Disclaimer: Incredibles created and owned by Brad Bird. Aberrant owned by White Wolf Games.
Author's Notes: Okay people...some crazy twists are involved here.
"Okay, so some unknown nova attacks a Utopia convoy transporting a nova terrorist to a Utopia security facility in Montreal and everyone is so quick to point fingers at the Teragen. Really? Do they seriously think people are going to buy that BS after everything that's happened in the last couple months. To be honest, I think Mesmerella was working for Utopia and someone silenced her to keep her quiet."
-Henry "Duke" Rollo, "The Duke Rollo Show"
8 December
Syndrome Software and Technologies
Metroville, California
1000 HRS
David sat down at his usual table at the Neon Café located off to the side of the atrium of the SST entrance and, for the first time in a few weeks, he was actually in a good mood. Utopia had pretty much been leaving him alone, most of the politicians were leaving him alone (though he was certain that would change when the newly elected ones officially took office in January), Seth Montaine (the idiot N!Channel hired to replace the deceased Brandi Miller) got his ass fired, Shiro and Bridgette were setting up their operations in Detroit, and, most importantly, sales of the Omega Console System were going through the roof.
In fact, after the initial release on Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving), the available units had practically sold out in the US and the Asian market. David held off on releasing it in Europe, however. He would eventually allow it; but since he considered most of Europe to be in Utopia's back pocket, he was willing to ignore them for now (but he did make an exception for Germany). While his partners with Nintendo were arranging for more manufacture orders, David wasn't one to put all the proverbial eggs in once basket…which was why he made an arrangement with Bridgette who, with her company's nano-manufacturing technology, would be able to match (or even surpass) current production rates. From what Bridgette told him the day before, they would begin production within the next three days.
In a way, he was glad that Shiro opted to leave and work with Bridgette. Though he was not directly working for SST anymore, Shiro was able to still work on the OCS project and he seemed happy where he was at.
"And the sex is good…"
David shuddered at that thought as he remembered that line from Bridgette and he couldn't suppress the mental image he had of Shiro getting hot and heavy with what looked like a female liquid metal Terminator from the movie series.
Then again, who am I to argue with what makes them happy…he could be good for her and vice-versa.
His thoughts were interrupted by Ashley putting a plate in front of him, the smell of fresh baked pastries bringing him back to the present. He then looked up at her as he pointed at the plate. "Are those what I think they are?" he asked.
Ashley grinned at him and nodded. "Blueberry coffee cake muffins," she said as she set a large coffee cup next to the plate, "fresh out of the oven and with a salted-caramel mocha to wash it down."
David grabbed one of the muffins and took a small bite, rolling his eyes as he savored the fresh baked goodness. "Oh hell yeah, Ash, thank you very much," he said before taking a sip of his mocha. "I really needed this."
The auburn/blond-haired woman slid into the seat across from him. "Yes, you did," she said. "After all, it's been one hell of a month for you."
"True, but we all made it through," David said. He took another bit of his muffin. "Although, I gotta' tell ya, Ash…I sometimes find myself fighting the urge to just walk away."
"I find that hard to believe," Ashley said. "After all, within the last seven months, you've created your own company and taken the world by storm, although I figure you've had something like this planned for awhile. I'm guessing you had stuff planned out at least a year in advance before you made your public debut."
David took another sip of his coffee and looked at Ashley for a moment as if he were seeing her for the first time.
"What?" Ashley asked.
David smiled and shook his head. "You know, people say you're not the brightest bulb in the box," he said. "Hell, even you have said that…and when it comes to technology and the real brainy stuff, I'll agree. But when it comes to the human element, Ash, knowing people, figuring them out, you're a damn genius."
"I'll take that as a compliment," Ashley smirked, and then her expression softened. "But I wouldn't call myself a genius. Back before I erupted, I was your stereotypical air-head cheerleader type. My biggest accomplishment was getting a job at some high-fashion store in the mall and selling 'cool clothes' to 'cool people', but I learned that I had a skill of figuring out what people needed…not what they wanted, but what they needed. I also knew what to say or how to act to get them to buy the product if they weren't sure about it."
