We're gathered together in War Room 26. I'm next to Leo, with Dru and Rohan sitting opposite. Snow has stolen the top spot at the head of the table. North is acting as her right hand.
Rohan looks better than the last time I saw him, fed and watered. He still appears run-down and haggard from his recent experience, but anyone would. A couple of days won't make up for a month of fun times in OI's company.
Both Dru and Rohan have matching grave expressions on their faces. North is giving his typical gruff, unimpressed frown at all of us although there's a tightness to his eyes that indicates more stress over the situation than usual. Snow has no expression at all, but that doesn't mean anything when it comes to her. I think the world could be attacked by aliens, and Snow would have the same look of impassive expectation on her face.
"So, go on then, what insane fuckery has Obsidian Inc. come up with this time?" I ask when the silence in the room becomes annoyingly oppressive.
Snow doesn't react to my outburst, but it seems to have broken through the tension enough to allow her to actually kick-start the meeting. She brings her hands together on top of the table and leans forward slightly, her eyes travelling around the room, jumping to each face before she speaks.
"Agent Nash and Agent Sathe"—she tips her head at Dru and Rohan—"have confirmed a theory I've had for some time regarding Obsidian Inc.'s most recent activities. Within the retrieved backup drive, there are details of a plan that OI seem ready to enact, one that could devastate this country as well as potentially the wider world if it is successful."
Snow lets that sink in for a handful of seconds before continuing.
"OI has created two drugs, one blue in colour and the other green. The first drug you will be familiar with, Agent Roth." She shifts her attention, addressing me directly. "Agent Nash and Agent Sathe have explained the science of the drug to me, and the information in the drive confirms this as sound."
When Snow gives Dru another nod of acknowledgement, she takes over the explanation, also looking at Leo and me.
"It's intended use is to impact a person's cognitive function in a specific way," she tells us in a grim, perfunctory tone. "It causes the conscious mind to shut down and push the recipient into a deep hypnotic state. Whilst in this state, the individual's inhibitions will be severely depleted, and they will become unnaturally susceptible to another person's will."
Rohan swoops in to cut it down to layman's terms for Leo and me, seeming as annoyed as I feel about Dru's overlong description of the drug. "It's mind control, kids. OI wants to turn us all into biddable zombies who'll suck their collective dicks for free."
Dru shoots Rohan an irritated glower, which he promptly ignores. He gestures for her to continue. She does, but not without giving him one last set of daggers. I get the feeling this is an argument they've been having since Dru finished analysing the data from the drive. It's never good when the scientists get all worked up. That's how the world gets ended by accident.
"The second drug, the green one, acts as both a counteractive drug to the blue one and as a way of imposing mental control over someone injected with the blue drug. Once injected with the green drug, a person's body would emit a sort of molecular pulse that allows them biological dominance over the molecules in the blue drug."
Again, Rohan chips in with a more basic explanation. "Someone who has the green drug in their system can give orders to someone who has the blue drug in their system. It also seems that a person injected with the green drug is made immune to the effects of the blue drug."
Mind manipulation at its most extreme. It's no shock that OI would create something like this. Taking away other's choices is very much within their wheelhouse. Mind control is just them reaching another level to replace force and blackmail.
"Are the affects from either drug permanent?" Leo asks, his eyes darting to me, a troubled twinge in his voice.
"Yes and no," Rohan answers, his own gaze landing on me. There's no reassurance to be found on his face, but he does seem oddly conflicted, like he would want to offer it if he could. "The version of the drug Roth was given isn't the same as the one they have now. If you were injected with the current blue drug, the effects wouldn't fade like they did for Roth. We think the green drug would be permanent and work like a flu inoculation against the blue drug if taken beforehand."
My first thought is of Dan. If they used the old blue drug on me, then it's no great leap to think they'd use the new version of it on him. The idea makes me feel like I could vibrate out of my chair with rage.
Leo must pick up on my internal explosion of anger because he discreetly nudges my leg with his boot. I shift in my seat, enabling him to hook his ankle around mine, locking us together. It shouldn't work to calm me as well as it does. I'm becoming increasingly aware how much power I've allowed Leo to have over me. I don't know exactly when trusting him not to fuck me over became straight up trusting him with everything, but it's happened.
It's absolutely mad how much he matters to me. But he does matter. I don't know how I'm going to handle it if I have to leave FISA to go after my brother. The idea of being without Leo makes me feel immediate panic, which is a concern for multiple reasons. I mean, we've only known each other for a handful of months, and I'm a paranoid freak by design, so how is it possible I've become so dependent on him? How has he burrowed in under my skin and carved out a permanent place for himself there without me noticing until it was too late? How has he become the one thing in my life I feel certain about?
Snow brings me out of my musings and redirects my attention to arguably more important things. More important for the world, not for me.
"The intel gathered from the backup drive indicates they plan to turn the blue drug into a gas," Snow imparts with a cool detachment that is frankly stunning, "and use a machine they've built to shoot it into the atmosphere, allowing it to disperse over the world, therefore infecting the oxygen supply and taking control of everyone who inhales it."
Snow's info drop of OI's new dastardly and irritating plot proves my assumption correct. No big surprise. Obsidian Inc. loves theirmwah ha hatakeover attempts.
I'll never understand why they're so hard for taking over the world. The world is shit, and all they want to do is make it even more shit. Utterly fucking pointless endeavour, world domination for an evil organisation if you ask me. We're already ruining everything. They could just sit back and watch Rome burn, then rule over the ashes.
"Why are you telling us this shit?" I demand, narrowing my eyes at Snow, suspicious as hell.
If OI is planning world domination again, that's going to be a big-name vigilante problem, and once more for the people in the back, I'm an assassin, not a fucking hero. Assassins kill people, wedon'tsave the world. It's not in my job description and for good reason.
People don't want things like me playing hero. They want nice, clean supers without blood soaked into their skin, heroes who have no doubt in their hearts over humanity's worthiness to be saved.
I have doubts. A whole chest cavity's worth.
Seriously. Fuck humanity and fuck the world.
My goals are simple. Retain freedom. Find brother. Keep Leo. End of list. Everything else is just an obstacle to those goals or background noise for other people to dance to.
