Dumier rose to his feet, obviously powerfully affected by the speech – as was just about everyone else in the room, save for Nicolette.
"We must know more than that if we are to believe that you are any different from them, any better. We must know who you are, who you represent."
Stupid man, Nicolette thought savagely. He thought he was being cautious, careful, but he was already dancing to Everett's tune. The same old dance as ever, starting up again while she sat and watched, powerless to do anything about it. Although the room was full of people she considered friends, Nicolette suddenly felt very alone.
Everett replied to Chad. "That is not something I can give lightly. Secrecy is our only hope of survival." Making him beg, thought Nicolette. Make Dumier argue and it would seem like a major concession if Everett even deigned to tell them what they were getting into. As if he'd tell the whole truth anyway. Scum.
Dumier was replying, ever so reasonably. "Come now, we can hardly agree to join something if we don't know who you are. We understand the risks you are taking, but there is no-one here who cannot be trusted absolutely."
"Trusted absolutely…" Morgan Everett gave a faint laugh, the first hint of emotion he had given since entering Silhouette's lair. "That's an idea I've not heard of in a long time. Very well…" Everett's eyes swept the sea of intent faces around him. He finally spoke again, with great seriousness and a sense of ceremony. "I will trust all of you. Listen, then, to the story of the Illuminati." Nicolette looked on in abject disgust. Everyone appeared positively gratified to be trusted by this charismatic, mysterious man. Why not just sign their immortal souls over right now?
Everett was talking again, talking of history and ideas and leading them all wherever he chose, a pied piper for grown men and women. He talked of the enlightenment and the psychological need for God of the human condition and of dictatorship and democracy and the failings of both. Caught in his effortless stream of words to move from the failings of populism and short-termism within democratic institutions to a mandate for an unelected, unknown and unaccountable group controlling governments across the globe seemed a small step indeed.
Moving towards the current situation and the brief reign of MJ-12, Everett was careful to paint himself as the victim of the heartless Bob Page – poor man, betrayed by his trusted student to whom he had given so much – and careful to point out the differences between the methods of the Illuminati and Majestic-12. Blind them with the details, thought Nicolette. Dealing with an organisation that had as much influence as MJ-12, the brutality they employed was but the tip of the iceberg in terms of the harm they caused – and the rest they shared entirely with the Illuminati. The Illuminati were much the same, just with a better public relations strategy.
I would just like to point out that the opinions shown here are not my own – I always go for the Illuminati ending in both DX1 and DX2