TWs: Mind manipulation, guns/shooting, and taken captive(or kidnapping). Stay safe :)
"What's happening?" Tord asked, rushing into the Main Control room. He saw Pat at the head computer, typing out commands. Clay stood behind him, eyeing the flashing red dots on the map.
"We don't know for sure, but it looks like an outbreak is happening." Pau spoke, gesturing to the map, "Those red dots indicate the places where it's happening."
"What is the outbreak?" Tord questioned, looking at the computer.
Pau shrugged, "We're trying to figure that out. It turns out that many of our hidden cameras have been damaged, so it might take a while to get a clear feed."
"This is frustrating..." Pat grunted, "It'll take hours to find one that isn't damaged."
"You haven't checked Greenwich yet," Clay spoke, noticing that the area on the map wasn't flashing red.
"Right." Pat nodded, tapping a few buttons. The computer monitor flashed before showing a live image of Greenwich. Pat leaned back in his seat, "Finally!"
Everyone gathered around the big screen, looking at the feed.
"It looks... normal," Pau said, crossing his arms.
"Wait, what's happening to the camera?" Tord questioned, noticing the fuzzy motions and quality deteriorating. There was a motion blur as they saw a few people exiting their homes, their movements looking off.
"They're moving like robots," Pat observed.
The quality seemed to get worse as the feed went staticky. With a strange noise, the camera went offline.
'What was that beeping noise?' Tord asked himself.
Clay noticed that the Greenwich area was flashing red on the map, "Huh, something must've happened."
"No kidding, what the fuck was that?" Pau frowned.
"Tord!" There was a yell down the hall as everyone turned just in time to see Matt slam the door open, a worried look on his face.
"Woah- what is it, Matt?" Tord looked at his friend, frowning.
"It's Katya- she's acting weird." The ginger tilted his head a bit, "I only left for a moment to get a drink, and Katya was still on her computer, and when I came back, her demeanor was... cold."
"What was on her monitor?" The leader asked.
"I don't know, probably statistics or something... but it did look weird when I returned." Matt muttered, "Every screen was swirling."
"What?" Pat raised an eyebrow.
"Her computer screens. They were swirling." Matt shrugged, "Black and white... it was hard to look at."
"Where is she now?" Tord questioned.
"In her office- I told her to stay there."
"You left Tom with her?"
"Oh, no- I felt weird being in the same room as her, so I moved Tom to our room."
Tord nodded, "Let's go then."
Tord, Matt, and Pau entered the room; the shorter took notice of the cracks on the monitors, "Matt- is this your doing?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah... I don't know what got into me." Matt nodded, smiling awkwardly. The Norsk quirked an eyebrow yet said nothing as he peered over at the ponytailed blonde in the corner of the room.
"Katya," Tord called, prompting the woman to turn towards them.
"Tord, hello," Katya spoke, her eyes looking straight into Tord's. It felt unsettling to him; her eyes appeared distant as she glowered at Tord.
"Katya, are you feeling alright?" The leader asked her.
"I'm feeling just fine, Tord." She replied, her eyes blinking slowly, "If you'll excuse me, I need to go to the cafeteria."
Tord watched as she stood up and walked out of the room, her movements similar to a robot.
"She's acting like the citizens we saw on camera," Pau noted.
"What should we do?" Matt questioned.
Tord hummed. He had a suspicion he knew what was going on, "Tell everyone to not look at any screens. In the meantime, we should keep an eye on her."
Pau's eyes widened, "Pat and Clay, they're still by the computer!"
The ruffled brunette took off running, Tord and Matt following.
Pau nearly broke the door down as he entered the room. Pat and Clay were knocked out of their stupor as they looked over.
"What the hell?" Pat's eyes fixated on Pau, "What's the emergency?"
Pau sighed in relief; the two appeared to be fine, "I..."
The taller trailed off, his eyes moving to the screens. Tord and Matt appeared behind Pau, out of breath.
"Pau?" Pat frowned, his eyes trailing from the other to the screen when he noticed Pau pull out his pistol, "Pau-!?"
Without warning, Pau shot a bullet, prompting everyone to get down on the ground and cover their ears. He shot a bullet through all of the screens.
"Pau!" Pat shouted as the last monitor shattered.
Pau blinked, breathing heavily as he took notice of the broken screens. He took a few breaths, setting his gun aside as he tried to calm down.
The group slowly unraveled, getting up to their feet one by one. Pat's eyes were wide as he walked up to Pau, "Pau...? Are you okay?"
"I think so..." Pau spoke slowly as Pat took his hand, "I don't know what that was..."
"I think I might have an idea," Tord said, "Although, I don't know how the King was able to do it..."
"Do what?" Matt inquired.
"This seems to be a case of mind manipulation."
"So, like... hypnotism?" Clay spoke, glancing at the remains of the screens.
"Exactly." Tord nodded, "And it seems that it affects supernatural beings differently... to be more animalistic."
Matt and Pau glanced at each other.
"Of course," Tord went over to the monitor, "I don't know how they did it. It seems to have affected all of England."
"My father and the others are still out there; what should we do?" Matt asked.
"Kim should be returning shortly." Tord looked at his friend, "We just have to hope Arthur, Larry, and Bing won't look at any of the screens. Hopefully, they found a place to hide."
Matt frowned as he gazed at the floor sadly.
"They'll be fine, Matt. Arthur and Larry are tough; they can handle themselves." Tord placed a hand on the ginger's shoulder.
"And Bing...?"
Tord's smile turned lopsided, his silver eye avoiding Matt's eye contact, "Ehh... it was nice knowing him."
With a pat on the shoulder, Tord stepped out of the room.
"How reassuring," Matt uttered, following behind.
"Oi, wait for me!" Clay yelled, not wanting to see Pau and Pat make out.
"Is this really necessary?" Bing scowled as Larry finished tying the cloth around his eyes.
"Yep." Larry bobbed his head, "Anytime you see a swirl, cover your eyes."
Bing sighed, adjusting the cloth above his eyes, "Got it."
Larry peeked over at Arthur, who was standing by the window.
"See anything?" The sandy blonde joked.
Arthur huffed, "Real mature, Lawrence. And no, C isn't picking up anything."
"Good, we should get a move on." Larry stood as the older nodded.
"Right, let's go."
The trio proceeded outside, seeing a few people walking along the streets, almost in a daze.
"Man, it's turning into an apocalypse," Bing spoke.
Larry grimaced, "Yeah, this is insane. That fuckwad outdid himself this time."
Arthur sighed, "Looks like we'll have to be returning later than we anticipated."
"What do you mean?" Bing glanced at him just in time to see a blur of movement as Arthur fell to the ground, a tight net securing his body.
He panicked as Larry went down with a net binding him on the ground. Bing's eyes widened as he sprinted away behind a corner. Two people came out of hiding, holding netguns as they looked at the two they captured.
"What about the one that ran?" The blue-haired one asked her caramel-headed partner.
"Leave him." He said, "The King only wanted these two."
Bing watched as they started to drag them away. He steadily dropped to the ground, eyes wide.
'Ohh, fuck...'