Siren's Song
Chapter 3: Outburst
By: Dark-Elk
"I give, Surak. What's wrong?" Raymas asked while struggling to keep up with Mackenzie. Mackenzie was almost jogging down the corridor, and Raymas, who had been a civilian for a number of years now, had great difficulty matching his frenetic pace.
Mackenzie whirled around and Raymas involuntarily took a step backwards. The fire in Mackenzie's eyes was burning brightly, and the normally light blue irises were almost white. "I'm tired of killing people, okay? Every week I have to kill some new "threat", be it some ten cent dictator in Peru, or some activist in Canada, or this politician in South Asia. It never changes.ever. The deaths I've caused, Raymas! Can you even understand the number of people I've neutralized in the name of the UED? The amount is staggering.were I a civilian I would have earned over eighty consecutive life sentences.and that's just for the assassinations. That doesn't account for the kidnappings, or the mental sterilizations, or any of the other thrice-damned operations I've had to carry out. And you know what? I'm so close to walking out it isn't even funny any more."
Raymas gulped. "Surak.Mackenzie.I know how hard this is for you, and."
Mackenzie darted quickly towards Raymas and slammed him against the wall. "You what? You know how hard this is? Have you ever had the privilege to look into a mans eyes while you slashed his throat? Have you ever poisoned someone, knowing that it would cause extraordinary pain before killing them? Have you ever killed someone period?"
Raymas stared into Mackenzie's eyes. The fire was flashing brilliantly now, and Mackenzie's breathing was becoming more erratic. Raymas's hand slowly slid down to his pocket and grasped a small device held within. It had only one button, and Raymas's finger caressed it. Finally he slowly depressed the button. "I'm sorry Mackenzie, but this is for your own good."
Mackenzie immediately let go of Raymas and slowly stumbled backwards until his back hit the opposite wall. He slowly slid down the wall until he thudded softly against the metal plating that constituted the floor. His head slowly tilted forward, and his arms reached up to cradle his head.
Mackenzie moaned softly; he was incapable of conscious thought. The psionic nullifier emitted a pulsating field that was calibrated to his brainwaves, emitting a counter-wave for each wave he produced. His brain emissions were essentially neutralized, but what pained Mackenzie the most was the loss of his psionic ability.
Mackenzie had been an average child years ago.until he had hit puberty, that is. At the onset of those turbulent years Mackenzie's parents began to notice odd things in their household. Mackenzie became unnaturally skilled in finding lost items, even if he hadn't been anywhere nearby when they went missing. Things that were hidden from Mackenzie purposefully, such as birthday presents, were often found torn from their hiding places. Things went on this way through Mackenzie's early teenage years until he hit the age of fifteen. Only a few weeks after his birthday Mackenzie's life changed irrevocably forever. He got into a fight with his parents over something meaningless, and retreated to his room, slamming doors behind him. What piqued his parents interest was when they noticed that Mackenzie hadn't even touched the doors; they had slammed shut seemingly of their own accord.
Mackenzie was taken to a doctor's office, but it didn't take long for the doctor's to confirm the truth. Mackenzie was an extraordinarily strong psionic, one of the strongest ever discovered. It was not surprising at all that the UED took immediate interest in young Mackenzie.
Short weeks later a figure silently stole into the Surak household, injected a light tranquilizer into young Mackenzie and carried him off.but not before leaving behind a small token of the UED's appreciation. The blast radius of the bomb took out an entire city block; needless to say no one ever questioned the fact that Mackenzie's body was never found.
Upon reaching the nearest UED base the figure went to work on Mackenzie. Through a small bit of brain surgery a small device had been inserted underneath his scalp. The device, commonly known as a psionic dampener, had actually been for Mackenzies own good. The mate of the psionic nullifier had also been inserted into his brain during that operation. Next the figure removed portions of Mackenzies mind, primarily those pertaining to memory. Computer cores replaced his memory, although not even Mackenzie knew about that minor change. All of this left the UED with a young boy with incredible psionic power who had no knowledge about his previous life; he was an empty chalice, and the UED was only happy enough to help him fill himself.
