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FANG VERSUS BRAIN

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The woman in the white coat has to evade a few surprised pedestrians to keep running. The commercial district always fills up near the end of the year. Tourists, shoppers, adolescents with nothing better to do. The streets are way more crowded than usual today. That’s both a curse and a blessing when being chased by the government though. Good thing that Suzie is in her lab uniform, this way the running for her dear life can be easily mistaken as an innocent “being late for the job“ case. The moment the passersby saw the two black-suited men following from behind and screaming for her to be stopped, it was already too late. She is already bumping into someone else on another street.

“Hey!? Look where you goin’!” A mohawk-haired man flips a bird at her but stops at the glimpse of her sweating face. “Hell damn, angel. Where did you fall from?”

“Sorry!” She waves a hand, staggers back to normal, and continues running.

“The fuck? What a bitch.” The scrawny man snickers. “I was never put down so quickly on my laife!”

“She’s running to twenty-seven.” One of the black suits comes through in quick side steps, sunglasses hiding his eyes and a finger on his ear. “Keep thirty closed, she might change routes.”

One more suit dashes in front, leaving the bumped man to stare at the scene with a lost frown. As the running people cut through, the civilians open the path like an ocean of ants. The stunned and curious people naturally go back to their normal pacing a few seconds after. The cars on the pavement move and stop at the switch of red lights like always. And the gigantic modern buildings often hide the black ants closing in the moving white dot.

“Here’s twenty-six, she turned to twenty-four.” The muffled voice comes from the radio signals. “Target sighted on twenty-five, moving to twenty-two.” “Roger that, thirty is moving to intercept.” “Target moving to twenty, over.” “Get two men to fifteen.” “Eighteen is holding position.” “Where is the target’s current location?” “She’s on nineteen, over.” “Nineteen confirms visuals, over.” “Target’s laced. Alpha will advance, all other units keep the line sturdy.” “Roger that.” “Roger.”

Suzie stops when two tall men poke their black sunglasses from over the crowd in front. To her right, the people move like a cornfield by something getting closer and closer. And behind her, three others advance in a power walk. Only one of her sides is clear of danger.

“Flowpy Shopping...” She reads the giant billboard above the building. “Looks like you’ll be the one saving me.”

She trots to enter it, side looking at the men in black and keeping her treasured silver suitcase in her right hand.

Much like the outside, the sound of people talking and walking floods the ear. The mall’s spacious plaza is decorated by a giant Christmas in its middle, its pruned leaves reaching each of the six mezzanine floors and almost touching the glassed ceiling. Its decorated fairy lights harmonize with the happy background music and the shops twinkling to call your attention. The insides are so different that the tension is shifted as quickly as the AC’s gush right at its entrance. And a trio of random teenagers, two boys and one girl, freezes at the sight of the strange newcomers.

“Holy shit!” The tallest one taps his friend’s shoulder. “Isn’t that the Secret Intelligence?”

The messy-haired one widens his eyes at the three black-suited men entering the building. After a few whispers while touching their ears, one goes to each side nearer the walls and the taller and tanned one stays in the middle. “Y-Yeah. . . what are they doing here?”

“Man… that lab coat woman.” He snaps his fingers. “Maybe they are after her.”

“I told you that she wasn’t running normally,” the girl with a pink hair streak says lazily. “What she do, though?”

“Whatever it is, to have the werewolves after her…” The tall one shakes his head solemnly. “She’s done for—”

The girl slaps him. “Watch what you say, idiot.”

“But it is true! I saw a video about it! They are all—”

She slaps him three more times and shushes at him. “Everyone knows that! But if they hear you, they’ll zip our memories with those light sticks.”

The messy-haired nods. “Yeah, man. We should get out of here before your dumb mouth snitches on us.” He starts walking to the exit of the mall.

“B-But! O-Okay…” The tall boy lowers his head and they follow the flow of people getting out, nervously avoiding the black-suited man who is advancing through the middle of the plaza, but—

He sniffs the air.

The trio passes through and the tanned man sniffs it again. Now so strongly that he halts in place.

“Hey, kids. . .”

They stop. He didn’t have to raise his voice or say their names to be understood that he was speaking directly at them. It’s like the entire world suddenly weighted a hand on their shoulders.

“By the slightest of chances. . .” He turns his head to the side, one of his sharp orange-glowing eyes glaring from above his shoulder and through the small gap between his pitch-black glasses and his tanned skin. “Have you seen a woman in a white coat running around here?” His long canine glints from within his mouth as he talks. “Sweating a lot. . . carrying a silver suitcase, and. . . looking desperate.”

