Sejong
October 9th, 2007. Cat clock on the wall says 8:43 p.m.
I’m sitting on the couch in the safe house watching some sappy Korean drama with Oliver. I’ve got a bowl of popcorn on my lap and Oliver is scribbling poetry in three different languages across four different notebooks like his life depends on it. He’s drunk off his booty. Only drank two bottles of soju and he’s already glowing like a solar farm in the middle of July.
“Hey, hey, Ollie.” I take the bottle of soju from him. “Pace yourself. We don’t need you knocking out and resetting time again.”
“That is no way to speak to your elder.” he snatches back the bottle while continuing to crank out poetry. He doesn’t even stop to look at me. “I stayed up for ten days straight. I’ll drink however much I want.”
“Please don’t.”
“What do you intend to do to impede my imbibement of this cheap fermented grain beverage?” Oliver downs half the bottle.
“... Are you even drunk? You’re just a teensy bit too eloquent to be drunk.”
“I am perhaps a tad intoxicated. Just enough to fuel inspiration, but not enough to become someone else’s inspiration.” Oliver takes another sip, then places the bottle on the table in front of us.
“Uh… huh…” I munch on some popcorn. “So when does this drama get good?”
“I beg your pardon? This is a very famous and influential k-drama amongst stressed bureaucrats and lonely housewives alike.”
“We’ve been staring at a man moping in a shower for fifteen minutes.”
“You don’t understand. The water rolling down his back symbolizes the struggles wearing down his psyche. The shining suds on his chest symbolize that underneath his harsh words and stoic exterior lies a heart of gold.”
“He called his girlfriend a bitch.”
“Sssh.” Oliver chuckles menacingly. “There’s a reason, but it's revealed later.”
“Whatever you say Oliveman… Whatever you sa-hhnk!”
schliiiiiiing
Pain.
Pain.
Pain pain pain pain pain pain pain.
It feels like my head is being torn in half from the inside. My brainstem feels like it just snapped in two… My skull feels like it's splintering and chipping, imbedding shards of bone into my grey matter.
“AAAAAAAAAAH!” I crumble up onto the floor and hold my head. Make it stop. Make it stop. Make it stop.
“Sejong! Are you okay?!”
“Don’t… Don’t worry about me…” I can barely see. My eyes start to water uncontrollably… but then the pain quickly vanishes just as quickly as it set in… My body soon relaxes and I am left lying panting on the floor like some fool.
“What happened?”
“Guess my clone at Aegis bit the dust…” I begin to eat the popcorn I spilled off the floor.
“Is that bad?”
“For them.” I shrug. “Doesn’t matter to us though. They completed their mission.”
Vivian
October 9th, 2007. 9:41 p.m. This… This is a lot to take in. The video starts with a cheaply made ‘Edited by: Cameron & Suzy Productions’ logo flashing across the screen featuring little chibi art of Suzy and Cameron accompanied by midi music that I swear I’ve heard from a YTP. It then star-wipes to some kind of found footage of a shadowy business meeting. And I mean shadowy. Everyone’s sitting at this big round table with a statue of a hand holding the earth in its grasp in the center. I can smell the evil and silk suits through the video. It looks like an illuminati, C.I.A., and Captain Planet villain meet up session. I’m serious. There’s some half-gorilla dude, a woman smoking twenty cigars through mouths placed along her arms, some magical girl that looks suspiciously similar to Lucky Clover, some CEO-looking woman with skin made from diamonds. I feel like I’m gonna go blind every time she’s on camera. The rogue’s gallery doesn’t end there. No sir. There’s a grizzly bear speaking perfect english. I don’t mean some weird anthro creature. Just a normal-ass bear with a hat and a tie arguing with his cohorts. A little grey alien drinking a cosmopolitan through her fingertips, and some kind of eldritch abomination sitting in the corner with a leash around its neck. And yes I know she’s a girl alien because she has three big grey titties just flopping out. The abomination in the corner’s shape, size, and location of various body parts keeps changing every second. I want to vomit just looking at it, but I can’t look away. The camera keeps swaying steadily from member to member, oftentimes getting way too close. I can see the clogged pores on this one dude’s face. No doubt about it. Looks like some Elite villains to me.
The bear says, ‘Look, we already tried that. It didn’t work with the Java Incident, it didn’t work with the Beijing Massacre, and it sure as hell didn’t work with the Great Paris Melee.”
The camera starwipes to a rough-looking corgi sitting in a high-chair. Let me clarify. This corgi has an eyepatch, several scars, and is smoking a cuban cigar. He even has a mechanical tail. I don’t care if he’s in a shadowy organization, I would still pet him. “Dude, we didn’t initiate the Great Paris Melee.”
“Seriously?” The bear scratches his bear balls. “What happened there then?”
“Parisians just riot en masse every few decades or so. It’s basically a French tradition.”
