Not If I Save You First

twenty-three | plaintext

"Your parents took the pills in 1994 and they died in 2010. It says here, ''As of 2008, the subjects have reached peak elegance in the utilization of their usages and now should engage in a second dosage'," Archer read.

Celia dramatically raised her hand like a child in a classroom. I pointed to her, while still trying to keep my mind focused.

This is why I work alone.

Having people asking questions and talking in both my ears gives me a migraine.

Pacing around my bedroom is helping, but I'm ready to kick everyone out of my room.

"Your parents were still keeping an eye on the process of their experiment. Ariella's parents never did anything strange in the company of others to make it seem like they have mystical powers. How could they have controlled all the variables when they haven't seen much of Vivian and Bruce?" Celia questioned, thinking through all possibilities.

"How does what you just said imply that the psionic abilities are temporary?" I asked Archer.

"The word elegant," Archer said, reading through the file again in his head. "It's a codeword that my parents and I used to say. They use the word elegant in place of the word temporary."

Elegant.

Elegance.

"Give me the Thomas and Martha experiment files!" I shouted, reaching for the files on my bed. Celia and Thea went into frantic-mode trying to find it in their pile.

I found these files over a month ago. Back when I was focusing on finding my parents' names in the files of Maya and William Hawthorne's experiments.

Everything is written in codenames.

My parents: Jude and Lucy for Experiment: Ariel & Carl Rhea.

Another file for subjects Thomas and Martha were written down for the same experiment details. The word elegance is now standing out to me. At first, I assumed that their diction for details about their experiments was how they interpreted their research. Using fancy words would be common for two individuals of high intelligence who have been researching and experimenting nearly all their lives.

Thomas and Martha have been under our supervisor for approximately six months.

Martha exhibited signs of crudeness after the administration done by Ariel & Carl Rhea. She has been discontinued from the graphing of the experiment.

Thomas, on the other hand, exhibited signs of elegance throughout the administration. Thomas feels that due to his elegant feelings and abilities, another dosage would be beneficial for the data collection.

Without the Eight, another dosage is impossible.

I read the statements out loud to the group. "It's all connected by Batman," I muttered, looking directly at Archer.

"Excuse me?" Grayson questioned.

"Batman is my favorite superhero," Archer answered. "My parents drilled the comic books into my head. We would see all the movies in theaters. They bought me a bunch of clothes with the batman symbol on the front."

"Cognitive programming," Grayson said, typing everything on his computer. He pulled up the different levels of cognitive programming. "Your parents must've had these plans for months. They knew this work would eventually be their demise, so they programmed your brain to associate Batman with things about their work. On a subconscious level, your parents have been filling your mind with the information to solve their kidnapping."