The trio slowly turns to face him, everyone sweating cold as if they had just been caught red-handed on the worst prank they ever pulled off on their school.

After a few seconds in silence, the first to open his mouth is the tall one. “O-Oh, she—”

His head is immediately slapped forward.

The girl of the group widens her eyes and quickly recomposes herself. “Sorry, there was an annoying fly on his neck. I had to kill it.” She stares blankly at the black-suited man. “We didn’t see anyone like that, sir.”

They stare at each other for a couple more seconds. Until the tanned man turns to them, still with his body sideways but a step closer – his eye hiding behind his black sunglasses once more – and he smiles.

“I see. Sorry for asking.”

The customary reply remains stuck in the girl’s throat. And the black suit turns to face the center of the mall, goes a step forward, and stops.

“Oh. A heads-up warning. You won’t be able to leave.”

An electrical shock travels on the teenagers’ spines and the man continues walking.

“Alpha, do you copy? Over.”

The tanned man presses his ear and looks around. “I’m listening. I had to go offline for a sec. Report.”

“No visuals on the target until now.”

On the right side of the mall, a few good steps away and closer to the shops’ walls, another black-suited man is walking with a finger on their ears as he glances around.

“Two found a white coat. It was cramped on a bench near the bathroom. No scents on that end. Over.”

“And One found a mouth mask and a handkerchief.” The man on the other side of the mall also marches forward in the same proper manner. “The first was placed in a jacket’s pocket without the owner noticing it. The latter was picked up from the ground but the civilian was unable to find the owner so they kept it in their bag. Report over.”

“I see. . .” The tanned man stops and breathes in deeply. And without touching his radio, he starts mumbling to himself. “She’s scattering her trace. While at the same time, reducing her signature accent…” He sniffs the air a couple more times. “Even before, she purposefully bumped and rubbed on people on the street to spread her smell. . .” The image of the teenage girl with a pink hair streak he saw a minute ago comes to mind. “How smart, huh.”

He sighs, closes his eyes, and starts tilting his head up to breathe in even deeper than before. A long half-dozen seconds pass until his lungs are filled. And with the blow of air through his mouth. He opens his glowing eyes.

It’s like the black glasses are not even in his face, they are completely transparent. His sight is covered with disaturated colors, the imagery giving contrast to the vibrating trails of gas, liquid, and footprints highlighting warm colors. A yellow bright fog spreads from his feet and quickly moves to divide itself into many points of interest in the air. People all around are marked with orange stains, the ground with spread and splashed luminescent scarlet droplets, and the white coat on his own man’s hand in incandescent red light.

It’s complete chaos, at first, at least.

But he concentrates. The nearby paths coming from the obvious civilians in sight disappear from his mind. The directions to dead-ends are next to dissolve. Then the paths that didn’t make sense for a runaway to do fades away one by one: trails done in circles, going back to the entrance they came from, or of someone entering stores that had no value to be in. And the result is… a slightly brighter trail that leads forward.

“But no matter how much you hide. I‘ll always find you.”

He smirks and presses the device in his right ear.

“She’s gone to the second floor. Two come with me. One keeps guard on the first. She’s most likely looking for new clothes to hide and decrease her scent, so keep watch for suspicious individuals who might be going down.” He starts calmly walking. “We’ll be clearing one floor at a time. The entire building is shut tight. All we have to do is get rid of all her moves and capture her alive. Let’s do this with patience, shall we?”

“Roger.” “Roger.”

He steps in the escalator on the right side of the plaza and the other black suit goes to the left one. As he smoothly raises in altitude, his eyes follow the orange-ish brightness on the first floor from his upper view, it’s like an abstract painting with little sense to take out from, but his brain rechecks every step of his previous logic as if reading a document.

“Alfa. . .” A husky voice creeps out in his ear. “Are you keeping your feelings out of this?”

For a moment the black suit leader thought the voice came from someone behind him and it takes a second or two for him to press the radio device on his ear.

“Central. . . Someone needs to explain what is inside that silver suitcase. Isn’t that the mission?”

He lazily lifts a hand and smiles at an old lady who was just behind him before looking back forward as the channel was silent.

“The objective is to remove the threat.” The voice keeps its monotone. “If it comes for the worst. You should eliminate it.”

The black suit remains still for a moment, his eyes covered by the black glasses as he looks up at the arriving second floor. And with a long inhale and a deep sigh. He presses his ear.

