How did they find out about the Cyan Project? The President of Henwrich muses as she straightens her sleeves, viewing the empty conference room before her. The screens, on the far end of the spacious room, display a progressing loading bar.
SYNC COMPLETE: 78%
She relaxes her furrowed brows. Right, the interiors of Pearl Manor. She glances at her watch, it's hands skewed in the south-east direction. The middle-aged President takes in a deep breath, recollecting the swift actions in the preceding hour.
After the call was disconnected, the anonymous caller's phone was immediately traced to a local park in Salsberry, heart of the Audson province; an hour's drive from the Emerald House. Exactly five minutes later, a group of officers, hand-picked by special agent Banks, were at the scene.
Veronica taps her right shoe against the leg of the long oak table. She glances through the doorway on her left, at her moonlit office. What is happening in Pearl Manor?
She flits her gaze to the array of papers arranged on the table, each showing a resident profile. "They hid Carrie to protect themselves," she mutters, eyes riveted on the document titled Resident # 10: Anthony Banks. "But the last imperium was detected there." She lifts her head to glance at the screens, the loading bar stuck at 79%. The chair moans a squeak as its user gets up. "Why wouldn't Tom disclose this information about Carrie?"
President Clarke flinches in her stance, when she sees the Chief of Informatics rush in through the doorway on her far right, their eyes locked on their laptop placed on the table. "Did you find the caller?" she asks.
"Yes, ma'am," The Chief of Staff enters, marching into the room, her haggard visage gleaming under the soft LED lights. Veronica darts her gaze to the screen, which changes its display to an image; a thirty-five year old man laying on a bench. "This is Locke Cummings," Sanders apprises. They glance at the President, "Our officers found him dead upon arrival. His Blackberry was in his coat pocket."
They tap a key on their laptop, the image changing to a zoomed in version of the caller's left wrist. Veronica straightens when she views a small, black tattoo.
A triquetra. She realizes, slowly taking her seat. The gang's trademark... "From the informant's database, we've confirmed that Cummings has been in the Xenos gang for twenty years." Sanders says. The President leans back in her seat and lets out a sigh, "Good we're prepared this time."
Her subordinates flash a small grin while glancing at the screen. The onset of tropical storm Raven was the perfect cover for the nationwide lock-down, which commenced seven hours ago. Preventing another plausible attack, and at the same time, not stirring panic in the nation. Veronica muses, tapping her slender fingers on the oak.
She glances at the Chief of Informatics, "What about his acquaintance?" She points to the corpse in the screen with a marker, "And by when will we know his cause of death?"
"We're tracking the acquaintance right now," Laura answers, heading to her boss with a black file in hand, "As for Cummings, he was hexed." She hands the file, the initials I.C.J etched into the smooth hardbound, "Dr. Fix says it's a Qwerty curse."
The President opens the file, right brow raised in astonishment when she sees the image clipped to the medical report.
Buzz!
The Chief of Staff excuses herself from the room, retrieving her buzzing phone. Upon reading the caller ID, when she steps into the President's office, she picks up, "Yes?" She nods when the caller speaks, "Just a moment." She pulls her phone away from her ear, returning to the room. "Ma'am, Dr. Fix wants to speak with you." She offers her iPhone, "She's on the line."
Veronica glances at the white smartphone before taking it. "Madam President," the caller says in a thick British accent. "You must have received the preliminary autopsy report by now."
"Yes," Veronica says, reading the report. "I'm aware of the advanced technology you possess, but I'm surprised by the quick autopsy results." She hears a chuckle over the line. "However, I can't understand his cause of death." She revolts when she glances at the image in the file, "And what is this image?"
"President Clarke," Dr. Fix says. "A Qwerty curse is easy to execute, and easy to diagnose. It performs the simple function of concurrent multi-organ failure." She pauses. "What do you see in the image?" The President glances at the file, "The body's glowing a neon blue."
