Chapter 35: Whispers of a Handler: The Enigmatic Encounter with Miss Conti
(AN: Alright, so yeah, I have decided to switch to the third person from now on. )
"I'm Carl, a new C-grade handler and I am in charge of two villains, one is a C-grade, and the other one is a B-grade."
"As a C-grade handler, I am allowed to have more C-grade villains thanks to my good record, and I want the third villain I am in contact with to be you, Miss Conti," Carl said with a smile on his face as Isabella simply drank her coffee without bothering to show any response.
"And so what is that it, if so, you can leave," Isabella said as she calmly faced Carl who sighed.
"I wasn't joking when I told you I can help, with your mother's condition, if you join the agency, I can get you in touch with researchers, and I can give you access to top-of-the-grade machines as well as a lot of data that can help you find the cure."
"I heard you the first time, but I don't trust you, nor do I trust your agency and those other 'researchers', they're all villains, they're only in it because they can earn money and fame, they don't care about anything else."
"Well, yes, that is correct, but you are also a villain, although you are very different from any other villain I have ever met in my life."
"Already smitten by my?"
"A little bit," Carl answered with a straight face, causing Isabella to actually choke a bit on her water.
"I didn't except 'Cough' expect that answer."
"Hahahahahaha, well I'm being honest, you are someone that for some reason unknown to me, decided not to follow in the footsteps of your mother and decided to become a villain, and although possessing incredible intellect, you decided to not join the VSA, which would be more than happy to have someone of your talent and intellect, but decided to do stuff on your own terms."
"You did some illegal things before, but you stopped, and I can only assume that you had done that because of the trauma you had after freezing that hero, right?"
Isabella's expression changed as she bit her lip and looked to the side.
"I don't want to talk about that."
"Miss Conti, I want you." Carl's sudden proclamation made Isabella blush as she turned to face him and stared at him with her eyes narrowed. She was incredibly pissed off at this moment.
"Ahm, I mean I want you as my contracted villain, apologies for my bad choice of words."
"Bad choice of words, huh?"
"Yes, my tongue was faster than my brain on that one, truly, I meant nothing bad with that, I really want you to join me, I promise, I will do anything and everything I can to help you find a cure for your mother."
"And in return, I guess you want me to do what I can to help you improve your ranking as a handler, to go destroy places, kill people, cause mayhem, and the like, huh?" Isabella sneered at Carl who chuckled before shaking his head.
"Nothing of the sort." He took his cup of coffee and finished it before staring into Isabella's eyes.
"I want you to join the research time, of course, if you ever decide to go out and kill heroes, cause mayhem, and the like, I won't mind it, but primarily, I want the agency to see just how intelligent you are, that alone will be enough to earn you a very high rank in the future, as well as anything you wish for, including the cure for your mother, which I believe you will be able to make even without the agency."
Isabella stared at Carl in confusion for a moment.
'Who is this guy, and why the hell does he have such firm belief in me, to find the cure by myself, who is he kidding, thousands of researchers have been doing their best to do so, and yet, the best thing they managed to create after years of research was simply a drug that slowed it down for a bit.'
'They have access to all the data that the other researchers had collected, access to cutting-edge technology, they stand at the top of their respective fields, and yet, they are still unable to find a cure, and he thinks I will be able to do that by myself in that run-down building of mine?'
Isabella had been doing her best to research the illness for the last couple of years, and she had been unable to achieve any real results so far. The equipment she used was the best she was able to afford after selling her home.
She used the money to buy the run-down building which was being sold for little to nothing, and she was using the rest to pay for her mother. The HA would actually keep her mother alive for free, but she didn't want her to stay in those large halls with hundreds of others, even visiting her there was tough as she could see so many people visiting their own family members and friends that had fallen prey to the same illness.
She paid for a private clinic to take her mother in and take care of her. With the money her mother had saved up, as well as the money she had gained after selling the house, she could continue paying for the clinic for almost 20 years, and that was good enough for her.
She paid her own rent, and she never touched that money for anything, that was reserved for her mother's medical fees, nothing else.
Seeing Carl so confident made her actually shake inside for a bit. She had been going crazy for the last month or so. Her research was bearing no fruit, and she had used samples she collected from her mother, as well as other patients in order to do it.
Even after spending so much time researching and doing her best to find a cure, she had gained nothing for now.
"In that case, why would I join you, why when I can find the cure on my own, better yet, I could choose the join the agency under a different handler, one that has a higher grade," Isabella asked Carl who smiled and shook his head.
"Well, there is nothing that I can do to stop you if you decide to do any of those things, but, I can assure you, no other handler knows just how smart you are, so none of them will do their best to truly let you shine, none other than me," Carl said before standing up after eating his croissant.
"The coffee was good, the croissant was honestly not good," Carl said as Isabella smirked.
"That's because I gave you one of the croissants left over from yesterday, we usually distribute them to the homeless people in the evening, but there was an accident nearby, so they were left here."
Carl's mouth quivered slightly upon hearing Isabella's words. He reached in and took his card out and paid for his coffee, the croissant was on the house, well, the house had no idea he was given one.
He turned around and looked at Isabella before giving her a card.
"I won't come to bother you again, I believe I have shown you how much I value you, and how much I would be glad to have you on my team if you ever decide to do so, call me on this number, it doesn't matter even if you decide to do so in a couple of years, just give me a call, or send a text," Carl said before making his way to the door and leaving the café.
Isabella stared at the card in her hands and clenched her other hand into a fist as he walked over to his car which was parked nearby.
[ You gave up rather quickly. ] The system spoke in a teasing tone, to which Carl simply shook his head.
'There's no need for further discussion, I have made my intentions clear to her, as well as just how highly I thought of her, and she has made it clear that she is still hesitant and unwilling to join, had I continued, I would only get on her bad side, at least this way, I still have some hope that she will decide to join in the future.' Carl said before getting in his car and starting it.
[ So, what are you going to do now? ]
'Well, I'm going to drive back home, rest, and then tomorrow, I'll have to decide which other candidate I am going to try and recruit, as much as I wished to get Isabella, I can't simply get hung up on her, I have to move on and pick the second best choice.'
Carl started driving the car, but he didn't get far, as just some 100 meters from the café, he stopped and stared at his phone.
'Wait in front of the café at 5 pm, I'm willing to discuss things further with you.'
Carl's lip curved upwards as he looked at the name that was written right below the message.
'Miss Conti'
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone