"She couldn't have gotten far," Naomi says as she looks around the courtyard, scanning her eyes across the sea of wannabe royalty. It doesn't help that so many people here are wearing golden colored dresses, like J. Only J's is easily far more noticeable than all of the others here.
Malachi snickers. "Yeah, not like she's got an ability that lets her teleport or disguise herself as literally anything," he mutters and slowly takes a bite of a pastry.
Nisha sighs and looks around, spotting a well-groomed tree and she grins before lowering her stance and leaping towards it, climbing up into the leaves and perching on a branch about halfway up.
She peers across the crowd with squinted eyes, her tail flicking irritably as she finds nothing that immediately stands out. Then, she notices something over by the far left corner of the garden. On the outside wall of the Bastion, there is what looks like a fresh scorch mark below a stained glass window that's open a crack. There is a tall wall of white trellis leading up to the window, with slight dirt marks on some of the crosses.
"Hey! Get down from there!" a noble barks in her direction.
Nisha groans and rolls her eyes before dropping from the branch and flipping onto the grass, elegantly landing on her feet with her arms crossed.
The noble marches over and scoffs. "What in the world are you? This is a masquerade, not a Halloween party!" she examines her ears and tail with a grimace.
Naomi glares at the woman and stands at Nisha's side, also with her arms crossed. "Oh yeah? Then what's your excuse?" She doesn't even need to look at Nisha and she holds out her hand and the Tus'Felnis doesn't hesitate to complete the high five.
The noble woman huffs and looks Nisha over some more, her face scrunching up more and more as she takes in everything about her. "You're... a woman?"
"Um... Technically, yeah?" Nisha looks down at herself. "I mean, I got all the 'lady-bits', don't I?"
"Where's your dress?" the woman tilts her head and keeps her grimace.
Nisha snickers, despite the nagging annoyance and desire to punch this woman square in her golden mask. She cocks her head in Naomi's direction and smirks at the woman. "Oh, I think I left it on her bedroom floor. I should really go back and grab it the next time I'm there," she winks and leans against Naomi's shoulder.
Before the woman can get another insult out, there's a shout of exasperation from amidst the crowd and they all turn to see Malachi sprinting towards them with his arms filled with an ungodly amount of fresh pastries.
"Leg it!" he shouts as he runs past them with two officers on his trail.
Naomi and Nisha watch him sprint past and as the noble woman turns away from them to watch him as well, the girls look at each other and Naomi shrugs.
"I guess that's our cue," she says and Nisha instantly bolts for the window with Naomi following close behind. They make it there quickly and Nisha climbs up the trellis first. She vaults through the window and turns back to hold out her hand for Naomi and she takes it, letting the Tus'Felnis help pull her up and they both back into the hallway they've entered.
They stop and look around their surroundings. Unlike the rest of the Bastion, this hallway is completely dark, only the light from the moon shining through the windows is there to illuminate the way, casting a blue glow that reflects the heavy specks of dust floating through the air.
Many of the doors are boarded up, and there are some marks on the white and blue wallpaper that look like normal wear and tear at first glance, but the more they stare at it, the more it looks as though something happened to cause it to become damaged. Some burn charring here and there.
The worn blue carpet is not only covered in a thin layer of dust, but there are dark stains and streaks in a number of spots.
Nisha's ears twist forward as her senses go alert and she holds up her hand for Naomi to wait while she investigates. She walks over to one of the stains and crouches in front of it, blowing across the dust to see it better.
She nods once and looks back at Naomi. "Blood," she says grimly.
"Is it fresh?" Naomi asks.
Nisha shakes her head and stands up again, looking around some more. "No. Looks pretty old, maybe a decade ago. Seems whatever this place is, isn't something 'her grace' wants the public to see."
Naomi approaches one of the walls with torn wallpaper and burn marks. She reaches over and touches one of the spots of black char, and she gasps as her vision darkens, pulling her consciousness into her own mind.
__________________
Someone is running. She can see through their eyes.
There are people everywhere, from every side. Some try to stop whoever she is from getting away, but the others stand back and watch.
This person sprints through the hallway, but they stop when they see their exit. A window at the end of the hall.
"Fritz! Stop her!" someone shouts from the back.
Fritz Covett is standing in front of the window, watching the scene play out. He is the only thing in her way.
He lifts his hand, but stops as he stares at her.
He steps aside and kicks the window open, dodging out of the way as she resumes her sprint and leaps out to freedom.
At last. Freedom.
__________________
She jumps back and retracts her hand, pulling it close to herself as she calms down enough to remember where she is and what's going on. Whenever she enters her mind and the memories of other people, she feels what they feel. She felt the panic and desperation, but also hope. And overlaying it all was a rush of adrenaline and a strange desire to laugh hysterically as she finally felt the sun on her face and the fresh air in her lungs.
There was also a need to cry but it never happened. Not then and not ever again.
Nisha holds Naomi's shoulder. "You alright?"
Naomi nods and takes a deep breath. "Yeah... Another Echo," she says, and they both turn towards the window as they hear a sound, only to see Malachi climbing up and dropping into the hall, shutting the window behind him.
"What the hell did you do?" Nisha glares at him.
He turns around on his heel to face the girls and holds up a pastry. "Road food. And I bought you time. It's called a diversion, kid. Get over it," he takes a bite of the pastry and walks over to them.
"What happened to the rest of the food you stole?" Naomi asks, a little afraid of the answer.
Malachi shrugs and stuffs the pastry into his pants. "That's for me to know and you to wonder. Now, do you think she came through this way?"
Nisha looks down the hall again before turning to face Naomi. "Don't know. Naomi?"
She nods and her eyes glance back to the charring on the wall. "I think she was here at one point or another. If she's anywhere in the Bastion, my bet would be on her being somewhere in here."
Malachi nods. "Alright, all-seer. Lead the way," he motions down the hall.
The girl glares at him. "You don't get to make fun of me, pastry-pants. Now let's go," she rolls her eyes and starts slowly and cautiously making her way down the hall.
Nisha and Malachi follow close behind. Nisha makes sure to stick closer to Naomi in the darker areas that the windows don't reach, as her Tus'Felnis eyesight lets her see in the dark almost as clear as day. She wants to make sure the others don't walk into anything that could get them in trouble.
This wing is the furthest away from the rest of the Bastion, but they can still faintly hear the music of the ballroom echoing through the night, but it's distant and eerie in the darkness and empty halls.
The white walls have turned grey over the years. The navy blue carpet faded to pale cobalt. The longer they walk and the further down the empty halls they tread, the more frequent the burn marks become on the walls and floor.
"What the hell happened here?" Naomi asks as she looks around.
Malachi grumbles and observes their surroundings as well. "No clue. I've been through this hall before, when I was here the first time for the rift, but back then this was the experimentation wing. Guess something went wrong. Or right, depending on the experiment by The Director's twisted standards," he explains grimly.
Nisha keeps her attention forward but flicks an ear back in his direction. "So, what? Did they just stop with their experiments after something went wrong? Why close this place up?"
"They moved their experiments somewhere else, if I'm not mistaken. The East Wing, I think. Guess whatever happened left a sour taste in someone's mouth. That someone is likely The Director," Malachi says.
They walk past a long window that looks into a dark room that only Nisha can see the entirety of, and all she sees is a bunch of medical equipment, as well as some strange pod with 'cryogenic containment' written on it in faded black lettering. There is also a small child's bed with white dusty sheets and some old toys scattered across the floor.
They move past it and keep walking, passing by a few other windows with similar rooms, each with different setups and furnishing. None of the others have a cryo pod, though. Far as they can tell, it was just that one.
They all stop in unison when they hear light sobbing bouncing off the walls, the sound almost as faint as the distant music of the ballroom. The sobs occasionally shift into laughter, but it sometimes breaks through.
Nisha's full attention is drawn to the sound and she starts walking again, now ahead of Naomi. Seeing her start moving again, Malachi and Naomi follow her apprehensively, trying to keep their guards up but something resemblant of fear makes a part of them want to turn back.
They follow the hall some more, listening to the sound until it grows louder the closer they get. They slowly round a corner, entering a larger room with a glass box in the center that takes up about a third of the room, surrounded by various monitors and desks, shattered spotlights and cameras. The walls are scorched and more faded bloodstains line the floors.
Before they have a chance to try understanding what they're seeing and where they are, pink mist pours out and covers the ground, then rises up over the walls and the ceiling, completely coating the room in the glimmering smoke.
When it fades out, the room is as bright as the rest of the Bastion. The peeled wallpaper has been mended and the black char and blood are both gone. Nothing is broken. There are people scattered around, some sitting at desks, some talking. Some walk around the three and some walk straight through them as if they don't exist.
They look around in a panic, fear and question fill their hearts and minds as they try to understand, but Malachi remains the calmest. He recognizes this as the way this entire wing looked the last time he was here.
A set of double doors on the opposite end of the room fly open and a man furiously storms through. A man that immediately makes Naomi gasp as she sees him.
It's her father.
She tries reaching towards him, but Malachi holds her back as he watches the scene play out. Trying to reach for a memory only pushes it farther away.
"Anneliese!" Edgar Morris barks and looks around furiously, seeing that The Director is nowhere to be found. So instead, he grabs the arm of a random man in a lab coat. But Naomi also recognizes that man - an Imperium scientist - as Fritz Covett.
"Where is Corbin?" Edgar demands.
Fritz holds up his hands and stares at him with both fear and what looks like an attempt at remaining composed. "I'm sorry, sir. I don't know where she is at this time," he says and tries to back away, but the man holds him in place.
"Edgar, I ask you to refrain from harassing my scientists," comes the voice of Anneliese Corbin from behind Nisha, Naomi and Malachi.
They glance back to see The Director striding through the hall, walking through them like air and approaching Edgar and Fritz with her back straight and her head high.
"Is there a problem?" she asks with a condescending smile.
Edgar roughly lets go of Fritz and he backs away, retreating to a desk with his head down and he gets back to work while The Director addresses Naomi's father.
"Where is she?" he demands. "My daughter, where the hell is she?"
The Director sighs and holds up a calm hand. "She is perfectly fine."
"That's not what I asked. I asked where she is. I know you think she's fine by your standards, but you had one of your agents steal her in the night. Where is she?" he repeats himself with more vigor.
Corbin nods without losing her smile and motions for him to follow. "Right over here," she walks over to the hall again with Edgar following and they enter one of the rooms with the observational windows.
Inside the room is a white crib and medical equipment scattered here and there. In the crib is a baby, bundled up in white blankets and sleeping. She's tossing her head from side to side and whining, but she doesn't cry or wake up.
"The procedure was a success," The Director states. "Your daughter is the first infant to successfully survive receiving a mentally linked Augmentation. You must be so proud," she says without a care in the world.
Naomi stares at the scene in horror, bringing her hand up to the side of her head and taking a small step towards the window to stare through. Nisha holds her shoulder as she watches as well, and Malachi just stares at Naomi in shock and concern.
"This could kill her!" Edgar shouts and glares at The Director.
She simply turns to him with a shrug. "But it didn't."
Edgar looks about ready to throw a punch, but he takes a deep breath and a step back, stopping for a moment to compose himself. "My apologies, your grace. I was just worried for my daughter's safety. I am... grateful for the gift you've given her," he says through grit teeth.
"As you should be. Naomi is going to be part of something momentous. But now, I must return to my work. If you'll excuse me, I must ask you to leave," The Director says complacently and walks back to the door.
Edgar nods slowly. "I will in a moment. I just want to make sure she's okay and then I'll be out of your hair," he says and walks over to the crib.
"As you wish. Do not linger too long," Corbin states and exits the room.
As soon as she's gone and no one is looking, Edgar checks his surroundings one last time before swiftly scooping Naomi into his arms and hiding her within his jacket, and he hurries out the doors before anyone notices what happened.
Nisha, Naomi and Malachi slowly turn back towards the main room to see The Director approach Fritz at his desk. The moment he sees her, he quickly stands up with his head high and he bows.
"Is there something I can do for you, your grace?" he asks anxiously.
The Director chuckles, delighted by his nervousness. "Naomi's Augmentation was a success. I think I would like to experiment with mental linking some more. Would this be something you'd be interested in helping me with, Covett?" she asks.
His eyes light up. "You... want me to help you with your main project? Are you sure, your grace?"
"I am," she chuckles again. "You've remained loyal to me thus far. I think it's time for a promotion. I know you don't want to be cooped up in a lab coat all day forever."
"No, ma'am. What did you have in mind?" he asks and curiously tilts his head.
Corbin smiles cunningly and crosses her hands behind her back. "How would you like to be part of Validity?" she offers.
Fritz's eyes light up more and he beams. "You're... giving me a chance to be part of the Val'Guard?"
"Of course. You are more than qualified for the position," she hums.
"What do I have to do?" Fritz asks eagerly.
The Director steps away from his desk and grins, turning towards the hallway again. "I need two subjects for the next stage of my experiment. Preferably family, with a notable age difference. Both subjects would be given mental linked Augmentations, and they would be monitored for development," she explains and glances back at him. "I want you to be one of them."
Fritz's smile wavers, but only a little. "But... isn't there a chance it'll kill me?"
"Of course there is always a chance, but we will take precautions to ensure that doesn't happen," Corbin states.
Fritz slowly nods and his smile returns with his excitement. "What about the second subject?" he questions and jogs over to her side.
The Director looks at him with her own smile, though hers is far more serene and regal, however cunning it may be. "You have a cousin, do you not?"
Now, Fritz's smile falters more and shifts into uncertainty. "Well... Yes. I do. But... She's only eleven. Don't you think that's... too young for something like this?" he says and lowers his gaze to the ground.
"The younger the better. The results we got from Naomi were phenomenal. Jonie would be perfect for this," she says and sees his reluctance, so she faces him and places her hand on his shoulder. "She would be taken care of, I assure you. You have nothing to worry about."
"I don't know..." he says uncertainly.
The Director retracts her hand and tilts her head at him. She carefully grabs his chin and turns his face up to look at her.
"You want this promotion, don't you?" she asks and lets him go.
Fritz stares at her in contemplation and he sighs, nodding submissively. "Yes, your grace. I'll do anything."
"Just as I thought," Corbin steps back with a smile. "Bring her here tomorrow. We'll begin the test right away."
"As you wish, Director."
The pink mist engulfs the people in the room and they all vanish, and now, in the glass box in the center of the room is a young girl dressed in baggy black pants and a black and white stripped t-shirt, and over it is a dark green camo jacket. Her light brown hair is braided in pigtails.
She's sitting in a chair, strapped down with a machine aimed at the back of her head. She tries to look over to see The Director standing and watching on the other side of the glass with Fritz at her side, wincing and rubbing his head as he is still recovering from receiving his first Augmentation.
"Is this gonna hurt?" the girl asks.
The Director smiles. "Just relax, Jonie." The machine powers up.
"But is it gonna—" she can't finish her sentence as the tip of the device stabs itself into the back of her skull and she can't hold back the piercing scream that tears through her throat. She convulses violently in the chair, desperately pulling her arms and legs, trying to free herself from the restraints but it's no use.
Fritz takes a step towards the glass box, but The Director rests her hand on his shoulder and he stops in his place, concern spreads across his face as he watches her screaming and crying in a fit of agony.
"Director... what's going on? This didn't happen when I got mine," he questions and looks up at her.
Corbin smiles at the girl thrashing in pain. "Everyone takes to the Augmentation differently."
There's a power surge and the lights flicker, one lamp in the corner bursts and some shards scatter. Fritz flinches and lowers his stance, when the screaming in the box cuts out and his cousin falls motionless.
He gasps and sprints to the entrance, pressing his hand to the panel and it scans his palm before blinking green and sliding open. He rushes in and holds her face in his shaking hands, trying to wake her up but she doesn't move.
"Jonie! Come on, wake up!" he shouts and whips his attention back at The Director as she walks in. "What happened? Is she okay? What's going on?"
Corbin brushes him aside and presses a finger to the inside of the girl's wrist, sighing with annoyance when she finds no pulse. "Her body resisted the Augmentation. How disappointing," she mutters.
"What?!" Fritz exclaims and checks her pulse for himself. "No! No no no, Jonie!" Tears sting his eyes. "Your grace, please! Please, give her a Second Chance! I'll do anything! She's the only family I have left, please!" he drops to his knees and bows his head as he begs while weeping.
The Director just stares down at him and scowls, but she stops for a moment to consider something. "Anything?" she smirks wickedly.
"Yes! Whatever you want!" he pleads.
She hums her approval and slowly nods, narrowing her eyes at him. "Hmm... Seeing as you took the first Augmentation extraordinarily well..." she smiles and nods to herself. "I will do as you ask, if you become my vessel."
Fritz lifts his head, tears are streaming down his cheeks. "Vessel?"