“How bout that.” The bear chuckles.
The camera starwipes again to cut to the magical girl. She’s lying down on the table with her legs wide open and two and a half donuts lying on her stomach. The camera swivels up her skirt and lingers for juuuust the right amount of time before returning to a less pervy view. I can hear Suzy bonk Cameron on the back of the head. There’s another starwipe and it looks like some time has passed. Everyone’s sitting in different chairs and looking significantly more worn. Some of them have injuries. Some are missing. There are burnt cigars and empty donut boxes all over the table and a growing pool of blood under the table. “Okay… one… last… time…” the magical girl rubs her temple. “We’re going to threaten to obliterate Chicago. Everyone agree on this?”
The whole office weakly replies with variations of ‘yes’.
“And what are we using?” She takes a bite out of a donut.
“We don’t know yet. We’ll decide later.” everyone says as if they rehearsed.
“And what time will we attack?” she asks gritting her teeth.
“10:30 p.m.” everyone sounds like they really want to leave.
“And where will ground zero be?”
“The Millenium Park.”
“That’s the one with the bean, right?” The bear asks.
The corgi nods.
“And lastly, why are we doing this?”
Everyone takes a big sigh. “To ransom one billion dollars from the U.S. government.”
“What?!” the corgi barks. “Are you serious? We’re decimating a major economic hub and a billion dollars is all you guys can come up with?”
“Well we don’t want to get greedy.” the alien says after coughing up a donut chunk. “What if they turn us down?”
“It’s Chicago!” The corgi barks. “We can get at least 10 trillion!”
“A trillion is way too much.” A golden moai head protests. I like this one. He’s got jewels for teeth and some sick sunglasses. “There’s no way we’d-”
The magical girl pulls a shotgun out her skirt and shoots it into the air. “EVERYONE SHUT UP! LOOK! OUR INITIAL OFFER WILL BE TEN TRILLION, SECOND ONE WILL BE 5 TRILLION, AND WE REDUCE THE TRISTATE AREA TO A CRATER IF THEY REFUSE. IS EVERYONE HAPPY? CAN WE GO HOME?”
“Sounds good.” The corgi nods.
“I’m down.” the alien eats the donut chunk she spat up.
“No complaints here.” The moai head smiles.
“Very good.” The magical girl sounds like a teacher one day away from suplexing a student. “Now that we have the facts and finer deets nailed, peace.” The magical girl pulls a grenade out of her bra, throws it by the statue, and jumps down the hole it makes.
The footage stops there. Cameron gets up and starts stretching.
I turn to look at everyone. Angela’s laughing her butt off. Yuko looks confused as hell. Josh is confused, but slowly laughs alongside Angela. A.D. was looking at the wall with intense curiosity. Janelle looked bewildered, but still pissed. Will’s just nodding with as much interest as I am. This is the kind of hero shenanigans I’ve been waiting for.
Yuko
October 9th, 2007. 9:49 p.m. I look over at the Headmaster. “What the hell was that!?”
“Hm?” Headmaster rubs Cameron on the back of the head. “I thought it was pretty obvious. Cameron snuck into an Elite base and got some info. Were you even listening?”
“I was…” I feel my teeth grit. “There’s just no way that’s real… and how did that…” I point to Cameron. “Thing get in there?”
“One. Yes it is real and I sincerely hope you all take this seriously. Second, he is not a thing. He is Cameron and will be respected as such. Third, Cameron’s a sneaky boy.” Headmaster pokes her finger right through Cameron’s stomach and it just parts like she’s poking a bubble in a bathtub. “Let’s leave it at that. Fourth, relax. You’re going to have lots of other heroes helping you out on this mission.”
“Okay, and? Can’t you have some real heroes deal with it?”
“You are real heroes.” Headmaster shakes her head. “Even you, Yuko.”
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
“I’m not a hero!” I jump to my feet and yell loud enough to make Headmaster stumble a little. “We’re just kids… Let the big heroes deal with this.”
“Oh, believe me. You’ll have back up.” Headmaster smiles. “I just showed all of you this because I trust you all.”
“Don’t care.” I look around the room and find something that looks like an elevator door. “Let the big shots handle this.” I start mashing a button by the doors.
“Yuko.” The volume and tone of Headmaster’s voice doesn’t change in the slightest. It’s still as cool and patronizing as ever. “You will help protect Chicago from the Elite.”
The doors open in front of me. “Or else what?” I grin back at Headmaster. “You gonna expel me?”
“No.” Headmaster keeps smiling. “You just wouldn’t forgive yourself if you didn’t go.”
“You don’t know that…” I enter the elevator and mash the button to go up.
“Sounds like you do though and you’re afraid.”
Headmaster’s voice cuts out as the elevator doors close behind me and send me shooting back up to her office.
I rush back to my room as fast as I can. This is stupid.
Suzy
October 9th, 2007. 10:12 p.m. I yawn, massage my left arm a little, and take another hearty chug. “So, anyone else wanna throw a bitch fit or are we done here?”
“Nope.” Angela yawns. “I always wanted to go to Chicago.” She makes some weird motions with her hands. “Plus I wanna pet that corgi.”
“Anyone else?”
“No complaints here.” A.D. shakes his head and punches the air in front of him. “I’m always down to help my hometown.”
“Good, good.” I look over the rest of the remaining crew. “Josh? Any problems?”
“No, ma’am.” He shrugs his shoulders. Looks like a dad watching his child eat glue after trying to stop them five previous times. “Where Angela goes, I follow.”
“And you, Janelle? You’ve been looking a tad ill.”
“I’m going…” Janelle gets to her feet still clutching her stomach. “I’m sure Chicago will need some medics and firefighters.”
“Excellent.” I look over to Vivian who’s still grinning and bouncing like a kid in a candy store. “Think you could talk some sense into Yuko?”
“Totally.” Vivian puts her fist over her chest. “You can count on me.”
“Good.” I snap my fingers and open the elevator to my office. “Now get out. My show’s almost on.”
Vivian
October 9th, 2007. 10:49 p.m. My dorm room. I’ve been sitting on my bed with the lights off trying to get Yuko to talk for the last twenty minutes. It isn’t going well. There’s this big cocoon of blankets on her bed. She won’t look at me or even get out from under her blanket.
“Yukoooo.” I chuck a pillow onto her. “C’mon, come to Chicago with us. I won’t let the villains hurt you.”
No response. Hardly even a wiggle.
“Yuko…” I approach her bed and start poking her. “Wanna talk about it?”
Still no response.
“That’s fine.” I pat what I think is Yuko’s back. “Talk to me when you want to.”
I hop back on my bed, but land on my arm. Nothing cracks… but I can feel pain pulse through my forearm. It hurts so bad.
“Is this a game to you?” Yuko’s voice penetrates the blanket cocoon.
“Eh?” I look over at the blanket cocoon and see Yuko’s eye peek out at me. “What do you mean?”
“Why are you so happy to get this mission?” Yuko blinks. “It’s got nothing to do with you.”
“Because I get to help people.” I smile at her. “That’s all there is to it.”
“Even if it means you die?” She asks.
“I’m not gonna die. Don’t worry.”
“How do you know that?”
“I don’t.” I smile.
“Then why would you say that?” Yuko sounds ready to bite my head off.
“Uh… Um. To reassure you?”
“Mission failed, asshole.” Blankets cover Yuko’s eye again.
“I…” I keep trying to say something, but nothing but air comes out of my mouth. “Uh… That’s…. yeah, that’s fair.” I lay back in my bed. “Are you that worried about me?”
Yuko says nothing. Can’t blame her. I kinda did mess that up.
“Alright. Sorry.” I yawn. “Good night. See you in the morning.”
As I drift off to sleep, Yuko’s groans echo through the room. “I’m worried about everyone… We’re too young to be taking on villains like that.”
“Just tell me what you want me to do.”
“What?”
“Let’s just cut to the chase.” I roll over on my bed to see Yuko peeking at me again. “How can I make you happy?”
“Stay here with me… don’t go to Chicago.”
“...” My heart falls into my stomach when our eyes meet. “Let me think about it, okay?”
“Mgr…” Yuko’s blanket falls over her eye again.
“I’m not going to let anything hurt you.” I reassure her. “Cross my heart.”
“Good night.”
Janelle
October 10th, 2007. 1:46 a.m. My bedroom.
Will and I have been lying on my bed looking up at the ceiling for the past few hours. It’s… nice. We’re shoulder to shoulder, he looks so handsome in candlelight. I’m sure I could just slide my hand over onto his… I’m going to try it now. Okay he just moved his hand on top of my bed. Never mind. Abort abort abort.
“Hey… Will?”
“What’s up, Janelle?” He looks at me.
“What… what do you think is making those people threaten Chicago?”
“Well, I mean they are villains for a reason.”
“I don’t mean that.” I shake my head. “Regardless of the motive, I just don’t understand how a human could even threaten to do things that heinous.”
“There’s just some evil people in this world.” Will sighs. “That’s all there is to it.”
“But, don’t you think there has to be something else behind it? I’m sure there has to be a few things not diagnosed here.”
“Your point?”
“If some of the Elite villains got help or were just raised properly, do you think they would still be villains?”
Will looks back at the ceiling. “Some people; regardless of what you do, will always seek to defile God’s creations. Why is that so hard for you to believe?”
“I don’t know.” I sigh.
“Do you think people are inherently good?”
“I do,” I yawn. “but some of the stories I hear about the Elite are making it very difficult to do so.”
“Why?”