“Roger that.”

The happy background music suddenly stops. And for a brief moment, a few people stop and look around as the speakers throughout the entire mall sizzle.

“—ATTENTION! THE FLOWPY SHOPPING STAFF HAS AN ANNOUNCEMENT TO MAKE! WE ARE CURRENTLY IN A LOCKDOWN. ALL EXITS HAVE BEEN CLOSED. CUSTOMERS, PLEASE DIRECT YOURSELVES TO THE CENTRAL PLAZA ON THE FIRST FLOOR, IMMEDIATELY. ALL SHOPKEEPERS MUST CLOSE THEIR BUSINESSES AND JOIN THE REST. THERE’S NO NEED TO WORRY. THIS IS ONLY A RANDOM INSPECTION WE’LL REALIZE ON EVERYONE, AFTER IT IS DONE, YOU MAY CONTINUE YOUR DAY NORMALLY. . . I’LL NOW REPEAT THE ANNOUNCEMENT. WE ARE CURRENTLY IN A LOCKDOWN. ALL EXITS HAVE BEEN CLOSED{…}”

“Wow… I don’t know if I should be flattered or pissed off right now.” Suzie glances at the distant window as she puts a wide sun hat on her head. “They are closing an entire shopping center just to catch me!”

The cashier in front looks nervously at her. “They are. . . doing what, ma’am?”

“Aaah~ nothing for you to worry about.” She takes the paper bag with her newly bought clothes and runs out of the shop.

The outside noise becomes unmuffled. The speakers just finished apologizing and a lot of bystanders chat here and there in confusion.

“This changes things. I need to act quickly.” She strides with the flow of people and she pokes a stare through the glass railing to observe a couple of alert black suits below. “I still have some time until they reach the fifth floor. Good thing my emergency stash was enough to buy everything. The last thing I need is to have the government spying on my purchases right now.”

She takes a glass flask out of her paper bag, opens its lid, and stealthily splashes drops of it on the ground with the control of her index finger blocking its bottleneck.

“Having this near where I came from should buy me enough time,” she thinks as quickly as her fast backtracking. “Perfume won’t erase it but the right essential oils can temporarily paralyze their noses.” She smirks. “Ha, that’s a whole career of studies in your face! ‘Secret Intelligence’.”

She keeps the flask back inside, turns at a corridor, and heads into the bathroom. She enters and checks if all the stalls are empty, proceeds to find a drain on the ground, and quickly starts taking her clothes off.

“I need to remove my smell. ASAP.”

She takes three bottles of water and a small free sample of soap off her paper bag. The first bottle she simply pours over her head, then she takes the soap and passes it through her entire body as quickly as she can.

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“This. . .” She lathers her armpits. “. . .will take the excess of sweat off.”

It takes her about a minute to finish emptying the other two bottles.

“Second, lemon to stop sweat from excessing. . .”

She uncaps two lemon juice boxes and starts pouring them on herself. After the last drop falls on her shoulders, she takes a towel and dries herself. When it’s done, she takes a small box and pours its powder into the palm of her hand.

“Third, baking soda to block my scent.” She presses her lips with a squinting frown. “This. . . is going to itch so damn hard later…”

She builds up the courage and slaps it on her shoulders, back, and legs. After brushing her skin, she takes her clothes and groans while fastly dressing herself. With the placement of a sun hat above her hat, she opens her arms in a theatrical pose.

“Tada~! Fully protected from smelling!”

She looks in the mirror. The long jeans plus blue jacket make her appear like a blue disaster of the nineties.

“I… I should have worried more about my style. Well, if it works. . . Hm—?” She widens her eyes and takes a closer look at herself. “What’s this? Damn powder in my face.” Her hands instinctively go to open the tap to wash it off, but she stops herself. “Oh! No, no. No water.” She starts brushing it dry with her fingers to mesh the coloring, and then she claps her hands to take the excess snow powder off. “Right! I’m a little more –white– than usual. But this should work. Oh—Right!”

She runs to her paper bag and takes a deodorant out of it.

“Just to be safe.” She sprays it a few times near her neck. Then opens her jacket and sprays it in a few more times, sprays on her hair, inside the hat, on her legs, and then at the air and passes under it. “’Kay! Time to go.”

She takes her paper bag and gets out of the bathroom, leaving all the used stuff behind.

“Now I have to get out of here.” She smirks. “Luckily I know the perfect way already.”

