"Please, don't act like you don't know what you did." Alison snarls.

I can't help but raise an eyebrow; I haven't done anything to her Organization. At least I think I didn't.

"What do you mean?" I ask again.

"Do you think I'm stupid or what? Stop acting all innocent, you-"

"Release some gas," I order a Legionary, and he nods before turning the valve that releases the deadly concoction into the makeshift cell where Alison is imprisoned.

She screams for a few moments, and a wave of my hand is enough to stop them from releasing the freezing gas. I can hear her ragged breath through the walls, so at least she's still alive.

Good, it saves me the bother to Rewind.

"Now, are you ready to speak?" I ask.

"S-Shit..." she mutters while shaking. "I-I'll speak, but please never release that abomination again." Alison pleads.

"Maybe, it all depends on you. So, why does your Director wants me dead?" I say.

"A-Adam has his reasons; he always has good reasons to do what he does," Alison says without hesitation.

If I'm honest, I find her devotion and absolute trust in the bastard very suspicious; I'm almost certain that she went through some form of brainwashing.

I can't help but smirk at the irony of the situation. I guess it takes one brainwasher to recognize another? Although in my case they did it to themselves, I just played the part and acted cool on a few occasions.

But the fact that she underwent such a procedure is going to make interrogation difficult.

"And why do you trust him so much?" I ask.

"Adam saved me. He saved all of us. We were shunned for our powers, abandoned by everyone while some even went insane because they couldn't control their abilities." Alison narrates. "I was abandoned by my family the instant they discovered I wasn't normal, and I was homeless since I was a kid. But Adam somehow found and helped me."

Yeah, this is too suspicious. First of all, who would reject someone who can set everything on fire with just a thought? I remember my first encounters with Enforcers, and I was quite scared, to say the least. Not to mention that the opportunities offered by her power would be too good to pass up.

I mean, my first thoughts when I made the Rewinder was 'how can I make money with this?'. I very much understand the appeal of sudden, reality-defying power appearing out of nowhere.

The uses of setting everything on fire might not be as obvious as the Rewinder, but I can still think of a few off the top of my head. Robbing a bank would be easy, just use your flames like a laser cutter and dig a tunnel into the vault, make the cameras explode and run away with as much money as you can.

I stop my rambling, but the gist is that this woman's mind has been messed up. There's no way that she had to wait for the shady fucker that is the Director to pick her up and give her a new purpose in life.

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It makes me recall the USB port embedded into their heads. It wouldn't surprise me that it could also be used to rewrite the memories of the wearer completely. I replay one of the previous timelines in my head, and the sudden change in Carla's personality when one of Adam's men jammed that flash drive into the poor woman's head was likely due to that. I didn't really notice at the time since I was focused on other matters, like not dying, but it corroborates my suspicions.

The threat level of the Organization just went up dramatically. It wouldn't be funny if they captured one of my men and extracted their memories, although I wonder if they would be able to get any usable data before the Oath kills the prisoner.

But I am also concerned by this; if they can somehow attack my mind at a distance, then I would be completely fucked. I look at my fingers, and the ring of mental protection still shines. The first one was broken when Alice Wolfheart tried to intimidate me by using a torture spell, but this one is still intact.

I wonder if the cheap artifact will be enough to protect me. I could also hope that my Phase 3-upgraded armor also provides a modicum of mental protection... But I might not need it.

My rather... unique nature might make me immune to mental attacks, provided that the attacker is not a godlike being.

I could also be completely wrong; for all I know, matters of the soul are completely separate from matters of the mind.

...Maybe I should invest in more mental protection.

I shake my head, the only one who could overpower my soul is the Oracle, and any mean of protection I can muster would be completely useless against her-

An epiphany strikes me, and I almost want to slap myself for being so stupid. The World Code is, according to Alison, the fastest and more efficient way of creating supernatural phenomenons. So I wonder if the Oracle's near-infinite might could be reduced to nothing with a cleverly placed World Code Call.