"But then you erupted."
"I erupted…and looked even hotter than before. The strength, speed, and toughness were just an added boost." Then Ashley's gaze dropped to the table for a moment. "And I blew it."
"If you don't mind me asking, how the hell did you end up in the XWF?"
"An opportunistic boyfriend and poor decision making when it came to legal matters," Ashley replied. Then she smiled again. "And then you showed up," she said. "To be honest, I'm sure you had an agenda when you approached me, and I'm certain you still do."
"Hey, the XWF approached me first and I did a little research on the company before I showed up at that event," David said, a dark look briefly crossing his face. "I didn't like what I saw. And by the way, you weren't the only one that was getting screwed over there. I was there to help out Heyman, but your financial arrangement struck me as unfair. When you were released from your contract, I didn't think you would take me up on my offer. I figured you would probably go to Europe or something, do some traveling, try to find yourself."
"Not much traveling was required," Ashley said. "I realized in the XWF that I was happier at my other job, reading people, helping them get what they need…though I did have to convince them sometimes that they had to buy it."
"Well, you were in sales at the time, so that's to be expected."
"True and I still am. But can you tell me that you really didn't need that blueberry muffin and that mocha?"
"Well…no…but I hadn't decided I was going to order that when I walked in."
"And yet, you didn't object when I brought them out to you, unless you plan on ordering something else."
"Actually, no, this is perfect."
"But we're getting off track here, David," Ashley said.
"How so?"
"Originally, we were talking about you and you fighting the urge to 'just walk away', and yet you somehow shifted the conversation to make it all about me."
"Again, I stand by my argument about you, Ashley…you don't seem to miss a beat." He sighed and nodded his head slightly. "Yeah, I'll admit it. After everything that's happened over the last year or so, I sometimes ask my self, 'Self, why the hell are you doing this?' and then I answer by saying, 'Because it's the right thing to do and no one else will, dammit!' But yeah, while I want to walk away sometimes, I can't do it because I can't bail on the people I care about."
For a moment, Ashley said nothing but stared at him. After a couple seconds of awkward silence, she finally spoke, a surprised expression on her face. "You really mean that, don't you? You really do care."
"Of course I do," David said. "With the exception of my foster family, you and everyone here are the only real friends I have. Oh sure, I have associates and people I know online since I'm almost constantly jacked in to the 'net, but they aren't real people I know and care about. It's just…"
"Draining?" Ashley offered.
"Yeah, exactly," David replied. "That's exactly how I feel sometimes…and I wish I could just unplug and walk away from it all for a little bit."
"You know, it's not wrong to want some downtime for yourself and get away from it all for a bit," Ashley said. "You've got that inhibitor that can shut your powers down for a little bit, but it's only half the problem." Then she smiled at him again. "But I do know a place you could go if you wanted to get away for just a little while."
"Oh? You know of a tropical island somewhere that's isolated and not jacked into the net in any way shape or form?"
Ashley shook her head and laughed. "Not exactly," she said, "and it's not tropical…but it's a place I passed through one day when I was back in the XWF. I kind of stumbled across it on accident when I went out for a run to get away from the hellhole my job had become. Tell me, have you ever been to Pennsylvania?"
"I went to Philly once."
Ashley rolled her eyes. "I'm not talking about Philadelphia," she half grumbled. "Damn, you'd almost think that people seem to think that's all there is to Pennsylvania. I'm talking about rural Pennsylvania."
"What…you want me to go hang out with the Amish?" David chuckled; then he stopped when he saw the look on Ashley's face. "Wait, you're serious?"
"Like a heart attack," Ashley said. "Look, I know it may sound extreme, but I know some people over there who helped me out and they might even be willing to let you hang out with them for a week or two, but you'd have to do some actual physical work." Her face broke into another grin. "Although, I don't think they planned on me knocking trees down and carrying them to the saw mill."
"Hope they don't expect me to do that," David said, "though I suppose I could do some carpentry work."
"That'll work."
David nodded and took sip of his mocha. "Well, if it's not too much trouble, can you e-mail or call them and…" He suddenly stopped when he realized what he was saying. "Shit, I really need to get out of here some day."
