“Tell me why I shouldn’t have your put in a cell right now,” Nova quietly asked.
Adrianne said, “I came to this station under false pretense... well, not entirely false. Okay, so this is what happened. My brother and I both gained morphon powers at the same time. I got ice powers, he got extremely powerful stone powers. We were both working with the universities’ anthropological survey teams and I wanted to finish my doctoral program before turning myself in for evaluation by BADGE. Wynn, my brother, realized just how powerful he was. As we traveled around the tribal parts of Africa, he enjoyed the way he scared the locals. Some of the more isolated tribes called him a god, naming one of their various gods. I told him to stop encouraging them, but he thought it was so much fun.”
EB said, “So, he set himself up as a god. Great. Another power mad idiot.”
“It wasn’t like that!” Adrianne yelled and then controlled herself. “Wynn has always had a desire for power. Not in the evil villain sort of way. As in, he always got elected class president, he desired to be the head of his fraternity, he became captain of the football team, he simply had a stronger inclination towards positions of authority than most. But it was harmless... until we encountered that damn witch.”
“Mama Pepo,” Nova said.
“Yes. She came to us and said she knew what we were, morphonic humans. She was one as well. Mama Pepo offered to help us realize our potential as gods over the ignorant tribes... she called them ignorant, which is far from true. I found her offer disgusting and bigoted. The offer intrigued Wynn, but he turned it down. We asked her to help us understand tribal superstitions better. In that time of learning from her, she slowly fed my brother more and more ideas of superiority. One night, he left with her. I didn’t know about it. They went, and she used her own powers to brainwash people and he presented himself as a god. Even chose that stupid name he got from Greek myth. When I found out, I was furious. I tried to reason with him, but he said it was better this way. We could unite all the indigenous people and build a society out of them. Turn the impoverished African continent into a world power like nothing before. He had gone power mad.”
Nova said, “This is all fascinating, but how does this bring you to us?”
“I knew he had to be stopped. I feared that any day BADGE would send in people to take him down. But you didn’t. I guess their plot to fly under the radar worked better than I expected. So, I turned myself in to the nearest Fight Club and asked to be brought here for training. I wanted to join the ATLAS team and work with them so I could convince them to come down and stop Wynn.”
“Why ATLAS?” Arx asked.
She looked down, not at him, “ATLAS helps, they don’t fight. BADGE sends in soldiers and Leagues to take villains down. I was afraid. My brother might be a little crazy right now, but he is still my brother. I wanted to have him come to his senses and let BADGE deal with that horrible witch. But things went sideways. I couldn’t convince Arx in time to investigate those tremors Wynn is causing, and now he has alerted BADGE. I just don’t want to see him hurt or killed. He’s not a horrible person, I promise.”
There was a long silence as Nova absorbed this.
Arx said, “I know what it means to get a second chance. I think we owe it to Adrianne to at least try this her way. Send in a smaller force to bring in this Wynn and capture Mama Pepo. Then we can get Krystal and Alex back and free the people they have brainwashed.”
Nova looked up at them, studying them for a moment. He then inclined his head toward EB. “What is the threat level right now?”
EB looked at a tablet and then said, “Right now, they are containing their little growing empire to a small group of indigenous people. Other than capturing our people, they haven’t done anything to challenge BADGE. So, low. I guess they aren’t really trying to conquer the world yet. They could soon, though. I mean, with what they are doing, it could get back quickly. But if we go in and stop them now with a small force, then it won’t be so bad. I…”
Nova held up his hand and EB went silent. “Fine. I will allow this. Arx, you take the lead. Bring Adrianne with you and a small team of your best.”
“And me,” Torrik said. “Knowing the power this Pepo is using, I can prepare counter magic to stop her from getting to us. And I have the best chance of breaking her curse.”
“I could do it too!” EB protested.
Nova said, “No. Torrik goes with them. EB, you stay here and get ready. If this goes sideways again, and we need to send in more people, we will need your power to counter her brainwashing.”
“Can do.” EB gave off a quick salute.
Adrianne almost fell to the floor. “Thank you, thank you. I... “
“You are lucky I was willing to listen. Never think you can just barge into secret meetings or secure locations ever again. Next time will not fare so well. I am only sending you on this mission because I believe you have the best chance of resolving this with your brother with no conflict. But do not think you aren’t under our authority. You will do what Arx says, which may include attacking your brother if he refuses to listen.”
“I understand. He is my brother, and I will do everything I can to protect him. I will not let him hurt innocent people for his power lust. You can trust me.”
“Trust is earned, and you will have to regain my trust. Don’t fail me. Now, get down to the ATLAS center and be ready to move out with the team.”
She turned to leave but found a hand on her shoulder. Arx pulled her into a hug and whispered into her ear, “We will do everything we can to save him.”
“Thank you.” She whispered back.
“Now, give me back my card before Nova kills me.”
She pulled out his card and handed it back to him, then left with a security robot to escort her back to the common area.
Arx turned around, more scared now than when he was facing a meteor bombardment for the first time. “First, I told her never to use this other than to get into the simulator. And, furthermore...”
Nova hit his fist so hard against the table that everyone in the room jumped, especially EB. “This will never happen again. You’re treading thin ice right now, Arx. We carefully vet those command cards and NEVER give them to anyone who hasn’t been registered in the computer. I never wanted to put tracking on all the people on this station, so to be certain they didn’t break the security rules. But, I guess that level of trust must be violated, thanks to you. Next time you violate BADGE rules like that again, you will find yourself looking for work planetside. Is that understood!?”
“Yes, sir.” Arx stood up straight.
“Now, go prepare a team and get to this mission.”
Arx’s departure from the room was so quick that even EB would be hard pressed to move faster.
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