Sanders mutedly clears their throat as they clack away on their laptop.
"This is the main characteristic of the curse. Fifteen to twenty minutes after the victim has been hexed, their skin glows a neon blue under UV lighting." Veronica sighs, closing the file, the aglow Xenoxian now imprinted in her mind. "My team will be able to detect the telepath who placed this curse, in an hour," Dr. Fix apprises.
"Telepath?"
"Only those with telepathic abilities can place the curse," she answers. "And when they do, they leave a unique trace on the victim."
So his acquaintance is a telepath. The president muses. "I also called to inform you," the medical examiner says, her voice lowered. "About the body you buried on 20th January 2017." Veronica hears the shuffling of papers over the line. "Who is it?" she asks, the image of her comatose daughter appearing before her eyes.
"It's a Jane Doe," she answers. "Look, the previous autopsies weren't wrong in identifying the body as Ms. Smith. It's just that, many powerful techniques were used to disguise the body, which could not be detected, even in our machines." She pauses to catch her breath. "It would take ten to twelve months, sometimes eighteen, for the effects to wear off."
The President glances at the profiles on the table. "Why did they do that?"
"Saving her?" Dr. Fix asks.
"Staging her death."
Silence prevails for a moment. "I think you already know the answer," she replies. Veronica tries to formulate the answer, eyes on the file before her. "Is it-" The call declines.
Chief of Defense Sophia Chambers enters the conference room, glancing at the President who's seated at the head of the table, busy on the phone. She takes a seat beside the weary Chief of Staff. "We've caught the mole of Pearl Manor," she whispers.
"What?" Sanders says, lifting their head to see the Chief seated across the table. "Who is it?" Laura says, swiveling in her chair. She traces her colleague's curious gaze to the President, "Dr. Kiera Fix is on the line."
"The other agent dispatched by the ICJ for this investigation?" Sophia asks, recollecting the six-foot-tall blonde.
Chief Moorhaven nods.They pull their chair closer to the table, "Now, who is the mole? Is it the owner?" Sophia shakes her head. She flits her gaze to the President who gets up from her seat. The Chief of Staff stops her, when their boss begins to pace to and fro the breadth of the conference room, "Let's give her time to think."
The Chief of Defense places her phone back in her blazer pocket, "Then I'll disclose the info about the mole when she's done".
"Are they secure?" Laura asks. She nods, "The mole will be teleported to the Squad's facility soon." She shifts her gaze to the other Chief, "How did you find Carrie's phone? You said that it was untraceable since the night she went missing."
Sanders give a curt nod. "When we got access to the facility's communications network at the manor, we found her phone's signal while decoding," they answer, eyes fixed on their laptop. "It had just switched on." Chief Chambers leans back in her seat, "And from that, we could easily track the caller's location." Her colleague nods.
"One thing's not clear," The Chief of Staff says. "From Carrie's phone records, this number had called last year too. Why would Cummings use the same number?"
"Right? It's like he wanted to be found," Sophia says. "He even told that Carrie's incident was a mistake."
Sanders glances at their colleagues, "Also, he had the mark. Usually they would remove that right? To rid any connection to the gang."
Laura shakes her head, "I've learnt that the tattoo is permanent. That's how agent Banks has it, though he's not part of the gang anymore."
Sophia creases her forehead in realization, "Now come to think of it, the Xenos gang hid themselves well in the past year. The informant was right about them being active, I mean, the last imperium that was used in the attacks was detected." She glances at her colleagues. "Cummings proved this point."
Sanders nods in concurrence, "Looks like the nefarious Xenos gang had a loose cannon tonight."
"Now it makes sense," Veronica blurts out, halting her pace. She faces her subordinates, "It all makes sense."
"What does, ma'am?" Laura says, leaning forward. "What makes sense?"
The President clasps her hands, grinning for the first time tonight, "The phone calls. It all makes sense." She heads out of the room.
