One of the cars had nearly struck a bystander that was walking closely behind Zarfa, but he had managed to move out of the way. Zarfa was standing there, still pondering the things he had heard in Max
’
s office. He had yet to decide what he was going to do. The only thing he knew for sure was that he wanted to get back home to Ilyeion, home to his legion.
He had only come to Alexarien to get the Psyker Scream nanobots. He had them now. He had no other reason to be here anymore, but now this. Another annoyance; these cars weren
’
t coincidence and he knew it.
Before he could even blink, five men piled out of each car and encircled him. All of them armed to the teeth, all of them fit, soldiers. One of them stepped forward into the circle that they had formed around him.
“
Our boss, Badger—you met him the other night…remember?—would like for you to take a ride with us. He has some things he would like to discuss with you.
”
This asshole doesn
’
t know how much I hate condescending rhetorical questioning. Let
’
s see, there are ten of them. If I take him down quickly and start firing off rounds from his pistol, I should be able to kill most of them before they even know what
’
s going on.
Zarfa
’
s body tensed and he got ready to execute his plan before
a
disembodied
voice
stopped him.
“
I wouldn
’
t if I were you.
”
“
What the hell?
”
Zarfa asked.
“
That
’
s
right;
I can hear your thoughts and can even send you messages. You are a new recruit, only had one treatment, right? It
’
s enough for me to speak to you, and if you are really talented and have a lot of focus, you could even intentionally send a message. Anyway, we are all
mere
underlings here, but I assure you, we are more than capable of killing you or taking you by force.
”
“
I don
’
t want to join you, but if I understand right, I have no choice once I
’
ve injected the final treatment of bots. So why are you guys hassling me?
”
Zarfa was carefully trying to stifle any thoughts he might be having outside of the conversation. He didn
’
t want this guy getting any more information out of him than he could help.
“
We would like you to come with us, Zarfa, the easy way, please?
”
Zarfa felt defeated. He relaxed his body and dropped his guard. For now, the right move was to do nothing. How could he fight ten men, especially when from what he could tell, they could all read his mind? He was broadcasting already, and he didn
’
t like it.
“
Okay fine, I
’
ll come with you and hear Badger out.
”
Five men piled back into the car straight ahead of Zarfa; two got back into the car immediately behind him. Two of the men directed Zarfa into the back seat and asked him to sit in the middle. He complied; he didn
’
t want this to end badly for himself. After he had made himself comfortable, the other two got into the back with him and one stayed on the sidewalk; there was no room for him.
Hotdog, canary, goldfish, butterfly. One, two, three, four, five, six,
pepper
, eight, nine, ten.
Zarfa started thinking of anything he could in his head to keep anything vital from slipping. Even if he did formulate an escape plan, he was hoping to do so while thinking strongly about something else, so as to muddle his message and make it unclear to them what he was planning on doing.
The whole ride to the warehouse that he had been at the night before was awkward and silent. While he tried to keep the goons Badger had sent out of his mind, they tried breaking in. When they did, all they got was his garbled ramblings or him counting loudly in his head. He was smarter than they had given him credit for.
I hope there isn
’
t two thousand or more of them in there like last night.
Zarfa
’
s concentration had slipped and he broke his pattern of useless thoughts. He was upset at himself already. He didn
’
t need the voice of the guy sitting next to him saying,
“
There isn
’
t,
”
inside of his head.
But there
it
was,
annoying
overkill. He had already caught himself mess up. But at least he could relax a little bit now knowing he wouldn
’
t have to fight through a sea to get away if it came to that.
“
Very clever making psychic soldiers under the ruse of a band,
”
he stated as they directed him to get out of the back seat.
As he got out of the car, the nine men surrounded him again and directed him to go inside the warehouse. They had him outnumbered and circled to be sure he didn
’
t try anything funny. This certainly wouldn
’
t be an easy situation to get out of.
A large, roll
-
up cargo door opened as they approached the warehouse. They were directing him to go in through this instead of the small side door he and Max had used the night before. As the door rolled up, it revealed from the feet up a man large and daunting that he recognized as Badger.
“
Zarfa, so nice of you to join us without a battle. Their direction was that if you were too much trouble, they could
go ahead and
kill you,
”
Badger said with a smile.
He was tall, hairy, and intimidating. Even worse, he wore darkly tinted glasses so that Zarfa couldn
’
t see his eyes. As if he didn
’
t already have every disadvantage working against him.
This is just great! Seventy-eight, forty-five, sixty-nine.
“
What is great?
”
Badger
’
s voice invaded his head.
“
I can
’
t even read your eyes with those douche bag-looking glasses of yours, asshole. Like you don
’
t already have the upper hand on me, you had to push it that far? Seriously?