Ashley laughed again as she got up from the table and patted him on the shoulder. "I'll write a letter," she said. "They do have postal service." She then walked away, leaving David alone by himself with his thoughts.
Hmm…she does have a point. There are some "dead zones" on the grid that have almost no form of electronic communication in that area.
He looked up when he saw Violet approaching him. Though she met with him almost every morning, David noted that Violet acted a little differently over the last couple weeks. Before she got shot, Violet was a serious and level-headed individual, but she always came off as being a little uptight on some things. After she got shot, she was still like that, but also seemed to give off a "don't piss me off, I'm not in a good mood" vibe, which was understandable. But lately, she had become a little more cheerful. Even her wardrobe changed slightly. Today, she was wearing jeans and a black t-shirt with a giant white question mark on it. If he didn't know any better, he'd almost swear that Violet had been getting dressing tips from Zoe.
"And good morning," Violet said cheerfully as she sat down across from David. "Are those blueberry muffins?"
"Um…yeah," David said, "help yourself."
Violet did just that and took a bite, humming to herself as she opened up the newspaper she had brought with her.
"Um, Vi?"
"Hmm?"
"Why are you humming?"
"Um, because it's a beautiful morning and I happen to be in a good mood."
"You know, you've almost been in a perpetual good mood for the last two weeks."
"Is there something wrong with that?" Violet asked, giving David a light glare.
"No…no," David stammered, "it's just…well…you actually seem…um…happy?" Then he hastily added, "But there's nothing wrong with happy."
Violet smirked at him. "Well, if it makes you feel better, I could be all doom and gloom and channel my goth teen years."
"Um, no, that will not be necessary." David then gave her a knowing grin. "This new found happiness wouldn't happen to be linked to you meeting up with someone a couple nights a week, would it?"
Violet set the paper down. "Okay, first off, there is no crime against having a personal life, is there?"
"No, but I am curious."
"Well, curiosity can dig you an early grave." Violet glared at him for a couple seconds before laughing. "Yeah, okay, I have met up with someone…he's kind of a family friend."
"Anyone I know?"
"Professionally, no, and why the interest in my personal life?"
"Because I'm bored and don't have one," David said. "So I feel the need to live vicariously through my employees."
"Well, don't you think playing marathon game sessions during your off hours might be the problem behind your lack of social life?"
"Well, maybe, but I really want to beat Zoe's record."
"Ah, so it's about her…just curious, how exactly does that relationship work with you two?"
"What do you mean?"
"It's obvious you two are a couple, but you really haven't done anything serious." She then leaned forward and lowered her voice. "She's not your 'beard', is she?" she asked, a mischievous grin on her face.
"What!? No!"
"Are you hers?"
"No." David shook his head. "Trust me, it's nothing like that. And believe me, there are things that I would love to do to her, but I can't until she's legal."
"Really? And when did you become so old-fashion in the morals department?"
"When her uncle, who is an honest to goodness practitioner of the occult has threatened to use my soul for toilet paper and can actually back that threat up, tells me that I'm not to do anything to her UNTIL she's eighteen."
"So that's why Zoe likes to tease you about her eighteenth birthday," Violet giggled, "because she knows you're actually counting off the days."
"I am not," David half-whined, "it's just with this hyper-intelligent brain of mine; it automatically does calculations when something is thrown at it and Zoe knows this." Then he saw Violet's grin getting even bigger. "What?"
"I'm sorry," Violet said, shaking her head. "It's just I'm trying to figure if that's cute or pathetic…or maybe a bit of both."
"Not funny, Vi," David grumbled before taking a sip of his mocha.
"Speaking of which, where is the pink haired terror?" Violet asked, looking around.
"Visiting her parents this weekend," David replied. "She may be an 'emancipated' minor, but she's still trying to patch things up with her parents. It's kind of complicated…although I have to admit I was shocked that your mother and Mrs. Kilmarten almost had a knockdown drag-out brawl when they were here last month."