Mackenzie had lived the majority of his life with his psionic ability; even when not actively using it he often received the emotions and strong thoughts from those nearby. He had become accustomed to these intrusions in his mind, often welcoming them. They were a large portion of his life. When the psionic nullifier was activated it blocked his psionic talent; to Mackenzie this was equivalent to amputating his arm or leg. He had only been nullified a few times, most of them when he got excessively emotional.such as today.
Raymas was worried. Mackenzie had never exploded like that before, had never even shown the slightest hint towards such violent spontaneity. Raymas stepped next to Mackenzie, hand firmly pressing the nullifier button, and reached into a small pocket on his other side. He removed a small vial with a miniature needle attached to it. He shook it briskly, flicked it with his finger, and then swiftly inserted it into the back of Mackenzie's neck. Mackenzie hissed in pain while the liquid entered his bloodstream. Raymas stepped back again and removed his finger from the nullifier button.
Mackenzie shook his head a few times, and slowly staggered to his feet. "Sorry about that, Raymas. It's these damn dreams.you know I'm not sleeping well. I guess it's just taking more of a toll on me than I thought."
Raymas sighed in relief. "Absolutely understandable, Surak. As soon as you're done with this mission I'll find a good shrink for you and we'll take you off rotation for a while until we get things sorted out, okay?"
Mackenzie smiled for the first time in weeks. "That would be helpful.I don't know how much more of the dreams I can stand. The worst part isn't the dream.it's me believing that what I'm dreaming really is happening.I couldn't imagine something that horrific. Let's put this mission behind us so we can both get some downtime, okay? You aren't looking too hot either Raymas."
Raymas smiled at him, but it was a false smile. He wasn't able to conceal his worry, and knew that Surak knew he was worried anyway.working with psionics was both a gift and a curse.
Chapter 3: Outburst
By: Dark-Elk
"I give, Surak. What's wrong?" Raymas asked while struggling to keep up with Mackenzie. Mackenzie was almost jogging down the corridor, and Raymas, who had been a civilian for a number of years now, had great difficulty matching his frenetic pace.
Mackenzie whirled around and Raymas involuntarily took a step backwards. The fire in Mackenzie's eyes was burning brightly, and the normally light blue irises were almost white. "I'm tired of killing people, okay? Every week I have to kill some new "threat", be it some ten cent dictator in Peru, or some activist in Canada, or this politician in South Asia. It never changes.ever. The deaths I've caused, Raymas! Can you even understand the number of people I've neutralized in the name of the UED? The amount is staggering.were I a civilian I would have earned over eighty consecutive life sentences.and that's just for the assassinations. That doesn't account for the kidnappings, or the mental sterilizations, or any of the other thrice-damned operations I've had to carry out. And you know what? I'm so close to walking out it isn't even funny any more."
Raymas gulped. "Surak.Mackenzie.I know how hard this is for you, and."
Mackenzie darted quickly towards Raymas and slammed him against the wall. "You what? You know how hard this is? Have you ever had the privilege to look into a mans eyes while you slashed his throat? Have you ever poisoned someone, knowing that it would cause extraordinary pain before killing them? Have you ever killed someone period?"
Raymas stared into Mackenzie's eyes. The fire was flashing brilliantly now, and Mackenzie's breathing was becoming more erratic. Raymas's hand slowly slid down to his pocket and grasped a small device held within. It had only one button, and Raymas's finger caressed it. Finally he slowly depressed the button. "I'm sorry Mackenzie, but this is for your own good."
Mackenzie immediately let go of Raymas and slowly stumbled backwards until his back hit the opposite wall. He slowly slid down the wall until he thudded softly against the metal plating that constituted the floor. His head slowly tilted forward, and his arms reached up to cradle his head.