Her floor is empty, there are about a dozen people who had just finished closing their shops and walked about to go down the plaza. Suzie recomposes herself and starts walking calmly to mix with them. Shortly, she arrives at the escalator and steps in to go down.

“They have the place locked for sure…” She whispers to herself with a hidden smile. “Going up isn’t the answer, the only way out is going through—”

Her mouth immediately straightens at the sight below. One of the black suits have just appeared, the tan-skinned one who she knew was the leader of the ones chasing her. After glancing around, he firmly steps on the escalator to go up.

This is one of the worst things that could happen. The scent protection is good but far from perfect, might not work if they were too close… But going back up the moving escalator is impossible. It would be too suspicious and, no need to mention, extremely slow. The only action left is to keep the low profile.

Suzie brings her hat down and looks to the other side to hide her face the best she could.

The descending of the escalator remains constant, the rising of the man in black remains consistent, and the lack of people around makes as if only the two were moving in the whole world. All she can do is grasp her bag’s strap and gaze down at where everyone is gathered. The massive crowd is lined up at the central plaza, a few other black suits and policemen checking on each of them, plus the exits have a bunch of guards blocking passage. Being discovered at this moment means her doom.

And almost as if her sixth sense froze her body to ice, she can perfectly feel the tanned secret agent looking through his pitch-black glasses at the back of her head.

They have just passed by each other.

“Hmm…” Alpha’s stare follows the sun hat lady slowly going down the escalator. And his nose twitches to breathe. “No scent…”

Her clothes are completely different. Her skin tone doesn’t match. Her height didn’t seem to be the same either. And his disaturated sight shows little color emanating from her. There are other smells, but none of which is the target’s. None that is strong enough, at least.

But even so… he frowns at her.

“Alpha. Third floor is clear.”

The tanned man jolts his gaze straight and he presses his ear. “Good, proceed to the fourth.”

“Roger.”

He slowly looks back to the lady leaving the moving stairs and going down to another floor, his finger lifts to his ear, and he hesitates to give the order.

But—That’s when he sniffs the air a couple of times.

“What the—?” He frowns and looks at a dropped bottle just at the end of his escalator. “That’s perfume—?” His sight immediately glitches at the overwhelming smell getting closer and closer and— and— “*ATCHOO*!” His eyes tear up and he sniffs deep to clean his nose, but even more perfume comes in with it. “Holy shit!” He steps out to the floor while covering his nose.

The few shoppers still around mumble while looking at the black-suited man.

“Did… did someone drop that on their way out?” Alpha brushes his face to try to get rid of the smell. “*ATCHOO*, *ATCHOOOO*!” He shakes his head. “Fuck! That’s too damn strong. It’s nauseating.” He glances around at the people staring at him. “Go straight to the first floor, all of you. The inspection already started.”

“Oh, right.” “Of course, sir.” The few people start moving.

Alpha looks at them, they are all male, none of which could be the target. He looks at all the closed shops, a graded metal shutting their entrances with thick padlocks. “Where are you…?” His vision keeps on glitching out, but as he gets away from the dropped flask, it slowly starts fixing itself. “If she’s in one of the closed doors we can simply interdict the building and search room by room. But she’s smarter than that. She would only be trapping herself by being locked in one of those.” He circles the leaking bottle. “This damn perfume… did she do that? Why? To buy time? For what?. . . This mall has six floors and a terrace. If she went up the roof, my team would have seen her. So...”

His vision comes back and a faint trail of orange fog starts reappearing near the floor.

“She’s not in one of the closed shops. Up to the third floor is clear. And there’s no way to go up. . . she is either with the people on the first floor. Or somewhere between the fourth and sixth. But without too many people, she would be a sore thumb. She needed to act fast. . . If I were her, what would I do?”

He starts following the faint trail, the scent of the perfume getting in the way a little bit, but by him going away from it and blocking his nose, he musters stepping forth.

“I have to get my smell off. She probably bought that dropped perfume to hide it. But would that be enough…? Odor remains trackable even if many others are with it. That’s right, it was on the guidelines. The only way to conceal smell is either by spreading it or getting rid of it...”

A hand goes to his chin as he thinks about it. And the moment his eyes lay upon where a trail of orange goes he strides forth. “The bathrooms! She washed herself?” He enters the corridor. “If she did that before wearing new clothes. . . would it be enough. . . ?” He bashes the women’s door open.