"Oh yeah, about that," Violet said, her expression becoming more serious, "you might not want to have the Kilmartens and my family together in the same room in the near future. Mom was on the warpath that day. I think only her hatred of you surpasses the hatred she has for Zoe's family."
"Wow…gee…thanks for that cheery bit of news there, Violet."
"Don't mention it." She suddenly reached over and put her hand over his head. "And you might want to do something about your hair; it's starting to go '80s on you. In fact, I'd say it's now standing a quarter inch taller than it was before."
"Dammit, Vi," David snapped pushing her arm away as she laughed at him.
"And I raaaaaaan," Violet sang playfully, "I ran so far awaaaaaaaaaay…."
"There is a reason I banned that song from ever being played on the building's sound system."
"True, but you can't ban us from singing it personally."
David lightly banged his head against the table while Violet kept laughing/singing.
"Hey, David," both David and Violet looked up to see Null standing there, "we got a problem."
"Yeah," David said, "Violet's beating me up emotionally and I can't do anything about it."
"This is serious, David," Null said in tone that David immediate recognized that this was an urgent matter. Violet realized it was well and her smile faded.
"How bad, Null?" David asked as he got up out of his chair.
"I'm not sure," Null said. "You have a couple visitors. They just popped up just outside our property boundaries and then walked up to the gate."
"Popped up?" David repeated as he followed Null out of the SST lobby with Violet trailing only a couple feet behind him. "As in teleported?"
"Yeah," Null said. "Slider brought him in personally."
"Whoa…wait," David couldn't believe what he just heard, "did you just say Slider? As in Jennifer Landers aka Slider from Team Tomorrow, that Slider?"
"Yeah," Null said as they made their way outside and headed toward the gate, "that would be the one. She brought someone who wants to talk to you and they say it's urgent."
"Okay, but who is it and why…" David's voice died in his throat when he saw the man in a three piece business suit standing outside the gate with Team Tomorrow's Slider. It was an odd feeling for David, being filled with a deep hatred and yet curious as to why that individual even dared to show up on his front porch.
"You have got to be kidding me," he finally said.
David sat there at one end of the small table, silently studying the man at the other end. Many emotions were tearing through him; mostly hate, contempt, disgust…pretty much any negative emotion that had him momentarily pondering if he could kill the man and come up with a convenient self-defense story.
Nah…somehow I don't think people would buy that story given the fact that my contempt for Project Utopia is publicly well known.
For his part, Project Utopia Director Justin Laragione, despite being a skilled diplomat, seemed a little out of his element. However, he still managed to keep his composure when David agreed to meet with him on the condition that Slider would not be allowed in the SST building. David also insisted that they would meet in one of the smaller conference rooms…just the two of them, no one else present.
For a few minutes, neither of them said anything, each studying the other and sizing each other up.
Okay, David thought, let's see what brings this bastard to town.
"Well," he finally said to Laragione, "we're here and I'm going to assume we're finished with the whole 'stare-down' thing…so let's hear it."
"Hear what?" Laragione asked.
So you want to play games, Director Laragione? Sorry, not today.
"I'm sorry, Director Laragione," David said as he made to get up. "But I'm a really busy man and I would like to resume getting on with my business which, by the way, eventually will involve me destroying your organization and showing the rest of the world what kind of assholes you really are. I'll show you out."
"Is that anyway to talk to an ally?"
"Ally?" David asked, arching an eyebrow as he dropped back into his chair. "Given the fact that your people tried to kill me a couple times recently, I would hardly call that 'being an ally'."
"I had nothing to do with the attempts on your life, Mr. Flynn," Largione snapped. "That was Thetis and her crew, not me."
"Maybe, but you certainly haven't done much to stop her."
"What the hell do you want me to do, Flynn? I may be a diplomat, but she's a fucking politician who has more influence with Aeon than I do. Do you really think I haven't tried to stop her?"
"The fact that you didn't do anything to prevent her from releasing my fa-Buddy Pine from his little prison speaks volumes."
"I had nothing to do with that and I didn't learn about it until after the fact."
"And yet you remained silent about it after you found out," David said, his voice full of venom. "Hell, we all thought he was dead, but he was working for Utopia all this damn time. And guess what…you're still silent about it."
