Every morning I woke up at 6:30, no sooner and no later. I had long since stopped needing an alarm to wake me up, yet still kept one on just in case. After waking up, I always blinked twice, then removed the covers and got up. I walked towards the other side of my room and took a shower to wash myself, which always lasted 5 minutes. After getting dressed and using the bathroom, I grab my bottle of special pills and put them into my pocket before leaving the room.
Walking towards the cafeteria, I nod and greet the several agents awake at the time. I usually look for a group of my employees sitting together, and sit with them. Today I noticed a new recruit, so I grabbed my breakfast and sat down next to him. He looked up at me, surprised and then greeted me with an awkward smile “Ah, good morning Dr Mordock.”
I just gave him a slight smile “Please, just call me Dr Chuck. It’s what everyone else calls me.”
He nods, replying while I begin to dig into my food “Of course, Dr Chuck.”
I just smiled at him, nodding my head “Thank you. If I may ask, what do you think about the FFPA experience? I know it may be intimidating to be participating in such important work, but I can assure you that Caroline and I, alongside everyone in the team, are very tight-knit.”
The man paused, chewing on his food to buy himself some time to think before his response “I think describing it as intimidating is… accurate, but everyone is so friendly. I remember the first time I walked into the lab, and immediately Caroline walked up to me and we began chatting. We had a debate about my thesis for several hours before we got to work.”
He seemed quite genuine to me, his tone sounding eager as a smile slowly grew on his face. He subtly relaxed too, his shoulders becoming less hunched. It looked down at the nametag, taking a second to remember what his thesis was about.
"Interesting. I do remember reading your thesis, it was the hivemind theory wasn’t it? I found it quite interesting, even if I do disagree with some of your methodology.”
“I mean… I think that’s a valid criticism, but my methodology is like that because of how few sample sizes we actually have for Extraordinary Anthropology Studies. There’s only been a few sets of data that I can actually study, so I had to get creative and….”
It was, if nothing else, quite an interesting conversation to have over breakfast. Still, it was time for my day to properly begin.
—
Once more I checked the time in the office, feeling the usual amount of nervousness as I tapped my fingers on the desk. The Director always liked to show up a minute late to our meetings, having been occupied with something else before showing up.
I shuffled my reports once more, sorting through them. The music in the background was a relaxing piano composition, each chosen specifically because I knew The Director quite enjoyed them.
Then, after a quick minute I heard a knock on the door to my office. I mentally steeled myself, before shouting from him to please come in. The Director entered the room smoothly, movements that were just subtly uncanny if you knew how humans were supposed to move. His appearance as usual was unnaturally perfect in an uncanny valley way, though it took some actual studying of his appearance for someone to catch on.
The Director took a seat, giving me a nod and a smile as he addressed me in a level tone “Hello there Chuck, how are you this morning? I trust everything is going well?”
“It’s been going quite well Jack. Did something hold you up as usual today?” I kept my tone warm and friendly, yet not too smiley. Merely comfortable, without being too friendly.
The Director simply smiled and chuckled slightly, shaking his head “I’m afraid Caroline held me up for a bit, she wanted to talk to me about something. I think it also has something to do with what you want to tell me now?”
I just coughed, and nodded. I picked up the reports and slid them over to his side of the table “Interesting. I wanted to talk to you about an urgent matter we discovered in the lab recently. You see, me and Caroline were looking at an analysis of the appearance locations and rates of Freaks, and we thought it might suggest tha-
The Director wave his hand and interrupted me, his expression still stuck on that same smile he had earlier “Chuck, didn’t we already have this conversation before? As I told you before, your Rapture ‘theory’ is utter hogwash. Freak’s aren’t created by one person, they’re simply the result of a natural phenomenon”
“But Director, there’s no way any of these things can be a coincidenc-”
The Director took the reports I gave him and pushed them back to my side, speaking up to interrupted me once more “Listen Chuck. You and Caroline alongside everyone in the team are doing fantastic work, but it’s natural for you to stumble upon dead ends sometimes. The FFPA is doing great work to curb the Freak problem, and in a few years the entire situation should be solved. There will be no great apocalypse to wipe the earth clean, and trying to pretend otherwise is just doomsaying. I’m sorry Chuck, but no”
I looked him in the eye, and considered if I should say something foolish. While it would certainly be effective, I had my doubts if it would be effective in a way that was beneficial to me.
“Interesting. Is this something Unit 01 told you? She’s the only one that benefits from not giving this theory any credit.”
The Director didn’t even flinch, his smile and tone hadn’t changed in any way. Yet I could feel that it had a strong effect on him. “Don’t be silly Dr Chuck, Unit 01 is fully controlled. And my judgment is still fully my own, as you know.”
Frustration tore away at my heart, my mask breaking slightly as I stared at him with angry and resentful eyes.
“Jack! The entire fucking world is at risk! You should be taking this seriously, everyone else is!” I yelled, and the Director finally shifted expression. His smile grew and his eyes always twinkled.