There’s nobody. He marches forth and sees all stalls open and empty, and at the end of the room, a bunch of bottles is thrown near a drain, a pile of messy clothes is left on the corner, and the faint smell of lemon and deodorant hangs in the air. His eyes sling at a small box and a perfume sprayer on the top of the sink.

“This. . . It is not the same as the one dropped on the escalator but. . . ” The image of the pale lady with a sun hat flashes into his mind. “That was her! The same smell—”

He immediately lifts his hand to press his ear.

“Alpha. Are you seeing this? The tree is on fire.”

He doesn’t even have to move his finger to respond: “What is that? Repeat.”

“The Christmas tree in the middle of the mall is on fire. What’s your order?”

He dashes out of the bathroom and to the glass railings to look at the smoke rising to the ceiling. The giant tree which is almost six floors tall, is shining in blazes.

Well… that was easy.

The crowd points their fingers up and screams in horror. Everything burst into chaos as quickly as the sparks that first started it.

I was worried someone would see me… but… it’s over. I won.

In the middle of the messy confusion, a woman under a sun hat detaches herself for her calmness. Unlike anyone else who was waiting to be inspected, she is the only one staring directly at the shining sunrays beyond the exit door.

What can I say? Never mix a phone battery, water, and a box of matches. It can end. . . how can I say this. . . a little bit flamy. Well, but now that the accident already happened, we have no other choice but the evacuate the place. I’ll be leaving your small lockdown by the front door.

It starts to rain. Or better, the anti-fire sprinklers are activated. A few high-pitched screams echo in the building. Then everyone starts running toward the exit; those three scent-marked teenagers from earlier included. And as if a traffic signal just lightened green for her to cross the street, she starts marching forward with her newly bought high heels.

Well… why don’t we have a short science class? You see, inside a closed building on fire, the smoke rises and gets stuck below the ceiling. If the sprinklers are covered by that gas, the water gets contaminated by its polluting substances. What is falling in everyone’s heads isn’t only water but a diluted derivative of acid water. Not lethal by any means, but what it does splendidly is replacing the smell of the area with a fumy stench.

The woman tilts her head slightly to think.

But it loses effect after a while though. The thing is, only the first droplets were acid. After so much water came down, the gases are pushed down and there isn’t much to absorb any more. So, by now… what is falling is basically normal water. This effect creates two things. The first is that all smell gets “nullified” in the area. And – did you know that moist skin increases one’s scent? – when this amount of people gets soaked, it makes the air such an overwhelming mess that it gets hard to track anything by scent. Especially if the certain “someone being tracked” is the only one that is not wet.

She takes a strand away from her eyes and touches her sun hat from below with her index finger, her other hand hidden in the pocket of her long-sleeved jacket.

Good thing I have my clothes to protect me from a tragic fate, right? The only smell I’ll give out is of the deodorant I put on them.

She steps into the sunlight, the sprinklers being left behind as her pacing remains constant. The passersby from outside stand as a curious crowd to see what was going on, the people running from within create an emerging chaos, and the runaway who was the cause for it all gently picks up her pace towards freedom with a smile.

Now. . . back to my initial objective.

And after a few powerful steps, two men cut through the crowd in front of her. Their black glasses stare forward. Suzie lowers her head and slows her pacing, but the two black suits stop to block her passage just a few meters away. For a moment, she had thought they were there for a coincidence, but it seems she was wrong.

“It is over, Mother. . .” The tanned black suit blocks the path behind her, his hair wet from the emergency sprinklers. “You’ve tried your best. But it’s over.”

After a moment of silence, a paper bag falls on the ground and a silver suitcase remains in the woman’s right hand.

“Hahahaha…” She lifts her head, her eyes still hiding in the shadows of her hat. “Nothing less than expected from my best experiment...” The knuckles of her fingers turn white as she presses the metal handle. “but… I refuse to be taken by the likes of you.”

The tanned black suit straightens his posture to ready himself. “If you surrender now, I’ll try my best to mitigate your punishment.”

She slowly turns her body to the side and silently glares at the tanned man. She does not respond.

“There’s nowhere else for you to run to. Don’t be an idiot. Is that silver case worth your life?”

Suzie glances around and presses her lips tight. “It is.”

“I see.” He lowers his head, his hope fading away. ”So, there’s no choice.”

At that moment, the curious passersby and the people running unfocused in the background, all went mute. The disguised scientist and the three black-suited men were in a standout. And the first to make a move was Suzie.