"If we come forward now, it could-"
"It could what, Director Laragione? Reveal to the world what you're really about and prevent you from playing God anymore?"
"And what do you think would happen?" Justin fired back. "Yeah, you'd see us destroyed, but it would destroy all the good we've done. Do you really think the rest of the world powers would be as benevolent as we are? Even your own government here in the US…do you think their thoughts and intentions are pure? We've prevented wars, we've brought peace to various regions, and we've even repaired the damage mankind has done to the planet."
David laughed and shook his head. "Really," he snickered, "let's break things down here, shall we? You've prevented some wars, but Africa is still the hotbed of activity and virtual haven for every terrorist, warlord, and every other scum out there. You've brought peace to some regions…yeah, sure, but I don't see them settling the shit in the African continent since, oh yeah, several mercenary elites beat your precious Team Tomorrow team and killed or maimed a couple of your members."
Laragione suddenly shot up out of his chair and slammed both hands on the table. "Don't even go there!" he snarled. "My best friend was murdered that day."
"And yet you let his murderer go free," David said, his icy tone matching Laragione's fury. "If someone went after one of my friends, I would do whatever it took to avenge them." Then he snapped his fingers as he seemed to remember something. "Oh wait…I did."
"Oh, you want to play that game, Flynn?" Laragione slowly sat back down in his chair, glaring at David, a malicious gleam in his eyes as he spoke. "Your little stunt revealing Aeon agents that had infiltrated various agencies, most of them are dead because of you. Their blood is on your hands."
"Nice try," David countered, "but seeing as how they work for you, I see them as enemies and I really don't care if they die. I'd definitely say the world is better with twenty or thirty less people like you running around and causing trouble."
"Some of those agents had families, Flynn, loved ones who weren't even involved or even knew what they were doing." Laragione reached into his coat pocket, pulled out a sheet of paper and slapped it onto the table in front of David. "There are about a hundred names on that list, Flynn. Mothers, fathers, wives, husbands, sons, daughters, nieces, nephews, grandparents…people related to those agents who were systematically hunted down and killed because someone suspected they knew something. You like to walk around and talk about how you're fighting the good fight, but you don't seem to care about the collateral damage you do in the process."
David managed to keep his expression calm and resisted the urge to pick up the piece of paper. Instead, he just let his eyes glance down at it for a moment before looking back at Laragione. "Are you going to get to your point at some time during your tirade?"
"My point is that no matter how you may act to the public, no matter what you believe, you're no better than we are. In fact, you're worse than us." Laragione then gestured at the paper on the table. "You just don't bother to think about the collateral damage your actions cause."
David was tempted to fire back at Laragione's latest barb, but held back.
Despite what you may think, Laragione, I do think about the 'collateral damage; but I also can't help wondering why your organization didn't move to help those people once their loved ones had been compromised. However, that doesn't matter at the moment...and while we could do this all day, I don't have the time or the patience.
He took a slow breath, looked back down at the paper for a moment to give Laragione the impression he was actually thinking about the names on that list, and then looked back up at the man. "What do you want, Mr. Laragione?" he asked. "And be blunt about it, because I really don't want to waste my time with you."
Largione gave a slight nod and David briefly saw the trace of a smug grin on the man's face that vanished before he spoke. "Very well," Laragione said. "As you know, Caestus Pax is going to be on trial next months concerning all the deaths he caused in Houston. We have reason to believe he was set up."
David leaned back in his chair. "As I recall, there was video footage of him doing that."
"Get real, Flynn," Largione snapped. "Our experts on quantum energy know that there was no way Pax could do something like that. Yes, he's powerful, but not powerful enough to create such a blast and yet possess enough control to keep it concentrated in such a small area."
"Well, you know us novas; we can be capable of just about anything…if you push us to extremes. Maybe Pax was stressed out, pushed past his limits, and snapped. But still, that doesn't explain why you came all the way here to talk to me about Pax."
"It's simple; we want you to testify on Pax's behalf."
