa shined?

Was she even becoming cuter? Was that even possible? IT was! For Alexa was the cutestest of all! It was only fitting for her to become more adorable with every passing second! She would become the cutestest of all!

Even if she already was.

"...So, does this...Main Core? Does this person help you with your Core Power?" [Elder] asked as he wrote something on his tablet.

"Yes, Main Core deals with most of the things I use my [Core Powers]!" Alexa answered with a nod as she shifted back to normal. She once again felt Main Core send a short burst into a very specific part of her bodysuit.

She also paid attention and noticed how she was indeed shining.

"I see...." [Elder] said slowly.

"But I can use my [Core Powers] even without his help!" Alexa added, she needed to make sure that [Elder] didn't think that she was useless without Main Core!

"Okay Kiddo, we got the data we needed. You may shift as you think is better, also..." The [Elder] said pulling something from his side pouch, "Here, is the blueprint for that bodysuit you are wearing, you may want to integrate it with the one we did the other day."

Alexa caught the data bank when it was thrown her way, Main Core taking out the data as soon the data bank touched her skin.

"Now move along, we need to go towards the staging area. Aqua will want to have a talk with you before leaving." [Elder] said ushering her away, "I will remain here to clean some of this mess, also don't forget to use the clothes from the pouches, here a spare. We have more of them ready if needed."

Alexa took the new belt and threw the other away, since the clothes of the previous pouch now laid on the floor after Alexa threw them into the air.

"[Finished analyzis of disguises, set up into base shift. Also analyzed and integrated the blueprint of current bodysuit, host may consume it and it will be saved into the Banked Storage.]"

Nice. Everything was going according to plan! What plan? Alexa knew not! But everything seemed to be going according to plan!

Now she only needed to go and listen to the weird blue girl for...

....

"What do we do every morning before going to school?" IS THAT A MAGMO ON THE TV?!?!?!?!?

"That's right, we spit at the feet of our enemies and drink their tears!" MAGMOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"MAGMOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" Alexa ran with all her speed available to her while jumping and shoving any minion that DARED to stand between her and the TV. "Magmo's world!!!!"

Alexa found other kids already sitting there, none had masks like her, but she cared not for that!

"Oh? You got daddy's mask?" Asked a older [Woman] who was handing out boxes of juices and some snacks.

Alexa, of course, took the mango juice box and some yumyums, "This one is mine! Alexa has no [Daddy]!" Alexa answered as the mask opened at the mouth level so she could drink her juice and nibble her yumyums.

"I see...Well, remember to give it to Mommy when she asks for it, okay?" The older [Woman] said with a smile, "I know some of your parents give you kids masks but here we all are safe!"

"Alexa also has no [Mommy] now move out of the way, we are missing on Magmo's time!" Alexa said throwing one of the nearby kid yumyums (She would not waste hers) at the [Woman]!

Magmo was on the tv!

She had no time for these things!

"Now remember kids, you must always memorize mommy or daddy's credit card number! That way you will be able to get Magmo's merch!" Magmo was right!

Now she needed to get a [Mommy] or a [Daddy] so Alexa could memorize their credit card numbers to get Magmo's merch!

Where does one find a [Mommy] or a [Daddy] though?

Alexa would need to ask [Eleanore] or [Fan Girl] later.