Mackenzie moaned softly; he was incapable of conscious thought. The psionic nullifier emitted a pulsating field that was calibrated to his brainwaves, emitting a counter-wave for each wave he produced. His brain emissions were essentially neutralized, but what pained Mackenzie the most was the loss of his psionic ability.
Mackenzie had been an average child years ago.until he had hit puberty, that is. At the onset of those turbulent years Mackenzie's parents began to notice odd things in their household. Mackenzie became unnaturally skilled in finding lost items, even if he hadn't been anywhere nearby when they went missing. Things that were hidden from Mackenzie purposefully, such as birthday presents, were often found torn from their hiding places. Things went on this way through Mackenzie's early teenage years until he hit the age of fifteen. Only a few weeks after his birthday Mackenzie's life changed irrevocably forever. He got into a fight with his parents over something meaningless, and retreated to his room, slamming doors behind him. What piqued his parents interest was when they noticed that Mackenzie hadn't even touched the doors; they had slammed shut seemingly of their own accord.
Mackenzie was taken to a doctor's office, but it didn't take long for the doctor's to confirm the truth. Mackenzie was an extraordinarily strong psionic, one of the strongest ever discovered. It was not surprising at all that the UED took immediate interest in young Mackenzie.
Short weeks later a figure silently stole into the Surak household, injected a light tranquilizer into young Mackenzie and carried him off.but not before leaving behind a small token of the UED's appreciation. The blast radius of the bomb took out an entire city block; needless to say no one ever questioned the fact that Mackenzie's body was never found.
Upon reaching the nearest UED base the figure went to work on Mackenzie. Through a small bit of brain surgery a small device had been inserted underneath his scalp. The device, commonly known as a psionic dampener, had actually been for Mackenzies own good. The mate of the psionic nullifier had also been inserted into his brain during that operation. Next the figure removed portions of Mackenzies mind, primarily those pertaining to memory. Computer cores replaced his memory, although not even Mackenzie knew about that minor change. All of this left the UED with a young boy with incredible psionic power who had no knowledge about his previous life; he was an empty chalice, and the UED was only happy enough to help him fill himself.
Mackenzie had lived the majority of his life with his psionic ability; even when not actively using it he often received the emotions and strong thoughts from those nearby. He had become accustomed to these intrusions in his mind, often welcoming them. They were a large portion of his life. When the psionic nullifier was activated it blocked his psionic talent; to Mackenzie this was equivalent to amputating his arm or leg. He had only been nullified a few times, most of them when he got excessively emotional.such as today.
Raymas was worried. Mackenzie had never exploded like that before, had never even shown the slightest hint towards such violent spontaneity. Raymas stepped next to Mackenzie, hand firmly pressing the nullifier button, and reached into a small pocket on his other side. He removed a small vial with a miniature needle attached to it. He shook it briskly, flicked it with his finger, and then swiftly inserted it into the back of Mackenzie's neck. Mackenzie hissed in pain while the liquid entered his bloodstream. Raymas stepped back again and removed his finger from the nullifier button.
Mackenzie shook his head a few times, and slowly staggered to his feet. "Sorry about that, Raymas. It's these damn dreams.you know I'm not sleeping well. I guess it's just taking more of a toll on me than I thought."
Raymas sighed in relief. "Absolutely understandable, Surak. As soon as you're done with this mission I'll find a good shrink for you and we'll take you off rotation for a while until we get things sorted out, okay?"
Mackenzie smiled for the first time in weeks. "That would be helpful.I don't know how much more of the dreams I can stand. The worst part isn't the dream.it's me believing that what I'm dreaming really is happening.I couldn't imagine something that horrific. Let's put this mission behind us so we can both get some downtime, okay? You aren't looking too hot either Raymas."
Raymas smiled at him, but it was a false smile. He wasn't able to conceal his worry, and knew that Surak knew he was worried anyway.working with psionics was both a gift and a curse.