"Ma'am?" Laura says, getting up from her seat. Sophia glances at her colleague who checks their laptop as they get up. "The interiors will be up in two minutes," they say, approaching her. "We'll finally know what the informant is up to there."
Veronica plops on her executive chair, closing her eyes when relief sets in. She's alive. She's safe. She takes in a deep breath, wiping off a few tears that roll down her cheeks, "It's not over yet." She searches for the switchboard under her desk.
The President blinks back her tears when the soft, white lights switch on. She glances at the bureau before her, "So they attacked Carrie to obtain something that failed?" She opens the top drawer and takes out a long, ivory scroll. She unwraps it, revealing the map of Henwrich.
"Ma'am," Laura says, standing at the doorstep, her colleagues behind her. The President motions them to enter, taking a black marker from the pen-stand. Pearl Manor's in Castor. She muses, marking a dot in the north of Carr province. And the call was traced to Salsberry. She plots another point, in the central county of Audson province.
She glances at the four concentric dots, "These are the four manors that were destroyed on the eve of the attacks, right?" The Chief of Staff reaches the table, and looks at the laminated map, "Yes ma'am. They're the origin points." Veronica shifts her gaze to her subordinates who stand before the table. "Please sit, I need your inputs on this."
She takes out a file from the bottom drawer while her chiefs take their seats. She flips through the pages, "Could you read this out for me please?" She hands the file to Laura, who nods.
She glances at the list in the page. Laboratories? She shifts her gaze to her boss who awaits her recount. "Um, we have Kendshaw Labs. It's located in Virgo County." The President marks a cross in the north of Wisteria province.
The other two chiefs glance at the map as their colleague recounts the remaining three names. Each manor has a lab in its vicinity. Sophia muses.
Sanders creases their forehead, "Ma'am, I'm lost here. How is this related to the phone calls?"
"The Cyan Project," Veronica says, leaning back in her seat. "That's what they're searching for." Laura glances at the file she holds. She closes it to find the words 'CLASSIFIED' embossed on the hardbound, "Is this the project?"
The President nods, "We thought that the Xenos gang wanted to eliminate their enemies. So that nobody can stop them from proceeding with the attacks." She glances at the map, "From Tom, we know that they used imperiums to manipulate some of the locals into being killing machines."
Sophia peers at the map while playing with her watch, images of the gruesome attacks flashing in her mind, "These are the epicenters of the attack." The President mutely shifts in her seat, "Yes, but Glenville International Airport and Reifont Aquatics Center are apart from these epicenters." She points to the two stars on the map.
"Not many people were affected," The Chief of Defense replies, realizing something. "They had specifically targeted Carrie and Jason." She looks at her, "But why?"
"It says that it failed fourteen years ago," Laura says, closing the file and placing it on the table. "So why are they behind a failed project?"
A series of thoughts click in Chief Moorhaven's mind. The Cyan Project! They get up from their seat, glancing at the President, "The Cyan Project. The one led by Dr. Clarke?"
The president nods, casting a stiff smile. Chiefs Oshken and Chambers dart their gazes to their collegues, "Dr. Clarke?"
"Dr. McKenna Clarke," Sanders says. "She discovered the Eso genes." Their colleagues slightly nod, shifting their gaze to the hardbound file. "We found this out a few weeks ago, when we found the informant."
Sophia arches her brows, "Oh, the Cyan Project." She rubs her forehead, "They wanted to find a way...to reactivate the powers of Class E* superhumans."
Laura glances at the file, brows knitted, "Why don't I remember this?" Sanders glances at their colleague, "You know that Dr. Clarke was a renowned geneticist."
"I do know that," She replies, rolling her eyes. "She deciphered the entire human genome five years before the world did." Chief Moorhaven nods, "Now, remember the presentation I gave two weeks ago." She slightly nods, recollecting the fuzzy memory of an interview.