This time, David was shocked into silence and it took him a couple a seconds to recover. "Excuse me," he managed to say, "I'm not sure I heard that correctly."
"We want your help in clearing Pax," Laragione said. "We may have some experts on quantum energy, but the energy output is way past what they are used to dealing with. This is more on par with Buddy Pine's Zero Point project, something that even our people are reluctant to deal with."
"Really, and why is that?" David asked.
"Because earlier attempts to re-create your father's experiments resulted in too many deaths," Largione replied. "Listen, Buddy Pine was a genius, at least decades ahead of what our people were toying with. But he was a psychotic nutjob with issues."
"No argument here," David said, "but that didn't stop you from holding and forcing him to work for you after you caught him. It must really frighten you that he's now loose and running around out there. After all, if I had been imprisoned and forced to work for you, I would be looking to get some payback."
"We have reason to believe that the man called Gabriel, a new faction leader within the Church of Michael, was the man behind the Michaelite attack on the facility in Houston. We also believe he has access to Buddy Pine's ZP based technology."
David leaned forward in his chair. "Why don't we just cut through the crap and you just say it; my father IS Gabriel, isn't he?"
"We really don't have any physical proof of that," Laragione admitted. "But even if we did, as you pointed out, we can't exactly go public with that knowledge."
"Can't or won't?"
"Get real, Flynn…you know I'm right that the world would tear itself apart without us."
"So you keep saying." David sighed and drummed his fingers. "So you want me to prove that Pax might not be responsible for what happened in Houston. Now tell me again why I should even bother?"
"I could try to appeal to your moral character and say it's the right thing to do, but you would laugh in my face and tell me to go to hell."
David had to laugh at that. "You're right about that," he chuckled. "So…what are you offering me in exchange for my assistance?"
This time, Laragione took a slow breath before he spoke. "If you cooperate and help us, I will use my position as Director to order Project Utopia personnel and operations to stay away from you. We will give SST a wide berth and allow you to carry out your own agenda so long as it doesn't endanger the public."
"Sounds like a good deal," David said after thinking about it for a moment, "but not quite good enough. You spoke only for Project Utopia, but that pretty much doesn't include Aeon and Thetis' little glee club of the damned in Proteus. Sorry…no deal."
"Dammit, Flynn, that's the best I can do. I have no control over Aeon and you know Thetis won't stop coming after you. If it were up to me, I would be more than happy to say 'the hell with you' and just leave you alone. But you are an enemy to them and Thetis is taking your actions against Aeon personally."
David cocked his head to one side. "Wow, the famed Justin Laragione, the Diplomat's diplomat, can't broker a deal?" He shook his head and chuckled bitterly. "Say it isn't so."
Largione's expression suddenly hardened and his eyes narrowed slightly. "Then how about this? Your war is with primarily with Aeon and Proteus; leave me and my people out of it, and you have my word I will not stand against you when the time comes."
For the second time, David was caught off guard by the man. "Okay, let me get this straight," he said. "You're willing to leave me alone if I help you with Pax, and you will actually stand aside and let me go after your friends at Aeon?"
"I believe in the good of Project Utopia, Mr. Flynn," Laragione said. "However, there are a good number of people in the parent organization who are power-hungry. If letting you loose on them will separate them from the project, I'm willing to make that deal with you."
David was silent for a moment, quietly pondering the deal. "The trial's not until next month, right?" he asked.
"Yes."
"I'll tell you what, Mr. Laragione." David slowly got up out of his chair. "Give me a couple days and I'll think about it."
"You can't make a decision now?" Laragione asked as he also stood up.
"Forty-eight hours, Director," David said. "However, I will give you something for free."
Laragione suddenly looked wary. "And what exactly might that be?" he asked, wondering what David was up to.
"Psyche aka Allison Pfaltzgraft."
"What about her?"
"She's a mole for Thetis."
Laragione chuckled at that. "That's hardly a secret, Flynn," he said. "I've known that for the last two years. She just doesn't know that I know."
