When it rains, it pours. That was the saying, right? In other words, when something goes wrong, everything you can or can’t imagine also goes wrong as a bonus. It was the rule of the universe that jerk Murphy came up with.

It had been three weeks since I’d last met Iron Pack, and there wasn't even any news of her activities for these past few weeks. I’d seen theories on the Internet about her retiring, moving to another city, or even dying. But I didn’t believe any of that nonsense! Why would these stupid trolls even say that? She was just… taking a break. Yeah. Nothing bad had happened to her.

I sighed.

Moreover… it wasn’t just a distinct lack of the villainess’ presence in my life that had been gnawing on me. Someone else had suddenly gone missing from my life. Fern didn’t show up to the next LGBT meet-up. I’d heard a rumor she suddenly had to move to another city, but I didn’t believe them either. After all, she hadn’t even answered any of my texts or calls! Was she ghosting me? No way! I refused to believe both of my crushes were avoiding me now!

But… if they weren’t avoiding me, then what had happened? Had the stone -- which probably wasn’t dragon poop as Fractal had pointed out -- done something to Iron Pack? What about Fern? I was getting really worried.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t anything I could do but keep looking for any signs of Iron Pack, and hoping Fern answered her phone.

I would have probably collapsed from all the stress if it weren’t for the greatest invention of mankind -- no, not fire, the wheel, or sliced bread… alcohol, of course -- and also for Fractal for letting my mind do other things.

I continued working as his minion, and since he was satisfied with my work, he eventually decided to show me his long-term project.

I was stunned when I first laid my eyes on it. It was a big futuristic human-sized pod filled with slimy green liquid. My mind immediately decided it was a cloning vat or something used for horrible human experiments. Then I remembered this was Fractal’s project and he wouldn’t do something like that.

“The work in progress name is the spa. And that’s exactly what it is.”

“A… spa?” I asked, confused.

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My boss nodded before continuing, “It’s for relaxing and healing. I want the final version to be able to regrow missing body parts.”

My eyes widened at that. His secret project was the ultimate healing device? Not sure what I’d expected, but definitely not this.

“Regrow missing parts…?” I whispered to myself, my mind going off in a certain direction. “Would it also get rid of unwanted body parts…?”

“Hmm? Yeah… that should also be possible with how it functions.” He nodded to himself.

I held back a squeak, surprised that he had heard me. Luckily, he didn’t pry.

“But it’s not completed yet. The stone would have helped a lot, but now I need to do it the old-fashioned way.”

For a second, I wondered why some random stone would magically solve all problems for this device, but then decided to not question how super engineering worked. My brain couldn’t handle even a normal watered down ‘for dummies’ version of engineering, after all.

But then I wondered… Why was he making this device? Did he intend on using it on himself? Did he have a sick little sister, for whom he’d become a villain, and was trying to save her with this…?

Uh, yeah, I’d watched too many superhero drama shows. Surely this kind of cliché wouldn’t infect reality as well?

Still… Why did he need such a device? Hmm…

…

I could just ask. Wow, what a revolutionary solution. Genius Aster strikes again.

“So… who is it for?”

He glanced at me, before looking back at the device and sighed. “At this point… probably nobody in particular. I made a promise to make this… but it’s quite pointless now.”

Uh… that sounded kinda dark… Maybe the little sister thing wasn’t a joke…? But then she…

“Oh, don’t worry! Nobody died,” Fractal assured me, noticing my apparent unease. “Nobody died, but…” He sighed. “Well, long story short, I was making this for Iron Pack.”

Wait, what? Why would… Was Iron Pack gravely sick or something?

…

I froze on the spot.

Was that why she hadn’t made an appearance in such a long time? Has the sickness gotten to her now of all times?

No way… right?

“Still don’t know why she would sabotage something I was making for her… but whatever, not like she’s gonna die without this.”

Oh… phew. So it wasn’t because she was gravely sick.

Wait, does that mean that he’d been simply making a nice present for her…? And then she’d betrayed him…?

I was getting more and more confused.

“So anyway, I would appreciate some assistance with this thing.”

“Oh, sure.”

And so, I once again turned into his assistant as he continued working on a project I barely understood.

My mind once again wandered off and I thought about the whole animosity between my boss and my crush.

Why would Iron Pack sabotage this thing if it was for her? I couldn’t believe it was intentional… Maybe there was a misunderstanding going on here? Or maybe they had a fight over something silly and decided to literally become enemies over it…? Eh, no way. This wasn’t a dumb drama show.

I sighed.

But before I go butting into their personal issues, I was still worried. Where had Iron Pack gone? What had happened?