She nods once again. "You will be the one I test new Augmentations on to make sure they are ready for distribution. My guinea pig for all my new experiments. Agree to this, and I will give her a Second Chance."
"Of course! I'll be your vessel if it means you'll bring her back!" he jumps to his feet.
The Director chuckles and steps around him, pressing one hand to the girl's chest and the other to her forehead. She closes her eyes and her hands glow gold. The light encases Jonie's body and after a moment, it vanishes instantly.
The moment the light is gone, Jonie gasps awake, coughing and looking around in a sporadic fit of panic. "What happened?! What the absolute fuck just happened?!" she shouts.
Fritz's face lights up and he quickly releases her from her restraints before wrapping her in his arms. "Shh... You're okay... You're a Hex now, Jonie... Just like you've been wanting... You're okay..." he tries getting his breathing and trembling under control.
He feels The Director's hand on his shoulder but he keeps his arms around his cousin and his eyes shut tight.
"You will now serve as my vessel. And remember to use my gift sparingly. After all, you won't get another chance," she states and holds her head high as she walks out of the glass box.
Jonie watches over Fritz's shoulder, and the moment The Director is gone, pink mist fills the room, but it fades quickly and she groans, throwing herself back and holding her head with a low whine.
"It hurts... Everything hurts, Fritz..." she utters.
"I know... But it'll go away. Just give it time," he says softly and brushes back a few strands of her hair that slipped from their braids in her thrashing.
Jonie looks down at her hands. "What can my ability do?" she asks and looks up at him again.
He chuckles and holds one of her hands. "Whatever you want."
The scene is swept up in another wave of pink smoke, and this time, the mist flows through the hallway and into the room that used to be the one Naomi was in, but now it's been altered and almost emptied out. Plain white walls. No more machines. Just a simple twin sized bed with white sheets, a white desk, and sitting on the bed is Jonie, writing frantically in a notebook.
She's now wearing a plain white and red jumpsuit, and she looks like she might be about a year older than she was in the previous illusion.
As she writes, several people walk by the window. Some stop and examine her for a moment before carrying on into the main room. But the girl ignores them and focuses only on writing, shakily sprawling her pen across the pages as she flips through them clumsily.
She's muttering gibberish to herself while writing. Once they manage to tear their eyes off of the girl, they see that scattered across the floor of the room are torn pages, and the only thing written on them is 'MAKE IT STOP,' over and over.
They look at Jonie again and see her starting to rock back and forth and tears start rolling down her cheeks but she doesn't react to them. Her hands shake out of control and she growls viciously before throwing the notebook at the window.
She jumps up and storms over to the window, banging on the glass as another scientist walks past. "When can I leave?!" she shouts, but the scientist merely looks at her for a moment and carries on walking into the main room.
She bangs on the window again. "Hey! I want out!"
They ignore her.
She shoves away from the window and drops to her knees in the center of the room, holding her head and rocking back and forth. Her unintelligible muttering slowly turns into whispers.
"Make it stop. Make it stop. Make it... STOP!" she screams and beats her head on the ground once.
The next person to pass by the window is The Director, and she stops to peer in and see the girl breaking down. As she cries to herself, pink mist starts swirling around her body. It surrounds the pages littered on the floor, and slowly, the mist dissolves and the pages are gone and in their place is a swarm of rats that scamper around, but the mist quickly returns and the rodents vanish and turn back into shredded paper.
The Director smiles and nods her approval while Jonie continues to cry, and Corbin simply walks away just as everyone else does.
"Director... When can she go home?" Fritz asks with his head down, staring back in the direction of Jonie's room.
"When I'm satisfied with the results of the experiment," The Director states simply.
He glances up at her. "But... She's losing her mind. The mental Augmentations... They make us hear... Screaming. It just keeps getting louder and louder. I can only tolerate it thanks to your efforts to dull it, but it's still there. It gets worse every time you take another ability from me. But Jonie... She doesn't have anything to block the screaming," he tries to get her to see reason, but she huffs and nods once.
"Exactly. It seems her Augmentation is only effective when her mind is slipping. It is pure chaos locked up, just waiting to break free whenever she lets go. It's simply a matter of waiting."
"But she'll lose her mind," Fritz says.
The Director nods. "Only if she wants her ability to work."
