"When do you reckon we'll be able to hit the road again?" Alwin's voice held a tremor of urgency as he inquired of the mechanic, who had just towed his weathered Camry to the local gas station.
The mechanic gazed at the old Camry and answered, "I'll need to take a gander. Should there be a need for parts, you're looking at a night's stay. I'd have to venture into the city to fetch them." His eyes reflected years of experience as he surveyed the Camry's aged frame. Soon, doubt clouded his certainty in locating the necessary components within the confines of his workshop.
Alwin nodded, his gaze lingering on his Camry. "I understand. Do what you can," he said, trying to hide his concern.
As the mechanic, a stout man with years of grease under his nails, knelt beside the car with his tools, flashlight in hand, examining the pedals, Alwin turned to his family and said, "Mary, you and Ace wait at the diner. I'll get you when the car is ready."
"Sure, do you need anything? Coffee or soda or bottled water," Mary inquired of her husband.
"Bottled water will do," Alwin replied, standing near the car, arms crossed, worry etched across his weathered face.
"Ace, you heard your father," Mary ordered her son to find him heading to the gas station toilet. So, she decided to get the bottled water herself, saying, "I will be right back."
…
Heading into the gas station toilet, ignoring the smell of disinfectant and old cigarettes, Ace checked if the stalls were empty. Making sure he was alone, he asked, "Rose, are you certain you felt curse energy on one of the trailers behind the diner?"
"It's faint, but yes. I do not doubt it. Do you want me to inspect it, master?" Dame Wasp replied confidently.
"They say curiosity killed the cat, but we are stranded here for now. Before whatever you have sensed comes finding us, you better go and make sure it isn't a threat to us," Ace ordered Dame Wasp, putting his family's safety first.
"Yes, Master. I will keep you informed using the status screen," Dame Wasp flew out to check the trailers while Ace headed out to stay by his parents' side.
...
Returning to his father's side in the garage, Ace smelled grease and old tires, a pleasant scent compared to the smell of disinfectant and old cigarettes from the gas station toilet. He then heard the mechanic inquiring his father, "Sir, what did you say the problem was again?"
Alwin cleared his throat. "The gas pedal is sticky, and the brakes aren't functioning properly," he replied.
"The pedals look fine, but I'll adjust them for your peace of mind," the mechanic assured. He tweaked the gas pedal, tightening and loosening bolts, giving equal attention to the brakes as if coaxing life back into them.
"There," the mechanic declared, rising to his feet. "Give her a test drive. She'll surprise you."
Alwin climbed into the driver's seat. The engine roared to life, and he pulled out of the garage. The road stretched ahead, a ribbon of asphalt leading to unknown destinations.
As Alwin pressed the gas pedal, it responded smoothly—no more stickiness. The brakes engaged with precision. Returning to the garage, Alwin glanced at the mechanic, who stood by the garage door, hands on his hips. "Good job, man. What do I owe you?"
"$75," the mechanic stated a reasonable fee, considering that some charge more for a simple tow.
"Is the car ready?" Mary inquired, stepping out of the gas station store with an orange pop. She added, "They were out of bottled water."
"Yes, we can be back on the road," Alwin replied, paying the mechanic.
"Dad, wait. I will get some snacks for the road," Ace suddenly said, hoping to buy time for Dame Wasp.
"Here's a twenty," Alwin said, handing his son a crisp twenty-dollar bill. "Hurry up. We need to be at your uncle's place before dusk."
Ace darts to the store next to the diner, hurrying Dame Wasp through his status screen,
[Rose, we are heading back on the road. I am recalling you.]
[No master, wait. I found a curse core and a book made of human skin in one of the trailers.]
[Rose, is it dangerous?]
[No, Master. From what I gathered, we have already taken care of the danger.]
[Rose, I don't understand?]
[Master, I will explain everything to you later. Give me a few minutes to copy the human skin book and destroy it. And once I have the curse core in my grasp. I will inform you. Then you can recall me.]
[Okay, Rose. Let us do that.]
Ace decided to trust Dame Wasp's judgment. Even though she was just a toy he brought to life, she had the same intelligence as the character she was modeled after. Considering that the Dame Wasp character in the movie had bravely defeated an entire evil corporation that sought to control her, Ace believed she had a good sense of judgment.
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
[Master, I am done. You can recall me now.]
Ace casually browsed the store shelves until he received Dame Wasp's signal. He swiftly retreated to a secluded corner and whispered, "Recall, Dame Wasp."
Manifesting next to Ace, Dame Wasp passed the curse core she brought to Ace, saying, "Master, I believe this is the curse core of the human controlling the Gremlin Curseling we killed earlier?"
[Not, here. Let's talk Inside the car. I will pretend to be asleep while using the sense share skill.]
Ace used the status screen to inform Dame Wasp while he stored the curse core in the specific toy space reserved for Apex earrings. This space already held the curse core of the Gremlin they had defeated earlier. Ace avoided carrying the curse cores on his person, knowing that curse energy attracted Curselings.
After purchasing popcorn, potato chips, and a few other snacks, Ace returned to his parents, who were waiting for him in the car. As he got into the back seat, he announced, "Next stop, Iron Valley Ranch."'Master Ace, there seems to be a misunderstanding,' Dame Wasp pointed out, reading the conversation of the Steal Song Society.
Due to miscommunication or a lack of proper information, the Steal Song Society mistakenly believed that the CIB was casing the neighborhood because Gloria had unknowingly targeted a student related to a senior officer within the CIB. The misunderstanding led them to believe this to be the reason why Gloria was killed and also why the CIB was waiting for them in the neighborhood.