“I’m not sure.” I close my eyes. “I guess it just makes things easier for me.”
“Fair enough reason.” Will yawns.
“What about you?”
“If humanity was born good, Jesus wouldn’t have had to die for us.”
“But aren’t we all made in God’s image and likeness?” I open my eyes and look at him.
“...” Will pauses. “I’ll get back to you on that.” he rubs his neck and starts to stand up. “I really should be going. It’s way past my bedtime.”
I pull at his jean leg. “You could stay here. I just got new hypoallergenic pillow sheets.”
“I’m flattered.” he bends down and pets my head. “But we ain’t married yet. Toodles.” he waves goodbye and carefully closes the door.
“Hah.” Angela laughs from under her bed covers. “Jesus-blocked.”
“You were there this whole time?!” Sparks fly off my shoulders.
“Yeah. Where else would I be?”
“... Just go back to bed.”
Will
October 10th, 2007. 2:02 a.m. My bedroom. Been trying to sleep, but I just can’t manage it. Not even the air conditioning is helping. A.D.’s Meteorman poster keeps looking down at me. I can’t tell if it’s smiling down upon me or judging me. It wouldn’t be so bad if he didn’t have five of the blasted posters. I hate to be a burden, but…
“A.D.” I whisper. “Are you awake?”
“Unfortunately…” A.D. shuffles in his bed. “Why ask?”
“Something’s been bothering me. I need to talk.”
“Lay it on me.” A.D. yawns.
“Doesn’t Vivian seem a bit weird to you?” I roll over onto my left side to look at A.D. and to avoid Meteorman’s gaze.
“I mean she can be a bit childish at times. That’s not completely weird.” A.D. rolls around to look at me.
“That’s not what I mean.” I shake my head. “Remember when she bashed a kid’s head in and was practically back to normal the next day? No PTSD, no feelings of nausea or regret, not even any guilt. It seems like half the time she doesn’t even remember it.”
“That is true…” A.D. grimaces. “She did recover a bit quickly from that. Granted, not everyone experiences PTSD after trauma like that, but typically people feel far more guilty after killing someone. At least after their first time.”
“Are you implying she’s killed before?”
“I can’t say for sure. I just wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case.” A.D. glances up at his Meteorman posters. “Now that you mention it… she did seem a bit weird after the mission with Oso.”
“Weird how? Didn’t get to see her much immediately after that mission.”
“I dunno. It’s nothing concrete. I just had a bad feeling.” A.D. yawns. “Well, actually no. Darnit. Bad’s too strong. It’s just… uncanny. She seemed to be in a way better mood after the mission than before it.”
“Really now?”
“Yeah, you should’ve seen her in the helicopter on the ride back to school. She was all covered in blood and had her limbs popped out of her sockets, but she had this calm, content grin on her face the whole time.”
“Maybe that’s just relief?”
“Maybe…” A.D. closed his eyes. “Looked a bit too smug to be relief to me.”
“How perturbing…”
“Maybe she lacks empathy?” A.D. pulls his blanket off him then wraps it around one leg.
“If that’s the case, she’s doing a real good job at hiding that.” I rub my temple. “Think she’s some kinda spy or older than she’s letting on?”
“Could be.” A.D. cracks his neck. “I’m not going to bother asking her about all this though. I don’t think I’d get a satisfactory answer.”
“True…” I scratch my neck. “Do you know anyone with a Tech that forces someone to tell the truth?”
“Unfortunately, no.”
“Darn. Well, if it’s important, I’m sure we’ll learn eventually.”
“True. True…” A.D. rubs his eye. “Anything else you need to get off your chest before you sleep?”
“Yeah… doesn’t she seem just a tad too nice towards us?”
“What do you mean?”
“When you were giving her beef for mashing that kid up, she didn’t really yell or retaliate back at you.” Something twists in my stomach. “She just seems a little bit too eager to forgive and move on.”
“Ain’t Catholics supposed to be all about forgiveness?”
“Sure, but… she makes it seem just a tad too easy sometimes.”
“Maybe she just legitimately enjoys our company.” A.D. shrugs. “Could be as simple as that.”
“I sure as heaven hope so…” I take a deep breath and close my eyes. “Thank you, A.D. I feel a little better…”
“Good. Now get some rest. I don’t want you slacking off on our run later.”
“Likewise.” I smile and feel my body drift off into sleep.
“Wait. One more thing.” A.D.’s voice penetrates the darkness. “Who’s John?”
I feel my heart stop and my throat tighten. “John who?”
“I dunno. You just say that name occasionally when you sleep.”
“Ah… Ignore that.”
“Need to talk about something?”
“Talking about that would do neither of us any good.”
“Are you sure? I watched you yell and slice a pillow in half in your sleep last week. There’s gotta be something fierce bugging ya.”
“Good night.” I turn to face the wall.
“But-”
“I said good night.”