“The cube’s in play, boss,” Green Brain told me as he walked into my study, holding a cellphone the size of a small tablet in his left hand.
I turned my head upwards as I swivelled to face him. “In whose hands, Gani?” I asked him.
He smiled at that, ever so slightly. “The Army’s.”
I smirked right back, a plan forming in my mind.“Does the company know?”
Gani shrugs. My brains know a lot, but they can’t know everything. Not yet, in any case. “How do you want to play this?” he asks.
I take a breath and a moment to think. “Not sure, yet. Get Green Team ready to move, though, because whatever we end up doing, we’ll want to do it fast.” As he left, I turned back to my computer. My brains didn’t know that I knew where the cube had been for forever. I never needed it. After all, I have my sources for figuring that information out. But the cube in the hands of the Third Army presented an opportunity, assuming that Alden didn’t know they had it. The longer the girl remained without, the more likely Alden would figure out she lost her leverage, and she knew that. Where the cube was now, it would be inevitable that she would find it. No matter how decentralized and insular the Army’s cells might be, a psychic with as much power as she has would always be able to find them. But this house was built specifically to prevent that. My men are shielded from such attacks. And, once she figures out the cube’s no longer in the Army’s possession, she would be forced to strike at the company before they figure the situation out. First, however, I needed to make certain that the Company didn’t have assassins on the Girl already. The plan only worked if she was in the clear, otherwise it would be more ideal to help her get the cube back.
I sit down at my desk, and check on my drone, assigned with hovering a mile above the girl at all times. Searching the area, I find a severe lack of the girl hiding from snipers, and a lack of snipers. Alden knew that any kind of assassination that required getting closer than a half mile wouldn’t work, so the lack of snipers meant the company didn’t know yet. Perfect. I walked out of my study.
I went downstairs to meet with Green Team. They, unfortunately, are one of my worse teams. Black, Red, Blue, and Purple are all busy, though, which leaves me with only less than ideal options. And these would be more than sufficient to take care of a third of a cell. We just needed to be sure we got them before they met up again. “Green,” I began, “This is not your normal kind of mission. We’ve gotten word that a certain massive vault of information has resurfaced for the first time in a year. It’s currently in the hands of our favorite third party, but we all know it isn’t safe there. Your job is to acquire it. Preferably without killing anyone, as they are more a threat to the company than to us. Understood?”
“Understood, Nobody,” Green Team stated in almost unison. Not quite, but they were a relatively new team.
“Gani, a word,” I requested as the others made their way to the Green Vehicle, a minivan for inconspicuity’s sake.
Waiting until everyone was gone, Gani replied, “Yeah, boss?”
“Take extra precautions on this one,” I told him, “Keep this on lock, understood?” I wasn’t about to tell him the godchild was working in opposition to them on this one. That would just cause unnecessary panic. As long as they moved quickly and kept their mental shields up and strong, they wouldn’t even be risking running into the girl.
Gani nodded. “Understood, boss. Data in, we’ll head out.”
I gave him a single nod back, and walked down to discuss my plan with the one person left in this house anywhere near as clever as me. I wanted to make sure this plan wasn’t me rushing things. I pressed the button on the side of her chamber, and the pod lit up.
“So,” Talita mused, “What brings you here today, Leo?” She might no longer be human, but unlike many of the god’s I’ve captured down here, she does not find containment terrible. Her gift was far too destructive, and when I told her what I was intending, she willingly gave herself to the pods, until we found a more permanent reversal process.
“I want to chat,” I answered her, “I want to make sure I’m not acting impatiently.”
Inside her chamber, she couldn’t help but chuckle. “You? Impatient? When have you ever acted impatiently? Didn’t you once tell me that ‘While one remains unknown, the best move is often no move at all?’”
I nodded. “I still hold that true. But, I worry I’m moving because there’s an opening, not because the timing is right.”
“What’s the situation?” she asked.
“The godchild’s insurance policy was taken by a third party, without our common enemy realizing. With it safely away from her, I sent my team to acquire it.”
She nodded in understanding. “You hope that you having it will drive her to strike against your enemy, because she knows you will keep it safe and not use it, but if they figure out she doesn’t have it, she is no longer safe.”
“Precisely. Would that work?” I asked, “Or, let me rephrase. It will work, assuming I’m correct, that she wouldn’t risk attacking us. But she hasn’t followed the models thus far. Am I taking too much of a risk?”
Talita shook her head. “Quem não arrisca não petisca,” she replied, “As long as she doesn’t catch your people, you should be fine, in any case.”
“Thank you,” I replied, “It is always nice to chat.”
She nodded again. “How comes the work on my… situation?” she asked. She always asked.
“Purple Brain believes they’ve found someone with the ability to synthesise a reconfiguration from the blood of someone before and after their transformation. Of course, we’ll test it on someone else before you,” I answer her honestly.
She chuckled. She understood. “Because, in case it doesn’t work, you would prefer not to have your house destroyed by monsters in the night.”
“I knew you’d understand. Only, it could be even worse than that.”
