"Where's Goldfinger?"
"Playing his golden harp."
- Goldfinger
Kagami studied the virtual DNA strands spinning in his monitor in the same way a chess master studies his next move. He was the only one in lab in the infant hours of the morning. His hands were folded over his chin as if he were in prayer, or calculating something.
Someone quietly opened the door behind him without knocking. Kagami didn't need to glance over his shoulder to know who it was. He recognized the familiar signs in an instant. The small increase in the room's temperature. The way all the lights flickered brighter and emitted a tiny electrical hum. The slight taste of ionized metal hanging in the air.
"Pallas. You came." Kagami said while his hands remained folded over his mouth and his glasses were focused on his computer screen. He spoke just loud enough so he echoed off the long white walls of the room.
"So did Yuuhi." The petite but able-bodied C-Genomer smirked to herself. Her voice chimed like the tiniest and sweetest of bells. Her eyes glowed like bright gold solar discs under her dark wavy bangs. She'd taken to always wearing her hair down after she permanently shed her human disguise.
Pallas could have made Kagami explode into pieces merely by looking at him the wrong way. But he didn't show the slightest hint of fear being in her presence when she was only standing fifteen feet behind him. She was a reliable subordinate to the Mikage Corporation, and there was nothing to worry about with the metal bracelets on her wrists calming her powers. The worst she could do was make stubborn faces and accelerate the fossilized molecules in ancient Hagoromo fragments to restore their original energized form.
C-Genomers manifested their fury in different ways. Ceres Types could alter gravity. Juno Types manipulated sound waves. Vesta Types could make any matter surrounding them highly flammable.
Pallas Types were walking power generators. Ceres Types were the most valuable to the C-Project's long-term goals of space colonization, but there was always a high demand for more Pallas Types to help get things off the ground.
"Where is he?" Kagami asked toward his monitor. "I haven't been paying much attention to him since the initial evaluation."
"Part of him is right here." Pallas smiled serenely as she rested her palm on the front pleats of her lab gown. She was just beginning to show a small bump at four months.
As for Yuuhi, he'd mostly just been on guard duty. Combat specialists who were devoted to the C-Project for profoundly spiritual reasons were easy to employ.
"You're very proud of what you've accomplished," Kagami said, sensing the happiness in her voice.
"And I did it without all your scary knives and needles. I told you I'd get him on the first shot." Pallas replied like she was trying to brag.
"I'm not longer concerned with the peculiar details on how you conceived. What matters is you'll complete your task of bringing another son to the C-Project."
"Mm… about that," Pallas purred with a mischievous grin. "I felt like having a girl instead."
Deciding the gender of her offspring was an effortless matter of just blocking a certain chromosome or two at the moment of conception to get the result she wanted. Mated Tennyo had complete control over that domain of their bodies.
Thoughts of betrayal stirred in the depths of Kagami's mind. He struggled to suppress his anger under his stoic tone. His folded hands almost squeezed into fists.
"Why did you disobey your orders? It was imperative your child was male so your dominant genes would be transferred to one of the fathers for the next generation," he said without looking at her.
"Actuallyyy~…" Pallas chimed playfully before she started talking like she was reciting from a text book, "Having a girl tends toward a more significant probability that the Project will succeed based on a larger available pool of child-bearing females with Type-A Celestial genes within the next 20 years. Plus, it will just be cuter if she's a girl."
She stuck her tongue out as she smirked.
"You're more clever than you let on," Kagami said as he regained his composure and thought the C-Genomer's advice all the way through. "That sounded like something your sister would say."
"As if. Even if I'm the runt of the family, I'm still a Tennyo," Pallas snorted. "You humans would still be wearing elephant fur and doodling on cave walls if it weren't for us helping you evolve."
Kagami bowed his head in a small nod.
"I suppose it's better for you to decide what's best for your children. I hope you and your husband will enjoy your time here. I want you to become one of our most productive participants."
"Don't worry about that, boss," Pallas smiled with a hint of seductiveness. "It's my job now."
She gently closed the door and left Kagami to his research.
Author's note: Those bracelets act like 5000 tons of sand and boron to her. They keep her background radiation down to 3.6 Roentgens. Not great. Not terrible.