"It was agent Dames who gave it," Chief Chambers chimes in. She ignores her other colleague's reaction by glancing at the map. The creases in Laura's forehead begin to vanish when the interview's audio gets clearer in her mind.
We've seen quite a few 'superhumans' in the last twenty years - Elasto, Hercules, Bolt, and now General H. Unlike the general population, who are terrified by their existence, some of us in the scientific community were intrigued by their supernatural abilities. From what we've found, there was no kryptonite, no curse from a wizard or witch, and definitely not artificial mutations induced by a mad scientist.
"That was in May 1985," Sanders intercedes. "The Cyan Project was initiated five years later." They glance at the President, "But it was discontinued in 2003..." They trail off, recollecting the reason while taking their seat. "She was diagnosed with Alzheimer's that year," the geneticist's daughter says,closing the marker. "And the project was beginning to burn a big hole in the Treasury's pockets." She places the pen back.
Sophia leans back in her seat, "So they thought you would know the results." She glances at her, "They couldn't attack you, so they targeted Carrie and Jason."
Veronica nods, "Everything was going according to their plan. Though their resources were limited, compared to their counterparts, they found the locations through Webster and proceeded."
"But Cummings said that Carrie was a mistake," Laura says. She straightens in her seat, "We wouldn't have believed it if his acquaintance hadn't arrive." She glances at the map, "So they didn't want to kill her."
"If it weren't for the residents of Pearl Manor, she would have died." The president lifts her head to see her subordinates, "We were wrong about them."
"You can say that they were the only ones who weren't affected," She continues. "And that they had one of the imperiums. But they saved Carrie." She rubs her forehead, "They also wanted to maintain their abstruse status, especially when they watched their acquaintances burn to ashes." She crosses her arms.
"So they staged her death," Laura concludes. "To not leave any traces behind." Sanders glances at the file, "Nobody knows of Pearl Manor except us." They glance at the President, "So the call from the owner..." They retrieve their phone while getting up. "Please excuse me," they dial a number as they head out.
"That's what Tom was trying to say," Veronica says. "He went for the imperium."
"Which we found fifteen minutes ago," Sophia says, retrieving her phone. "The Alpha Team found Mr. Thornwood escaping the manor, with the device." She shows the image. Veronica grins, examining the white disc, "What's that?" She points to the silver object on the antenna. "That's the agent's blocking device."
"He deactivated the last imperium," The President says. She leans back, rubbing her face, "So now we have that and the mole."
"Now," Laura says, "What about the call from the Owner?"
Ping!
The Chiefs check their phones. "The mole has been teleported," the former apprises. The latter arches their brows, "We've received a message from the informant." They both glance at the President, who stares at the map.
"Chief Chambers," she says, lifting her head. "Please continue to maintain a low profile on Pearl Manor." Sophia nods, getting up from her seat. "Also, I want updates on the mole's interrogation, as well as the Xenoxian's pursuit."
"Yes, ma'am," The Chief answers. She turns on her heels and marches out of the office. "And I want you to contact Mrs. Wilhelm."
Laura glances at her, "The Chief of the Department of Agriculture, or-"
"My mother's caregiver," Veronica says. "I want to know a few things." The Chief of Staff nods, tapping her phone. The Xenos gang have discovered something that we don't know yet. The President muses, her gaze landing on the empty seat, "Where's Chief Moorhaven?"
"Ma'am," Sanders says, rushing in. "We have the interiors of Pearl Manor." The President and her Chief of Staff spring up from their seats.
"Chief. I want you to check every info we have on the Cyan Project," the former says, entering the conference room. "Every experiment, every person related to this-" She trails off when her gaze falls on the screen. "This is Hybrid Room 1, second floor of Pearl Manor," Sanders apprises.
* Class E : Also known as Dormants. Here, such people do inherit the Eso genes, but don't have any powers. Some cases are congenital (absence of powers from birth), while others occur later in life (losing powers).