“How long have you known?” Jaid muttered through her forcibly clenched teeth. She found her eyes on the floor, not wanting to look at any of them for whatever reason. Yet, her curiosity got the best of her. She needed to know where she’d failed or slipped up.
“Hmph, depends who you ask, probably.” It was Xard who gave that confusing answer. “Everyone had different opinions on when it was locked in and when to confront you.”
“Yeah, like something felt off from the start, but we wanted to give you the benefit of the doubt, y'know?” Kada’s words that should sound reassuring only cut her deeper. “Especially Drim. Tize came to us pretty early with his suspicions, but Drim didn’t want to do anything until we had concrete evidence.”
“Yes, I’ll be the first to admit that I wanted to throw you out on the spot when there was even a shred of doubt.” Jaid would expect no less from Phon at this point. “Getting that evidence was a right pain in the ass. Well not for me, but it was kind of amusing watching Nathym and Rusa lose their minds as they tried to prove it.”
“The CP actually had a pretty good idea for once with your phone. Obviously, they guessed we’d be monitoring your phones, but nothing at all showed on our end when you were using their program. From what I understand, it was another overlay over the actual phone display.”
“They even went so far as to make it look like you were using the phone like you usually would when you were on the CP screen. I guess that’s so if someone saw you using the phone and checked your usage, there’d be activity to match. But unfortunately for them, they didn’t go quite far enough with it.”
“This was where Rusa came in. She watched all of your phone usage several times over. Eventually, she was able to find a pattern any time you were on the CP screen. It was somewhat randomized, but not fully. Instead it’d just pick from one of a few patterns, and there was a clear editing loop after a while. You just got unlucky that Rusa exists. Unless we ran it all through the best computer in the world, no one else could have picked up on it.”
“Afterwards, Nathym added another layer on top of the CP one, so we could finally see what you were doing at least. Again, I wanted you gone immediately. Oh, and also Rusa wanted me to tell you how boring your phone history is. She said to get some hobbies or at least look at something embarrassing for once.”
“Sorry Jaid,” Kada was apologizing for some reason, “But I was on team kick-you-out at this point too.”
“I still agree with Drim on this.” Xard had a different opinion. “It was smart to let her continue. Knowing and controlling what was being sent is far more valuable than getting rid of her altogether.”
Controlling? What?
“Ugh, I don’t want to have this argument again!” Phon was fed up. “But yes. After we could see the reports you were doing, Nathym made it so we could intercept them. Don’t worry, though. We let the vast majority of them through. You sure did report on useless nonsense most of the time.”
“There were a few we had to debate over, but usually let them pass. Having actionable intel for them to use made those that we did change become more believable. There weren’t very many, just a few specifics about our security. We definitely removed any mentioning our damnable mother being alive. Thankfully, it looks like we just barely caught the first one when she spoke up in a drive thru that one time.”
“We’re sure they’ll find out about it eventually, but the longer it can be stalled, the better. You could just tell them again, I suppose. If you even remember it.”
Remember? How could I ever forget?
“So yeah, to answer your question. We had our proof since about a week in. Unfortunately for us, we have no way of knowing what you actually reported during that time. We did see some action from the CP around then, so hopefully that’s the extent of it, but we’ll deal with it as it comes.”
That long, huh? So they’d basically known the entire time, yet didn’t even have the courtesy to call her out on it—just left her in the dark, thinking she was getting away with it the entire time. She’d basically been their plaything, the butt of their joke while they lied to her face. To make things worse, they’d essentially turned her into a double agent against her will. Even if she made it back to the CP, would they even trust her anymore?
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
She was starting to get angry and aggravated—pissed off to the point that she just wanted to be gone. Now that she knew the truth, even being around these people for a moment longer was something she couldn’t stand.
She tried to bust out of her handcuffs, but of course it was no use. They wouldn’t make handcuffs that a Fiend could break out of so easily. All tactics and strategy went out the window when Jaid tried to make a flurry of clones.