Dame Wasp and Ace had no idea why CIB was here today of all days, but they knew that CIB did not kill Gloria as they killed her.
'Agreed,' Ace nodded and added, 'For, now the Steal Song Society is off our back. But we need to uncover why the CIB is truly here. So that I can stay out of their way.'
'Yes, master. I think we should start with your school. Because it seems to be the origin of this misunderstanding,' Dame Wasp speculated based on the information they had with them.
Though the Steal Song Society had misunderstood the situation, there was some truth to it. First, Gloria was indeed killed for illegally recruiting a student from the high school she was recently attending. Second, the CIB was here cause one of their senior official's relatives studied at the same school. As Dame Wasp highlighted, Ace's high school was a big part of this misunderstanding.
'My mother was a member of the school's parent-teacher association (PTA) when my sister attended the school with me. They have a chat group, and she should still be a part of it. Will that be of help?' Ace asked.
'I could use it as a doorway to infect the phones of all the teachers in the chat group and then use them to infect the phones of the other teachers or even the school principal until we get the information we are seeking,' Dame Wasp informed confidently.
'You can do that?' Ace asked Dame Wasp in astonishment.
'Yes, Master Ace. No offense, but your Earth is seriously lacking in technological advancement compared to the one in my memories,' Dame Wasp commented, her voice betraying a sense of nostalgic superiority.
'Can you do the same thing with the Steal Song society chat group?' Ace asked in anticipation.
'No, their smartphones have better security than regular ones. Remotely, I can't do anything to their devices without getting caught. Not to forget their mysterious curse abilities. Without direct access to Gloria's phone, I couldn't have created the backdoor into their chat group to peek at their conversation,' Dame Wasp elaborated, highlighting the potential risks involved in infiltrating the Steal Song Society members' devices.
Dame Wasp could force her way into Steal Song Society members' devices. However, she feared they might possess curse abilities, enabling them to retaliate or track attackers remotely. She was confident about the technological aspect of this Earth but not the supernatural side of it.
'Do you need me to get my mom's phone, or did you already access her phone?' Ace asked Dame Wasp, knowing her cybernetic body was akin to a micro-supercomputer, and remotely hacking a few smartphones posed no challenge for her.
'Master Ace, you know me the best. I am already on your class teacher's phone. Wait for it and… I am on your principal's phone,' Dame Wasp announced enthusiastically, seeming to attempt a speedrun challenge since hacking regular smartphones posed no difficulty for her.
'Good. Did you find anything on there regarding CIB?' Ace asked eagerly, hoping they found some answers on the principal's phone.
'Yes. It seems your principal has a secret life as the husband of a curse master. Ava Martin, the principal's daughter, is the student the Steal Song Society's CIB contacts spoke of. Ava's mother, a.k.a the principal's wife, is the senior official of the CIB they spoke of,' Dame Wasp revealed going through the principal's smartphone.
'Ava Martin, is the principal's daughter? Who could have guessed that the redhead delinquent is the principal's daughter? No wonder she only got suspended for two days for smoking the pages from the library books during detention,' Ace was astonished to learn his classmate's true identity. But keeping the issue in mind, he asked, 'So why is the CIB casing the neighborhood?'
'It seems to have all started last night when the night guard went to check the school rooftop. He spotted an occult array drawn using blood, and he shared the pics with the principal as vandalism of school property. The principal, identifying it as a curse core initiation array, shared the pics with his wife in concern. By early morning, the school and the neighborhood were crawling with CIB. Trying to find the person who drew the array,' Dame Wasp informed Ace after snooping around the principal's phone.
'Curse core initiation array on the school rooftop— It must be the one Gloria used to awaken me as Curse master. How could she be so careless as to forget to erase the evidence of her crime?' Ace commented, figuring out why the CIB was casing the neighborhood.
The initiation array on the school rooftop likely led the CIB to suspect that a curse master was illegally recruiting high school students as Curse Masters and then murdering them for their innate curse tools. This explains why they were casing the neighborhood early in the morning and how they ended up chasing Bane1, who had arrived to find Gloria's killer.
Since Bane1 did not choose to cooperate and ran, they must have concluded he was the culprit and used mountain lions to track him down and to keep residents out of the streets while they conducted their manhunt.
'Master, in Gloria's defense, how can she know that a seemingly average school principal would identify the curse core initiation array and know to contact CIB,' Dame Wasp pointed out that Gloria was out of luck yesterday.
Even if Dame Wasp and Ace didn't kill Gloria, the CIB would be searching for her now. But since she had mastered 'Curse Shroud Art,' she would have fared better than Bane1. Thus, she would have likely come after Ace to finish what she started. Therefore, killing Gloria last night was the most prudent decision on Ace's part.
'Is this just an unlikely coincidence, or am I simply lucky?' Ace wondered in disbelief, finally piecing it all together.
The Steal Song Society mistakenly believed that the student Gloria recruited was part of CIB and had given on that end. So, unless something unexpected happens, Ace does not have to worry about them coming for him.
The CIB was monitoring Bane1, waiting for him to stupidly lead them to his associates or for his associates to come to rescue him. So, as long as Ace stayed low and out of their way, he did not have to worry about anything on their end.
'As long as I hide in my home concealing my curse energy, my problems will solve themselves,' Ace muttered, then instructed Dame Wasp, 'Rose, keep monitoring the chat group. If something changes, inform me using the status screen. Meanwhile, I will check on my parents.'