“Dr, let’s say that I believe your words. If the entirety of the world is going to be destroyed in a few months, why should we stop it? From what I understand it’s all inevitable, so why bother? We should focus on saving as many people from Freak attacks as possible, until the supposed ‘Rapture’ you claim to be coming happens.”
The only noise I could hear was the sound of the piano, for everything else had gone silent. My office was isolated from the rest of the world so nothing could leak in or out, except for a knock on the door.
He knew. He knew that we were true, and just didn’t care. The world could be ending in a few months and he didn’t care, as long as he could be more profitable and powerful right now. It… was the ultimate short term vision problem, not caring about the world’s end because you could be making profit in the present.
My hands were shaking, and I had closed my eyes at some point. I didn’t want to look at The Director anymore, at the man that had long since replaced Jack. I.. needed to talk to Caroline at some point, to figure out what the fuck to do next.
“In… interesting. Thanks Jack, I… think that will be all.”
I didn’t pay attention to how shaky my voice must have sounded or the emotions leaking out. I didn’t pay attention to the Director’s farewell greeting. I simply waited until he left, the clock ticking down for ten minutes before I stood up and left my office.
The following conversation was going to be painful, but necessary.
—
It’s a very odd sight to see a glowing ball of plasma and flames shaped into a vaguely humanoid form, flames hot enough to melt tungsten in seconds… sitting down on a couch, lounging back while waiting for me.
"Interesting. Every time I see you, I find myself marveling at how fine your heat control truly is. How are you doing Charlotte?”
“Feeling great as usual. So, why’d you two ask me to chat today? If this is a rehabilitation therapy session, I’m going to be quite pissed.” The flames themselves answered, something I still found curious.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“It’s nothing like that, I just wanted to talk to you about a… theory we developed. Let’s wait for Caroline to get here before we begin, shall we?”
“Of course.”
The two of us exchanged some light banter, chatting about minor things until Caroline eventually showed up.
If you asked me, Caroline had an average looking appearance. She wore the usual scientist's uniform, and was pretty well groomed. She had no unique facial features except for a red streak through her hair, and looked about average for a thirty year old woman. Her resting face always looked kind of grumpy, not that she kept that act up for very long once you actually talked to her.
She was also my senior at the FFPA and (in my opinion) an absolute genius. In my opinion, at least.
She smiled and waved at the both of us, then sat down on the couch in between me and Charlotte. “Hey there! How’s it going you two?”
I just hummed in response, and Charlotte didn’t respond at all.
“I see! So.. Chuck, how did the meeting with Jack go? I’m hoping for good news here!” She seemed so.. radiant, even more so than the literal sun sitting right besides her. I felt slightly bad for even introducing bad news to her but…. she’s seen the same things as me, I know she can take it.
“Caroline, to put it bluntly The Director is actively being hostile. I know we believed he was simply being skeptical and needed convincing proof, but we were wrong. He bluntly told me he didn’t care if the end of the world was coming, and I have a feeling he will actively oppose any efforts we take in regards to the Rapture theory”
Caroline’s smile dropped, and she simply muttered one word. One word that perfectly summed up everything we both felt right now “Fuck.”
“Fuck, indeed”
The sound of a loud flickering flame drew my attention to Charlotte who was currently mimicking the motion of a cough “Do either of you mind telling me what the fuck you’re talking about?”
Caroline and I shared a glance, and silently agreed she should explain.
“You know how you told us about The Snake? The one that you saw while you ‘awakened’ into a Freak?”
“Yes.”
“Well, we recently did a lot of analysis of all the data we actually got. From what we could tell, more and more Freaks were appearing every month. Worryingly however, they all seemed almost… strategically placed. They always have abilities that seemed perfectly designed to be a thorn in the FFPA’s side, always appearing as far away from our reaches as we can, in cities and locations perfectly chosen to target either important political figures or critical places to our operations in the FFPA. It became clear to us there must be something behind the appearance of Freaks….”
“And then I told you about that damn snake”
“Yep. Something is targeting the FFPA, and they’re slowly succeeding.”
“What do you mean? The FFPA is getting way fucking stronger day by day! You fuckers know almost everything about everyone”
“Charlotte… they’re growing in every area but one, and that’s successfully containing Unit 01.”
The verbal bomb was dropped, and the room went silent. I could feel my nervousness, Caroline’s worry and Charlotte’s rage.
“You know, you two…. I always told you the Director abusing those pills made from Unit 01 was sketchy. I told you she was a god damn menace, and letting her live was a fucking mistake.” The room grew hotter, flames flying off of Charlotte’s body. Not enough to trigger the automatic defenses to prevent her from destroying the base or hurting an actual employee, but enough that we could feel it.
I interjected before Caroline could and said “Interesting. You realize we were overruled on every single one of your appeals by The Director right? He was the one who insisted Freaks get captured and trained into unit’s for the FFPA, despite our opposition. There is no need to raise your voice at us, we are not responsible for any of this.”
