Chapter 2: The Power of Possession
Baron Praxis paced back and forth angrily; he hated waiting. It was such a tedious activity, necessary in most situations, but tedious just the same. He spared a glance out over the city through the huge re-enforced glass windows of the palace. The citizens had begun to teeter off by now, heading towards their homes for the evening. The Baron glanced at the digital clock set into a section of his com-link, the time read 9:40pm, meaning there were only twenty more minutes until curfew.
Behind the Baron, Erol sat lazily at the audience chamber's long table. His mask was up on top of his head, and his light yellow eyes were currently closed unconcernedly. He slouched in the seat, his booted feet resting on the smooth surface of the costly table. The Baron looked over when he heard what distinctly resembled a snore come from the supposed Commander of the Krimzon Guard. This made the Baron frown angrily.
There was a swish of the doors and a slight fanfare as a lone figure slinked its way through the wide double doors of the room. The red-headed commander's eyes snapped open at the sound, and he had his gun out and ready long before the figure was ten paces inside.
"Relax Trigger-Happy." The voice was soft and whimsical, it implied lightness in the words but anyone who knew Xle knew that her words were never meant the way they came out. "It's just me, I have the medical reports from those kids your trigger-happy commander disposed of for us Baron Praxis." Xle held up the small stack of papers in one red-gloved hand, "I've already gone over them."
"What's the matter? Upset that we chose someone else's opinion Pill-Pusher?" Erol growled back at Xle, how he hated that curly haired brunette. Xle returned the comment with a disgusted smirk, she was the only other member of the Baron's crew who was capable of combining disgust and satisfaction so perfectly besides Erol.
"Silence! Both of you!" The Baron half-growled the command as he practically ripped the report from Xle's hand. He began to scan the document then, ignoring the medical terms until he reached a statement he really didn't understand. He shot Xle a look over top of the papers, Xle replied with a smirk.
"It means they believe that those kids Trigger-Happy took care of were somehow, possessed." Xle answered.
"How by the Precursors Light would that even happen?" Erol replied, he was generally interested. After all, a way to possess the citizens of Haven City? That would take care of that pesky Underground problem perfectly.
"They believe, and this is their words not mine, that whoever it was that possessed those kids did so with the help of Eco." Xle ended the statement with a non-complacent shrug.
"What kind of Eco possesses someone?" Erol sneered "Maybe your little medical staff is losing it there Pill-Pusher."
Xle glared at Erol, this time when she spoke the honey of her voice felt just the tiniest bit steely, "They believe that whoever did it combined Eco. They used some sort of combination of Red and Yellow Eco, this created Orange Eco. The Orange Eco was formed into some sort of pill that the person used to control the kids."
"So, a new kind of Eco then?" The Baron's face furled in thought, "Interesting, if we could come up with a way to re-create that, just think of the possibilities."
Xle smiled openly at the Baron, "It would destroy the Underground."
Erol smiled happily too, "Not to mention take care of any problems we've encountered in the way of compliance within the DWP."
"The only problem is concerning how the citizens will take this; we can't come out and say that we know what caused the deaths of those kids. It will just add fuel to the flames of the Underground, and gain them even more support." Erol began to pace as the other two watched him silently; "We need to come up with some sort of story, a way of hiding this Orange Eco until we are able to use it."
"I have an idea," Xle's voice had returned to its usual sickeningly sweet tone. The others looked up, waiting for those cold lips to speak, "If we are worried about the Underground gaining support for Trigger-Happy's orders, then all we need to do is spin it around right? Here's how we'll do it…."
0o0o0o0o0o0o
"You aren't going to like this sir." Tess handed the rumpled newspaper into Torn's hands reluctantly. "In fact, you aren't going to like this at all."
Torn accepted the paper in the same solemn manner that he accepted most things, his fingers smoothed out the wrinkles as best as he could in order to read the headlines. He went cold realizing what the bold letters stated clearly at the top.
"Ten Teenagers Shot in City Slums"
The deaths of ten young Underground agents is regrettably announced. The ten were believed to have been brainwashed into committing acts of deadly defiance against Baron Praxis. After extreme amounts of both physical and mental attempts at peaceful dissolution, the Krimzon Guards and Commander Erol were forced to shoot the young agents out of self-defense.
Torn sighed, a mixture of anger and guilt whirling inside his throat. They were regrettably shot out of self-defense? A bigger lie hadn't been told since they had announced that the disappearances in Sector four of the slums was due to a recent surge in Metal Head activity. It was a load of bullshit, and everyone would know it.
"Precursors Xle, why do you even bother to try?" Torn grumbled under his breath, crumpled the newspaper into a ball and threw it across the room. He looked up when he heard an angry "Hey!" come from the dark spot where the paper had gone. The corners of Torn's mouth turned down as he realized that that voice could only belong to one person, or rather one thing.
"What the Hell do you want, you reject squirrel?"
"Shut-up Dax." Jak cut off what would surely have been a long and headache inducing rant from his best friend as he strode into the light. "What's this I hear about the Underground brain-washing its fighters?" Jak frowned amusedly, as Torn scowled back at him. "I didn't know we even had that kind of technology in this shit-hole."
"We don't." Torn relied without any sort of emotion in either his face or his voice. "Not that it would matter, it wasn't the Baron who typed up that article, it was his medical advisor, Xle Frent."
Dax jumped up onto Jak's shoulder with a frown, "Who the Hell is Xle Frent?"
Torn growled. "Weren't you listening you pee-brained rodent? She's the Baron's medical advisor, head medical adviser actually, and she's an utterly sadistic bitch."
"But why would she say those kids were brainwashed? No one would believe that, that's not even possible!" Jak crossed his arms, confusion dancing in his eyes, "And I wonder, why did I never meet her during my…er…stay...at the palace?"
"Because she hates Erol's guts and Erol tends to be the one in charge of operating the DWP." Torn replied sternly, "More than likely she didn't want to get her hands dirty, or even let that nose of hers anywhere near Erol's stink."
"So what are you gonna do tattoo-face?" Daxter smirked and crossed his tiny arms, "She's bad-mouthing the Underground, it won't look good."
Torn scowled, "No shit fur-ball." He turned to look at Jak, concern a tiny twinkle at the edge of his eyes. "You should be careful Jak, if Xle is in on this she might find a way to use it on people in the city, she might even send Erol out looking for you, the only almost successful DWP they've got. Jut watch your back alright?"