She breaks her high heels with a twist of her feet to run to the side and jump to cut a way through the crowd. She pushes one, two, three people away but her feet suddenly slide on the pavement and the collar of her jacket is pushed back. In a single second, her arm is pressed against her spine.

“Damn you! Let go of me!”

“Just stay calm, Mother. It’ll all be over soon.” Alpha handcuffs her and he presses his ear. “Target secured, please bring the transport to my location.”

“Affirmative.”

Suzie struggles to free herself but she’s quickly held with both hands and is immobilized once more. “AAHHH! You won’t shackle me to your rule! Kill me, right now! I prefer death than to work for the government once more!”

“Please, keep what you have to say to the intelligence bureau.” The tanned man sighs. “Besides, I doubt they are going to kill you, alright? Unless you have something important to say to me. And explain what is going on.” He starts pushing her towards the road.

“I have nothing to explain! They betrayed me! I can’t live in the same country as these bastards!”

“What are you talking about? You were the one who started running away all of a sudden. Early this morning I received orders to check in your working project. But when I went to your house and asked about it, you closed the door in my face and left through the window. Like a maniac.”

“I—! I want my lawyer!”

He stares blankly at her. “Right…”

“Alpha, the transport is ready.”

A black car stops in front of them. Suzie is pushed in and Alpha sits by her side.

After a few minutes of traveling in silence, Alpha looks at the gloomy and lowered head woman.

“Seriously… what’s going on?” he says with a fake unconcerned voice.

But she doesn’t respond to him.

“If you explain it to me, I might be able to help. If the Intelligence deployed so many men to catch you, you’re in a lot of trouble. What’s that project about? Do I need to worry?”

She looks through the faded car window to avoid his stare.

“If it is serious.” He straightens himself in his seat. “You know. You tell me.”

She glances at him a few times. And with a stressed sigh, she opens her mouth: “The new project you asked about. It was a secret. The government wasn’t supposed to know yet. That’s why I knew I was done the moment you came asking about it.”

Alpha squints his eyes to process it. “If the government wasn’t supposed to know. For who you were making it for?”

She delays answering. “To a deodorant brand. . .”

He only stares blankly at her.

“I was supposed to give them the formula for the first batches today. The data for it is in the silver case, I can’t trust using the Internet for something as important as that. It can perfectly conceal one’s odor and protect you for one hundred and twenty-eight hours. It even has a grapefruit version that makes women smell eight years younger. Scientifically proven.”

“Right… and you were keeping this a secret from the government, because…?”

“Isn’t that obvious?” She glares at him. “I want money. I tried to talk it out but… the only way I found was to sabotage those glasses.” She nods at him. “Make them useless.”

He frowns at the new information and he takes off his black sunglasses. “I thought they were paying you a hefty price for these smell-tracking glasses. Are they not following the contract? Or reduce your cut?”

“No… they are still paying me the same. That isn’t the problem.”

“That doesn’t make any sense. You are trying to sabotage the glasses for. . . money, right? Why are you making a product in secret that will deny your own creation?”

She pouts and fidgets in place before responding with a whispery voice: “I-It’s because they didn’t want to show me the aliens…”

The tanned man blinks a few times. “The—The aliens?”

She hesitates on sharing the rest of the information but she can’t hold herself. “Yes. THE aliens. They try to hide them but I know they exist. Green and big-eyed creatures. Slim and with their bellies full. You know who I’m talking about. I want to talk with them! But they keep on saying that they don’t exist!”

“But… they don’t. How does someone as smart as you believe in something— as silly as that?”

She widens her trembling mouth for the absurd amount of disrespect. “We are aliens, Leon! WE! We came from an asteroid impact millions of years ago! There’s no way other aliens didn’t evolve before us somewhere else. The government just conceals everything because. . . because they are too greedy! That’s why.” She bites her thumbnail like a growling dog.

Alpha frowns, shakes his head with a sigh, and rests his chin over his knuckles to look through the window. “Sure, Mother… sure.”

“It’s true!! They trade thingies with each other! Only a selected few can be named as the ‘creators’ and sell the technology in our world. That’s how the government keeps controlling everyone! It’s an unending cycle of power! They are going to sell my invention to aliens and keep all the damn money, Leon! Can you believe the audacity?? We can’t remain quiet!! Let’s make a riot against the democratic republic! Are you in? I can make an online event and call a bunch of random people and {…}”

The car accelerates towards the horizon and Suzie’s voice subdues to the white noises of the metropolis.

And that was the story of how, on that day, a deodorant was unable to launch and change the world.

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