"Okay, then maybe you should confront her about it and ask her if it was her idea or Thetis' when it came to covering up Pax's role when your friend was murdered by Totentanz in Africa a few years ago." David then walked over and opened the door to the conference room and held it open for Laragione. "After all," he added as Laragione walked by him, "she's here in this room with us."
"What-" Before Laragione could finish his startled question, David shoved him aside and threw a tiny disc he had pulled out of his jacket. The disc hit something in mid-air and blue electrical arcs of energy seemed to wrap around something that was apparently invisible.
That something was quickly revealed to be a woman that Laragione recognized as Psyche from Team Tomorrow. The telepathic blond screamed in agony as the inhibitor shut her powers down and then shocked her with some serious voltage that knocked her out cold a couple seconds later.
It took the Utopia Director a few seconds to recover from what just happened. "I-I didn't know about this," he managed to say.
"Relax," David said. "I believe you; neither you nor Slider were aware that she tagged along for the ride."
"But how did you know?"
David smiled at him. "Because someone tried a similar trick a few weeks ago and that didn't work. I also cheated, but neither Psyche or you knew that." He then looked back in the room. "Vi, Crystal, show's over, you can come out now."
There was a ripple in the corner as Violet dropped her invisibility field revealing herself and Crystal standing there. Crystal walked over to where Psyche was lying on the ground and knelt down to check on her.
"David, she's starting to come around," Crystal said.
"Take care of that, will you? I'm not good at dealing with telepathic intruders."
Crystal shrugged and used a special move she learned that was guaranteed to take down most telepaths: she sucker punched the bitch, breaking Psyche's nose and knocking her out again. Violet, Laragione, and David all let out a collective wince.
"Ouch," Violet said. "Y'know…is it just me or all telepaths either blonds or redheads?"
Crystal looked up at her. "Actually," she said after thinking about it for a moment, "I think you got a point there. Most of the telepaths I know are blond or redheads…that's weird."
Laragione was momentarily distracted by the conversation between the two women, but focused his attention back on David who had walked over and picked up the burned out device he had thrown at Psyche. "I'll have to make some calls," he said.
David shook his head. "No," he said, "we'll deal with her."
"But she's my responsibility…they'll suspect something if you'll kill her."
"Director Laragione, you have my word…she will return back to Project Utopia unharmed and in decent condition…physically anyway."
"What are you going to do?"
This time, David grinned at him. "Plausible deniability, Mr. Laragione," he said as Violet used one of her force-field bubbles to pick up the unconscious Psyche. "You didn't know she was here and, therefore, were unable to act when we found out about her."
Allison Pfaltzgraft aka Psyche, member of Team Tomorrow and an agent for Project Proteus, groaned as she regained consciousness.
Oh god…what the hell hit me.
It had been a long time since she woke up with a hangover. She hadn't had one of those since she erupted.
Wait…this isn't a hangover.
As she fully came to, she realized she was sitting in a metal chair and she was manacled to it in the middle of a dimly lit room. Then the memories came flooding back; she had tried to sneak in to SST with Director Laragione and even managed to observe the meeting…then David Flynn suddenly threw something at her even though he couldn't see her and then…oblivion.
"Good, you're awake."
Allison was able to turn her head in the direction of the voice and saw David Flynn standing there holding some sort of device in his hand. She tried to talk, but the best she could do was grunt.
"Don't try to talk," Flynn said, "the paralysis is side effect from the device, but it won't be permanent. However, I figured this would be a good time to talk to you about the last time we met."
Allison's eyes widened in horror and she felt her blood go cold as she recalled what happened the last time she had met David Flynn. It was at a secret Aeon facility in Redfield, Oklahoma.
"Ah, memories," the young man said wistfully. "They're like toys to you, aren't they? I mean, you can literally just waltz in, go through them, learn what your target is thinking or what they know, and then, if you want to, edit them, delete them, or create new ones." He smiled at her, but there was no warmth. "It's like being a movie director going through the footage, splicing, editing, or putting in new footage that wasn't there originally…kind of cool, actually."
Then he knelt down so he could look her in the eyes. "Remember last year when you tried to do that to me?" he asked. "Remember how you were telepathically tearing into my brain while you had the others subject me to good old electro-shock torture sessions?"
