Evaluations

Yako marched into the Detective Office, her hands still bound by the shackles he had put on her earlier just before she'd fallen into the ocean (ah, the beach was truly relaxing, he thought to himself, perhaps they should plan another employee vacation?) and dared to stand over him and drip salt water on his suit as he was peacefully digesting mysteries in his chair. Her insolence was more outrageous than usual.

"Hey," she said, glaring. "Neuro! Stop digesting for a second and listen to me."

"What's this?" he said, smiling toothily. "What could be behind my slave daring to speak to me so?"

She grimaced, and thrust a leg in his face. It looked fairly red, and had a curious zig-zagging pattern across the knee.

"Did you know there were sharks seen in that area?" Yako demanded. "No, wait. Of course you knew. This is why you threw me in to that particular part of the ocean, right?"

"Your insolence could result in death," he warned, pushing her leg away. "I find your conduct to be exceedingly unpleasant."

"You know what's unpleasant?" she said. "You. And all this. I'm done with being your toy."

She tugged at the shackles on her wrist, showing the raw skin underneath.

"It would be a painful death," Neuro added. He was getting tired of being dripped on.

Yako finally gave up on the shackles. "Anything," she said, "is better than this. I'm not afraid of you."

Neuro grinned wider. "How did you get the shark off, with your hands unavailable, if I may ask?" he inquired.

"I bit it!" Yako said furiously. "You tied my feet up, too. And I was hungry anyway," she added, a little bit sheepishly.

Bleeding, furious, gluttonous as always, Yako did not appear much different than before. But there was an additional spark, deep down, and Neuro could feel it growing like a delicious mystery. It was one he had already solved, but she would never understand how.

"Congratulations, Yako," he said, standing to his feet. He snapped the handcuffs off.

"You've evolved."