It's a far-fetched solution, but investigating the Organization's technology might be worth it after all. At least if I assume the Oracle doesn't know about them and hasn't already prepared counter-measures for such desperate tactics.

And something tells me that gathering all the computational power required to produce an ability at Oracle levels isn't going to be easy, or even feasible.

Now I should try to make Alison betray her Organization, but it could be pointless considering her brainwashing. I recall that Carla revealed everything at the drop of a hat once I threatened her enough, so she could be another entry point worth considering if Alison doesn't budge.

I take a deep breath, "Now Alison, I know that your first impression of me might not be the best, but-"

"No shit, you gassed me and threatened to kill my friends." She interrupts.

I resist the urge to gas her again and sigh, "I know, and I'm sorry for that. But I have to know why you want me dead, and you haven't given me an answer yet."

"You know what-"

"I DoN't." I interrupt the woman with a burst of my aura. "And I bet you don't even know why you were sent here to kill me, right? Don't you find that suspicious?"

"I-Shut up!" Alison stammers for a moment, so it tells me that her brainwashing might not be as ironclad as I first thought.

"Do you even know what we do? Why all these people are following me?" I ask the prisoner.

"No, but it doesn't-"

"It MaTtErS." I stop her outburst before it can even begin. "We are dedicated to destroying the Enforcer system; our ultimate goal is to usher in a new golden age for humanity by revealing all the magical knowledge that has been hidden to them for so long, and to prevent a worldwide subjugation of our people."

Alison clicks her tongue, "As if, the Enforcers are not competent enough to do that." She says with a hint of smugness in her voice.

"They can, and they will. You may not know this, but I've been to other worlds. I once visited a world where the Enforcers united under one banner and completely enslaved the population; they treated them like cattle and disposable tools. They controlled everything, monopolized the wealth and resources of an entire planet for themselves." I say while gritting my teeth as I recall the poor workers who begged us to kill them.

"This horrifying state of affairs is going to happen here if we don't do anything. The first signs of Enforcer unification are already showing on our planet with the Stonecrusher Empire and the Freedom Movement, and there could be more that I don't know about." Anger and hatred fill my mind as I imagine the events of the Tower of Justice happening on Earth. "We are actively waging war against the Empire, and the Enforcers in general. What has your Organization done to fight this menace? I'll tell you; they did nothing!" I shout as I stomp my foot on the ground, causing the walls to shake slightly.

"NOW TELL ME AGAIN THAT I'M THE ThReAt!" I roar as my anger reaches new heights.

"I-I had no idea," Alison admits. "I guess your explanation makes sense. Now I will reveal all I know about the Organization- Is it what you're expecting me to say?" I can hear the disdain in her voice, and it pushes me to my limits. The voice roars in my head as I grab my pistol and walk into the cell.

I find Alison, who is still tied to her chair. I ignore the advanced signs of hypothermia on her body and shoot a bullet into her knees. She screams in pain as her severed limbs flop on the ground.

"Now you show your true colors," she says as colors drain from her face. "Adam was right to target you; you're even worse than the Enforcers. You think you're the only one fit to rule, that you deserve to be at the top-"

"EnOuGh!" I shout as I shoot one of her hands off.

"See?" she says as blood flows from her mouth, "You're completely unhinged, a threat to everyone..." her voice trails off, and her eyes become lifeless.

"I'm NoT dOnE!" I scream as I Rewind and tear her apart again and again.

How dare she betray her entire species like this? Why can't she see that I'm right?

Time seems to stop, and I am covered in blood when everything goes back to normal. I fall to my knees and look in horror at my gore-covered hands.

What have I done? What have I become?

How many times did I Rewind to kill her again and again in a sick, sadistic loop?

"We DiD wHaT wE hAd To Do." The voice says with my mouth.

"Stop!" I grab my head and try to shut out the voice as much as I can.