It was nothing personal, Allison mentally yelled at him, I was just following orders!
Flynn smirked at her. "Oh, trying to use your telepathic powers, are we? Sorry, but they're currently offline." Then he leaned in closer. "So tell me, bitch, how does it feel…being helpless, not knowing what's going to happen to you? Is it giving you a rush?"
Just get on with it, you sick bastard…
He stood back up and looked down at the strange device in his hand that looked like a cross between a high-tech calculator crossed with a cheesy ray-gun prop from an 1950s sci-fi movie. "Know what this is?" he asked as he held it up in front of her. "No? Let me tell you. This, Ms. Pfaltzgraft, is a piece of classic equipment. It's an XP-30MC memory alteration device that the NSA used waaaaaay back in the sixties and seventies. Granted, the newer ones they use are easier to use, but not nearly as powerful. In fact, these were pretty much outlawed and discontinued, though I know someone in the NSA who is still old school enough to use these."
Allison's horror returned as she recognized the device…or more accurately…its effects.
No!
"Yeah," Flynn said. "This is the kind of device that was used on Kari McKeen all those times. This baby can not only erase and edit memories, as you well know, but it can go much farther than that. It can literally RE-WRITE a person…which is pretty much why Dicker ordered most of these things scrapped. Can you imagine what it would be like if some unscrupulous people had gotten their hands on that kind of ability?" Then he paused and gave her malicious grin. "Oh yeah…that's right, you already know because you've done it a few times with your powers. Hell, you even tried to do it to me."
Painful memories flashed through Allison's mind as she remembered that day. She managed to push into the kid's mind, only to find herself in what looked like a computer generated hell. The sudden flow of all that information hitting her all at once was like being thrown into a rapid moving river of boiling water. She had seen images of various costumed novas being systematically slaughtered by some machine. It had become an intense blur and she was in agony for what seemed an eternity before she was able to pull out of his mind thirty seconds later.
"Didn't work out too well, did it?"
Fuck you, you bastard! I still have nightmares.
"Well," Flynn said as he turned on the device. "As tempting as it is to get some payback on you for what you did to me at Redfield, I really don't have the time, which is why I'm using this antique." He brought the device up to her forehead, pushing the small concave metal dish-like part of the device against her skin. She tried to move her head, but he reached out with his other hand and held her in place. "Ah, ah...as you once told me: 'Quit struggling, you'll feel better'."
NO! Allison mentally screamed as she felt a dull thrumming sensation at her temples. Then it suddenly hit her like a rush of water breaking through a dam as the world suddenly disappeared into a blue haze and…total bliss consumed her as the blackness descended.
David watched as Null and Jake placed the unconscious Psyche in a body bag and carried her off. He kept his expression neutral until he was certain they were gone; then he turned to look at Violet who was standing there. "Here," he said, handing the NSA device to Violet. "Get rid of that thing before I change my mind and actually do something nasty with it."
A force-field ball formed around the device and shrank to half its size, crushing the device before dissipating and letting the remains drop to the floor.
"So how much damage did you do?" Violet asked.
"Not much," David replied. "Pretty much wiped the last twenty four hours permanently from her mind and then gave her a nasty dose of amnesia that she should be able to recover from in a month or two." He sighed and looked down at the ground for a moment before looking back up at her. "I don't know, Vi…I came very close. It was tempting to just give in and…you know…"
"I know," Violet said as she walked up and put a hand on his shoulder. "But that's something HE would have done, not you."
"That's the problem, Vi," David said, giving her a bitter smile, "I keep telling myself that people are always going to compare me to HIM and that I'm pretty much just a chip off the old block. I used to ask myself, 'what would Buddy do?' And then I would make sure I didn't go that route."
He brought up his right arm and pulled back on his shirt-sleeve to reveal the sleek ZP bracer he wore on his fore-arm and clenched his fist, causing a faint blue haze of crackling energy to form around his fingers.
"But lately, I'm not asking myself that question much and, with all the shit that's going on, I'm wondering if maybe people like your mother and others might be right about me. And you know what, that scares the hell out of me."