“Chuck, shut the fuck up. Everyone knew it was a terrible idea, so you aren’t saying anything worth a shit. We need to do something about this, or else we are all fucked. The only reason we aren’t is that Unit 01 hasn’t managed to breach containment yet”
And now, we get to the toughest part. I loudly swallowed, and glanced at Caroline. She… she would know how to word this.
“I… Charlotte, do you remember Unit 43?” Caroline asked, sounding like she was fighting with the words to get herself to say them.
“Yes? She was that weird… invisible, making you forget girl right? She was always so annoying and full of herself”
I almost laughed at the idea of Charlotte of all people being annoyed by people being full of themselves. Still, Caroline seemed to just take it on the chin and moved on “Recently, she was sent on a mission with Unit 71 and Unit 83. According to them, the Freak they encountered had killed Unit 43 for good, as she apparently exploded into a haze of red gore in the aftermath, which apparently managed to give Unit 83 the opening he needed to suppress the Freak.”
Charlotte was silently listening, waiting for Caroline to get to the point already. “And… when the FFPA examined the scene afterwards, they found what looked like… a… heart with several mouths and eyes on it. Looking exactly like a mutation that Unit 01 would create. She’s already escaped, Charlotte.”
There was no response from Charlotte, except for the automated systems going off to suppress her heat. It seems that she lost control of herself, and went utterly ballistic. Of course, that just meant her body dissipated for a bit before reforming. It was an uncomfortable couple of minutes before she responded again “Caroline, let me ask you something. If we destroy her main body, will that help at all?”
I.. would it? As far as we know all her body parts are remotely controlled. All freaks have a weak point, a central system that can be destroyed to kill them…. so…
Me and Caroline both spoke up in sync “Yes, it would/Yes, it should” then Caroline continued “We just… need to wait until the right moment before we can pull this off. If we don’t, then everything will be doomed”
“That’s all I needed to hear.”
—
Today was a pretty exhausting day. After those two meetings I also had to finish off several consultations with the other Freak’s at the facility, and the young man from this morning asked me for some help, which all cost me several hours. In short, when I finally entered my designated room I was feeling quite exhausted. What I saw when I entered my room certainly didn’t help much either.
It looked like a transparent marble statue standing in the middle of my room, depicting an angel with a large sword and a fearful expression on its face. It turned to face me when I entered, its carved eyes gazing at me without any expressions.
Reaching for my pistol I immediately attempted to fire off two shots aimed at its head. Of course, my gun jammed. I attempted to leave out of the still open door, to find it closed right behind me. I reached for my emergency communicator, and-with a blur of marble across my gaze the communicator lay shattered into four pieces in the palm of my hand. An impressive level of both speed, and control over its targets..
“Interesting. So a Freak has finally awakened inside the facility? I do wonder why you’re targeting me specifically though. Surely there must be more important spots to hit?”
A hum spread through the air as a voice spoke, its words like the clap of thunder “You are incorrect, Child. I wish merely to converse with you, and convince you of something important”
I had seen an angel like this before, hadn’t I? A projection type of Freak who appeared and destroyed two important private agencies. Still, they were successfully suppressed weren’t they?
I tried not to leak my curiosity into my voice as I spoke "Interesting. I think I’ve seen you before, Incident C-WD-119 if I recall correctly. How come you’ve popped up here?”
“Because you are mistaken about something, Child. I am not a ‘Freak’ that you speak of, but something else. I merely attached myself to one of my host’s there in an attempt to combat another Puppet of It. Sadly however, I failed”
My mind was left reeling, trying to think about the amount of possibly earth shattering information contained in that one sentence. Trying to organize my thoughts for a moment, I put this conversation into two boxes
1: They are either insane or delusional, and none of what they say should be trusted. This means I should pay lip service to their words and play along to their fantasy until help shows up.
2: They are speaking the truth, and carry information that could potentially save the world. This means I should pay attention to them, and fish for as much information from them as I can. Either way, what I should actually do remains the same for now.
“I… So, how long do you have to actually answer my questions?” my voice stuttered a bit as I said that, which I chalked up to the absurdity of this situation.
“Not as much time as either of us wish, but enough to get to the point.” It continued before I could interrupt“Child. Right now, you are one of the few people that I believe can help us with our goal. As we speak right now, It is constantly scheming and plotting, tricking new Puppet’s so that it may fulfill its goals. We know you have developed at least a basic awareness of its goals, and so we wish to recruit you to our organization. Our goal is to destroy It, and prevent It from corrupting the human condition.”
“Do you agree?”
I didn’t respond, simply shambling over to my bed and sitting down. I grabbed one of the pills in my pocket and swallowed it dry. Trying to organize my thoughts was challenging, but possible.
I.. my voice twitched, sounding like I was unused to speaking “In… I’m not a… traitor. But, I want to hear more about your plans. Please, I want to understand.”
“Good. Very good, indeed.”
Is this how it feels to make a deal with the devil? I had done it once before, but that didn’t make it any better the second time around. When did my life get so weird?