”
“
I see your point; come in and have a seat,
”
he said, mocking as if he was going to take the shades off but in the end leaving them on.
They directed Zarfa to sit on a bare wooden chair in the center of the room. The chair was facing another three that looked exactly the same. To the right of where he would be sitting he saw Zax; to the left, Surge, and he was certain Badger would fill the middle seat.
He sat as he had been asked, and waited attentively and respectfully for the conversation to begin. He assumed there would be one of some sort. He assumed if they wanted him dead, they wouldn
’
t have gone to all of the theatrics to do so.
His heart and his observations about how they approached him told him that everything Crimson said about them was true. He could see this organization was large, powerful, and probably didn
’
t have people
’
s welfare in mind. He knew they were dangerous and most likely the evil she said they were, but he had to keep these feelings and thoughts out of his mind.
Badger took what felt like a lifetime to Zarfa to take his position at the middle seat. When he did, he just sat there facing
Zarfa
’
s
direction. He couldn
’
t even tell if his eyes were open or not; he refused to take the shades off of his face.
“
Let
’
s talk,
”
Badger said, finally.
“
Then talk,
”
Zarfa said with a shrug.
“
I can tell you are quickly becoming adept at keeping us confused, keeping us from reading your thoughts, so I am going to be required to accept what you say
as
the truth. If Zax here can pick up that you are lying to me, the conversation is over, and that is when Surge does his job. You don
’
t want to see him do his job, not to you anyways. We have an understanding here?
”
“
Yes.
”
“
Good, now I
’
m going to ask you plainly what Crimson told you.
”
Zarfa spoke, hoping that nothing he
said
would
sentence
Crimson
to death
.
“
She tried to recruit me. She said a war was coming. She said that Synaptix was already using mind control technology to build an army, the Psyker Scream army. She said that the other side of this war was going to be Polyhelix. She told me they, too, are building an army and the Faraza are part of that. She plans to somehow stop them both. She is also under the impression that both sides are seeking dominance of not only the Alexarien government but those of the entire world. Oh, she also said your two corporations are both too greedy to alliance together to avoid this whole thing.
”
“
Interesting. Well, let me tell you something about this little
Crimson
girl. She has been a disillusioned freedom fighter since the day she got her freedom when she was seventeen. You see, she was a house slave, a concubine, if you will, for a rich man named Chester Williams. Chester enjoyed taking the innocent schoolgirl fantasy a little too far, but as you know, if you own someone as a slave, you can use them however you see fit. He adopted her at six; the sexual abuse began by seven. He had a penchant for the young ones. I am not saying he isn
’
t sick, but it was his right. He did own her, after all.
“
Anyway, his fantasy involved more than a
simple
young slave. He sent her to school as a little girl every day, sending her off with her packed lunch and a kiss on the forehead. Only to greet her as a cruel, tortuous devil when she returned home. She was told that if she ever tried to escape, he would murder her family in cold blood.
“
I never did understand why she cared; they sold her to him. They knew what he was looking for. Anyway, I am getting sidetracked. She dealt with this torture and abuse until she was seventeen. Two more years and he would let her go to live her life however she could manage to. He hated it when they started looking like women; it disgusted her owner.
“
Finally, one day, she got wise. She managed to make some Paraoxon in chemistry class. Before going home, she coated the outside of her vinyl gloves with the poison. She was a smart kid, she was. When she arrived home, she acted normal. The typical
‘
Oh Daddy, how I missed you; is there anything I can do for you?
’
routine that he loved so much, followed b
y her touching him in the most depraved manners possible
. Well, she was sure this time to touch any part of his skin she could. When he requested she take her gloves off, she asked
‘
if he could do it for her because she had been having trouble on her own.
’
She was a helpless little girl, after all. Five minutes later, ol
’
Chester was dead, and Crimson was a free woman with a large inheritance. Something she doesn
’
t tell many people, I am sure. You see, Chester didn
’
t have any family, no children, no wife. He had his living will state that whoever his current slave was would be the recipient of his large wealth. Crimson didn
’
t know that, it was just an added reward to her first assassination, one that is speculated but could never be proved. A vicious poison that Paraoxon is; it absorbs through the skin, kills in minutes. There is no solid antidote and it is untraceable in autopsies. Like I said, she was smart, still is.
“
She lived through those awful days
,
but came out damaged, like anyone would. She got an education and built and empire, but the whole time she brewed with hatred. Hatred for the government for making it legal for him to do what he did to her. Hatred at society for voting in the laws
.
It is what still drives her to her very core. Hatred. Pure and simple, nothing more. We offered for her to join us; she has proven she is a capable assassin by killing many elite assassins on the roster. She has wealth, brains
,
and ability
,
all that would further our cause, yet she fails to see reason. She wants control, but she doesn
’
t want to rob the populace
of the ability
to decide for themselves.