“Please.” Hellhound’s voice gentled. “I know what you’re thinking. I’d think it too. But if I wanted you dead, Havoc wouldn’t have brought you here.”
“He’s annoyingly principled about not killing people unless it blows his cover.” Havoc leaned against the wall. “Something about respect and boundaries. Very inconvenient.”
Despite everything, I almost laughed. The absurdity of it, standing in a headmaster’s living room discussing murder etiquette while bone tired.
“I need to know what you remember.” His voice stayed gentle. Patient. “Before I explain anything else.”
Xavier stared at him. Opened his mouth. Closed it. Frustration flickered across his face.
“He can’t speak. At all. Vocal cords work, but nothing comes out.”
“And he doesn’t remember anything. His name, his past, what happened to him, it’s all gone.”
Hellhound’s gaze sharpened. “Complete amnesia?”
“Everything before waking up in that alley three days ago. That’s where I found him, injured, beaten up, tremendous blood loss...”
Hellhound leaned forward, elbows on his knees. “Xavier. Do you know who I am?”
Xavier shook his head.
“Do you remember Oblivion? The conditioning facility? Anything about your training?”
Another shake. Slower this time. His grip tightened.
“What about before? Your life. Family. Who you were?”
Nothing. Just Xavier’s throat working, jaw clenching, the familiar frustration of words he couldn’t force past the block in his brain.
Hellhound sat back. Exhaled slowly. “Then I’ll start at the beginning. Oblivion is an organization.” His voice stayed measured. Calm. Like he was explaining something simple instead of the nightmare that had destroyed Xavier’s mind. “A covert black-ops program that takes people, criminals, highly skilled and dangerous individuals, and turns them into operatives. Assassins. Perfect soldiers who follow orders without question.”
My fingers tightened around the mug but I kept silent.
“It’s run by a man named Tobias Dresner. Neuroscience pioneer although he’s not a doctor, but more of a businessman.His work was deemed too extreme, experimenting on human subjects, trying to perfect compliance technology. He was forced out of legitimate research circles decades ago.” Hellhound’s expression darkened. “So he found people who shared his vision. A cabal of ultra-wealthy elite. Global reach. Political connections. They fund Oblivion in exchange for untraceable assassins who serve their interests.”
I looked at Xavier. His face had gone pale, jaw tight. Processing. Trying to reconcile what he was hearing with the blank space where his memories should be.
The room felt colder.
“How many?”
“Operatives? Dozens across five generations. Facilities on three continents. Support staff in the hundreds.” Hellhound leaned forward. “They operate under the cover of legitimate businesses. CuraNova Biotech in Geneva is Dresner’s primary headquarters, a pharmaceutical company on the surface, conditioning facility underneath. Clean. Professional. Completely legal-looking.”
My stomach turned. A pharmaceutical company. Of course.
“The process is called conditioning. Extreme psychological manipulation. Chemical compounds that target memory centers. Neural rewiring that connects pain receptors to specific thoughts.” He paused. “The result is an operative who can’t disobey. Can’t question. Can’t remember who they were before.”
“Pain receptors.” My voice sounded hollow. “You’re saying they tortured him.”
“Systematically. Repeatedly. Until his brain rewired itself to avoid the pain.” Hellhound’s tone stayed clinical, but something flickered in his eyes. Regret, maybe. Or guilt.
Xavier had gone absolutely still beside me.
“But they don’t only take criminals.” Hellhound’s voice dropped. “For some, they create them. Fabricate charges. Arreston false evidence. Declare the target dead in prison, cerebral hemorrhage, heart attack, whatever sounds plausible. Then they take them. Condition them. Turn them into weapons.”
Horror crawled up my spine. Xavier’s hand found mine under the table. Gripped tight.
“There have been five generations of the program. Each more sophisticated than the last. Blackout is Quinta generation, fifth iteration. The most advanced.”