Fritz goes to speak again, but The Director turns away and waves him on to follow. "Come now. There are more Augmentations that need to be tested."
"Whatever you require, my lady."
They vanish in a whirl of pink, and Nisha, Naomi and Malachi don't have a moment to register anything before there's a loud bang next to them and they turn to see Jonie slamming herself against the metal door to her room, repeatedly screaming 'LET ME OUT'.
She has tears running down her face again, but her eyes hold the spark of a flame that fights to break free. They can tell she's trying to keep it down. Trying to hold it back. To prevent herself from snapping.
Pink mist surrounds her, but she fights it and it vanishes just as soon as it was there. She stumbles back from the door and grabs her desk, throwing it at the window but it just breaks the desk. She starts scratching at the walls before reaching her bed and shredding the blankets and pillows.
She collapses in the center of the room again, breaking down sobbing. The mist returns and surrounds the room, obscuring the view of the inside. Through the pink smoke, they can still hear her screaming and crying until it all falls silent.
It's silent for only a moment, when the sound returns. Only it's no longer crying. No longer sobbing.
It's laughter.
Rather quiet at first, but it gradually grows louder. It isn't long before it turns into full blown hysteria, but they still can't see into the room.
When the mist dissolves, she's gone.
They follow the sound of laughter to see Jonie now standing at the end of the hallway with a knife in her hand. A couple scientists spot her and one tries to take the blade from the girl, but she runs at him and stabs him in the chest, over and over and continuing long after he has stopped moving. She laughs the whole time, even as she stands up again and turns towards the main room.
She waits to lock eyes with The Director before giggling and winking at her, and she vanishes in a puff of pink smoke. She reappears behind Corbin and tries to run the blade across her throat, but The Director grabs her wrist and slaps her, knocking her to the ground, but Jonie just laughs and vanishes again.
The Director dodges out of the way as Jonie strikes at her again from a few different angles, failing to land even a single hit.
"Stop her, you idiots!" Corbin barks to the scientists standing by gawking.
One scientist hesitantly grabs the girl and pulls her away from The Director, and she laughs before slitting her throat. She turns around to face The Director again and before given a chance to stop her, she stabs the knife through her right eye.
Jonie plunges the blade deeper into Corbin's skull, smiling wildly the whole time, but she slowly starts to realize the woman is providing too much fight for someone who should be dying right now.
Her eye socket sparks and the knife is electrocuted, making Jonie yelp and release her grip on the blade, stumbling back. She winces as The Director merely pulls the knife from her eye and tosses it aside, glaring daggers at the girl.
She doesn't wait before turning and sprinting down the hall with a unit of Val'Guard soldiers following her.
Naomi, Nisha and Malachi don't need to chase after the illusion as they know what happens next. Naomi saw it in her vision.
Fritz lets her go.
The hallway and main room are filled with pink smoke one more time before it fades away, taking the illusion with it and bringing back the present state of the experimentation wing. The darkness and dust gathering on every surface, and sitting in the glass box, reclined back in the chair with the device is J in her flowy golden dress. The only light is once again from the blue glow of the moon shining through the windows.
The three watch her as they slowly approach, seeing her just staring vacantly through the glass at the wall.
Once they reach the box, she turns her head back to look at them, and for once, she isn't smiling. She just looks tired.
They have no words. She just slowly nods and sighs before standing up from the chair and stepping out of the box.
"And they all lived happily ever after," she chuckles emptily and walks past the three towards a desk. She kneels down and grabs something from the floor and when she stands up again, they see it's the knife from the illusion.
Malachi slowly walks over to her with Naomi and Nisha watching him apprehensively, as if expecting J to suddenly take that blade and stab him in the throat.
He rests his hand on her shoulder and clears his throat when she looks up at him with weary eyes.
He holds up a quiche. "Pant pastry?" he offers.
She pouts and slowly nods, taking the pastry in her other hand while still holding the knife. She just sits down on the floor with her legs crossed and starts eating in silence. Naomi kneels beside her.
"I'm going to hug you," she warns. "Please don't stab me."
She cautiously wraps her arm around J while she keeps eating in silence, and Nisha does the same on J's other side.
They stay like that for a while, when J finishes eating and stands up, still holding the knife.
Nisha watches her rise. "What... are you going to do now?"
J smiles and looks down at the knife. "No second chances," she says.
"I'mma fuck up The Director."