“What the hell?” Jaid nearly stumbled over herself the moment she activated her Curse. Instead of the big blob of clones that Jaid had tried to make in order to push everyone away, each clone was off to her side in a ring behind her back. Each one was handcuffed to the group, unable to break free. Jaid should have been able to prevent that, exclude the cuffs with her Curse. So why?
“Not what you were expecting, right?” Phon snickered at her. “These are aura handcuffs. They analyze your aura and match it, essentially making it part of your own body. You could make an entirely naked clone if you like, but those handcuffs are coming with you.”
Even though she had no reason to doubt those words, it didn’t stop Jaid from trying again. This time she tried clones of various shapes and sizes, but they were all cuffed. The difference in proportions caused the pile to collapse in on itself, leaving Jaid collapsed on the floor.
As she struggled to get back up to her feet, there was something else she noticed about these cuffs: they were sapping her strength. It wasn’t quite the same as the paralysis. She could move her muscles just fine, but her entire body was becoming sluggish. For the most part, it seemed physical over mental. She wasn’t exactly tired, but it was now an inevitability that her entire body was going to shut down.
This was something she couldn’t fault them for. It made too much sense that they’d want Fiends to be as powerless as possible when detaining them. That said, it still annoyed her to no end.
She had been captured, and they’d made a fool of her in the process. It was a good chance this whole event had been staged. Thinking back, the generals had left abruptly like this before, inexplicably on a few occasions. But now it made sense. They were creating opportunities for her to reveal herself. Each time they’d left, her boldness had increased.
Had they specifically chosen today because they knew her loyalties would be strained? They’d been watching her reports, so that meant they were watching her screenings too. They must have noticed her hesitating more and more when asked if she was compromised. Were they so cruel as to toy with and take advantage of her genuine feelings like that?
Of course they were. They were Fiends after all. Inhuman, heartless Fiends. She had been restraining it all this time, burying it deep down so that it wouldn’t conflict with what she had to do. But now, it was bubbling back to the surface; something she could no longer hold back. She may not be able to say it in a minute if her mouth stopped working, but her soul needed them to know her absolute and unfiltered feelings.
“Damn you! Damn you, Fiends!” Tears were streaming down Jaid’s face, but even she couldn’t stop her words. “You’re everything that’s wrong with this world! Unnatural, evil monsters! Everywhere you go, everything you do, it only ends in suffering. So many lives lost and ruined. So many dreams shattered and hearts torn. If you really, truly want to help others, then you need to save them from yourselves! This world doesn’t need you. Humans don’t need you! Just disappear!”
It was all on the surface now, Jaid’s unrelenting anger and hatred that had been festering. She’d lost, but maybe there was still something she could do. No, she had to do something—inflict even the smallest fraction of pain to them that she was feeling.
Her eyes focused on Drim. He was the source of it all in the end. While he hadn’t said anything, he was the one pulling the strings. Everything she was feeling now, all this agony and misery was on his orders. What’s worse is that he hadn’t said a single word. He’d just been staring at her silently this entire time with a blank look on his face, like this wasn’t affecting him at all. Even his psychotic sister had at least some feeling behind her actions.
Jaid wanted nothing more than to force his face to change, make him show any damn hint of emotion that he cared about what was happening. She was going to headbutt him. It was all she could think to do while restrained like this.
Her strength was failing her, so she had to act quickly if she was going to manage this. As if her life depended on it, Jaid forced her legs to march forward with every bit of force they could muster. Either she’d done it fast enough that no one could catch her, or they saw her as completely nonthreatening at this point, and no one tried to stop her. But she made it.
A foot away from Drim, she pounced forward and bashed him in the chin with the top of her skull. But that was where her strength and control ended, and the two of them fell onto the floor.
Jaid got what she wanted, and Drim’s face had changed entirely, his eyes bursting open in surprise. But so were her own. She had collapsed directly onto him and their bodies lined up perfectly. Jaid was pretty tall, so she was close to Drim in height. Her feet were on his feet, her knees were resting on the floor next to his. Her torso and chest were pressing directly against his own. Her chin was on his chin. Her forehead was flat against his. Her nose was just off to the side, rubbing against his nose.
Her lips were on his lips.