“Worse?” she asked.
I shrugged and told her the truth. “If your monsters got down here, and broke the wrong tank, it would be the entire city your nap would destroy.”
“Oof,” she replied, “Yeah, let’s make sure the fix works before using it on me.”
“Thanks for being understanding,” I told her as I stood up.
“Come back anytime. After all, when you have me out, anytime feels like a moment from now.” She smiled, but I could tell it bothered her some. She wanted only one thing more than to be free of this chamber, and that was to be free from her fear of herself. I pressed the button, and the lights dimmed as she went back under. I walked upstairs, to my study. This would work, I thought, looking out the window. It had to.
In no time, Green’s minivan returned in the middle of my driveway. They drove in, and I seated myself to await Green Brain’s report. Gani entered nervous. Something went wrong in the mission. “What. What happened?” I asked, then I noticed what was lacking, “Where is the cube?”
Gani looked at me, confused and gradually growing terrified. He didn’t remember what happened. That meant bad things. Slowly, he began to speak, looking around nervously as he did. “I’m not sure. We went on the mission. Hit the van fine. Muscle got it bad. I think his organs are liquid right now, Shadow carried her over to the infirmary for help. We got the cube. No one dead on either side. We had the cube. We returned to the minivan.” His brow furrowed deeper. “Then, it’s blank. We ended up here.”
I shook my head. “Gani, Gani. You were supposed to keep the team’s minds on lock.”
“What? Do you know what happened?” he asked.
I smiled at him. “Of course not. But I have suspicions. And probability supports those suspicions.”
“What do you think happened?” he asked.
I put my arm around his shoulder as I walked him out to the balcony. “See,” I told him, “I told you to keep it on lockdown for a reason.” On the balcony, he was no longer able to reach the rest of his team psychically. “The godchild was in play. You were sent to ensure she remained in play.”
Gani tried to move, but the power surging through my implants wasn’t going to let that happen. “Why didn’t you tell me?” he demanded.
I’ve never liked being demanded of, but seeing how this interaction would be ending, I told him the truth. “Because I didn’t want to cause panic, and had you done your job, nothing bad would’ve happened.” I pulled him closer, much to his dismay. “But you didn’t, and now who knows how much you told her. The Girl has thus far been neutral, but how can I trust she will remain such? Do you see my dilemma here?”
No longer able to speak as my arm has fully stopped airflow through his trachea, Gani nodded. He hoped agreeing with me would get him some bonus points.
A surge of energy flowed through me, from my office, through my implants, into my arms. “Then you understand why I must do this,” I said, and with a quick twist, I heard a familiar cracking sound and Gani’s body went limp. Tossing him aside, I reentered my mansion, to address the remaining members of Green Team. Shadow and Gunner were both waiting. “Were either of you away from the minivan when the blank time happened?” I asked the pair.
“No, sorry,” Shadow replied in her normal, curt manner.
“Why?” Gunner asked, “Something wrong?”
“Yes,” I said curtly, “Gani betrayed us, by inaction. A possible enemy force has an indeterminate amount of information because of this. I was hoping one of you was unaffected.”
“When Kiri gets up, she might know more,” Gunner added, “She was near dead, so whatever cleared our memories might’ve missed her.”
I nodded. “I’ll check once she’s somewhat more lucid. You guys are grounded until a new Green Brain is found, understood?”
“Yessir,” Shadow replied quickly.
Gunner took a tad longer. He’d liked Gani’s leadership, unlike the women of the Team. “Tell us when you’ve found a replacement, Nobody,” he said after that moment.
I nodded to the two of them to head to quarters and I myself returned to my study. Checking the drone, the Girl was nowhere to be found. As to be expected, that would be one of the first morsels of information she would extract. I still had her burner number. She wouldn’t get rid of that yet, because I had it. She wasn’t involved, but she would want to know my involvement. Taking a deep breath, I dialed the number.
She picked up on the third ring with a simple, “Hello, dead man.”
“Hello, godchild,” I replied, “You’ve been awfully difficult, you know?”
“Right back at you. I take it you were the people who messed up Ricky’s shop.”
“Who’s shop?” I asked.
“Where I left the cube, before the idiots stole it.”
I laughed. “I have better things to do than worry about the cops figuring out magic powers exist.”
“Why did you come after the cube, then?” she asked.
“So you wouldn’t have it,” I answered her, “Sorry if that seems rude, I find honesty refreshing. It’s not what you think.”
“Really?” she replied, “Because I think you were trying to take it to force me into action against Alden.”
“Then it is what you think. Are you going to act?”
“Eventually,” she replied, “But not just against him. All three of you are going down.”
I sighed. “I understand. I just ask one favor, I promised someone I’d find them a cure for their unfortunate metamorphosis. Can your eventually wait until after?”
She hung up the phone without replying. That was a yes, though she wouldn’t say it. Excellent. It gave me time to find a way to avoid her wrath and continue my good work. I couldn’t let a child prevent me from saving the world. I wouldn’t.
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