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Chapter -16- Details (unabridged)

February 3, 2024 - afternoon I95 Northbound, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida ...

** Lance scoffed** and rubbed his palm against the smooth metallic shifter. "Deuteronomy twenty-two - if an engaged woman does not scream while being raped, she shall be stoned to death. This was meant to identify a cheater compared to a rape victim. We didn't account for women who would not be heard crying out. It didn't account for women who were too afraid to cry out. It didn't account for women who were too ashamed to cry out. Innocent women were raped and then murdered by her peers because we used religion to make the world police itself."

"Lance..."

"No. It was wrong. Leviticus was a book to help people of that time period to stay clean. Certain meats were forbidden. Tattoos were forbidden. Homosexuality was called an abomination, because the spread of germs was rampant. Who knew that those rules would be used to incite bigotry so many generations later? You're right, we were a type of Illuminati. The Old World Order government made laws by defining sins. Then we sat back and let the churches and people police each other with judgment. That was wrong."

Steven groaned and shook his head. "It killed thousands. It saved millions."

"It was rife with horrible contradictions. Circumcision was deemed a good idea to lesson masturbation, and promote unions, but then we came back in Deuteronomy twenty-three and said if someone had their member cut, they would be denied entry into the kingdom of heaven."

"Lawyers would point out that both are correct, Lance. Because there was no kingdom to enter that we know of. Why are you on this tangent?"

"We shouldn't have been trying to control the world by using their belief system. The modern people are still using old laws to justify their actions against others. That's proof we shouldn't have used their core belief system to control them by using 'sin' to create law. I've learned that government and religion no longer belong together."

"Again, it saved lives at the time. We did the best we could with what methods we had. So far as Leviticus - yes it was a book of cleanliness. People need to understand you can eat bacon with tattoos and have gay sex in the shower and be perfectly clean in the modern age of hot running water. By all means, if cleanliness is Godliness, then they should be in their showers right now, eating bacon and taking it up the ass."

"No, Steven. People take those laws figuratively. They think it means it's being unclean spiritually. They bash one another and judge without thinking."

"Most people should know by now that those old laws went out the door with the arrival of the New Testament."

Lance smirked and said, "Have you read the bibles these people print? In Matthew, Jesus admonishes his disciples for not keeping the old laws." He paused then, in a sarcastic tone, added, "And don't forget to sell your raped daughter to her rapist for fifty silver."

Steven rolled his eyes. "I never personally met the man, the myth or the legend. Did he even exist or were the rumors about him made up by storytellers and gossipers? The human knack for drama and gossip created the most powerful ideas and ideals wrapped up in one bearded man that the modern world has ever seen. Why are you even on this subject, Lance?"

"Yes he was real. No, I don't know if he was supernatural. No, I didn't witness any miracles, personally. And, Steven, let's face it. We created a ripple effect that changed the face of the world. It's still around in many circles today."

"We changed the world's way of thinking with that old world order by using psychology. We saved lives from dirt and disease, and we saved people from becoming lawless and dangerous to one another. We saved lives by telling people that breaking the law was a sin."

Lance grimaced. "We had no right to try and control the world's way of thinking. Survivors of the First Age had no right to create a marriage of church and state. And we no right to try and control the world, now. We can't even control Falcon and Sire."

"Everyone answers to somebody. Even a CEO has to answer to the stockholders, if not another parent company of some sort. The question is, who does Falcon and Sire follow? Do they even know they're following someone? All we need to do is find out who they're following, and then we can manipulate the situation as we need."

"I thought the plan was to simply shut it all down?"

"Mm, yes. But, Lance, that's what we need to speak about. Today will be the day. The beginning of the end. I fear that Karla, Reno and their troupe won't be ready for this sort of thing."

"Surely they'll be able to improvise. Never before now have we allowed for a group of esoteric people to gather in such a fashion and gallivant about on adventures. But they're following the path we've given them, with no sect or clear leader to interfere. They'll be fine. I've already calculated the risks using a very complex mathematical model."

"And the result?"

"The result was that they will do exactly as you have planned. They will follow your agenda to the letter. The model is so perfect that if you were to change your agenda, or if you had a hidden agenda, I dare say they would still carry it out as you've planned." Lance shook his head with a grin. "But the hinging variable is that your 'play' of action is something to bring about progress with action. The formula would not work if you suddenly decided to 'do nothing.' There is a factor of motivation I accounted for."

"You don't speak like a mathematician until the moment that you do. My only plan is for Sire to die. I theorize that the rest will collapse once he's gone because he is the glue that causes Falcon's operation to stick together."

Lance nodded in agreement. "A reasonable assumption, considering everyone else that mattered in the council is now dead."

"Quite so. There's no variable of distraction. And so you see? Our people will win this fight."

"I wasn't talking about fighting, Lance. They won't be mentally prepared yet," Steven said. "Perhaps Sinopa's presence will balance the fight against Sire but the rest of the group is not ready. I thought we agreed to approach the group and work with them before allowing them to get into such an unsorted mess."

"Then we should try. You've been watching through Watson, haven't you? So where are our 'heroes' now?"

"Some of them have headed out to secure the island recently used as a supply staging area by Falcon. It's the closest island, not that it's really close at all ... but just the same. If I were Falcon, I'd want to destroy that island - it makes sense to hide evidence."

"Mm, I agree," Lance mused, pulling out of the airport. "What of the rest of them?"

"Karla's boat. It's several hours from the island. I'm not sure of her exact location. Perhaps we should make preparations to head out there immediately."

"You seem pensive. What did the Oracle tell you, exactly?"

"YiaYia said that today was the first day of the wrong fork."

Lance glanced over his shoulder then back at the road with a sigh. "Then it _is_too late. We've done this so many times throughout history that we got cocky and confident and now ... it's too late. We've screwed up."

"So it seems." Steven slumped back into the limo seating and frowned. We could always evacuate the Kincade family to somewhere safe. Prague. California. Somewhere away from the east coast. Perhaps we could start over."

"I have to admit, while it's an option, I don't particularly care for that idea. But I love her; she needs to be safe. I'll speak to Kalen about making immediate plans for Natalia's safety. So you only just found out?"

"Less than an hour before your plane landed," Steven said. "The Oracle has decided to find Raúl Poliandro. And God only knows if Falcon has the resources to find that city. And God only knows if he will tell anyone. I do not want the rest of the world to know it exists, let alone what it was called."

Lance switched into another gear. The motor lowered to a rumble. "If he does, we can control it. But it doesn't matter what it's called. Lemuria, Mu, Thule, Atlantis; would anyone care about its name? Should his discovery ever go public, the name and the claim of what he found will undoubtedly be decided by the world instead of truth. They'll claim it's something it isn't; they'll claim that it simply must be 'Atlantis' or give it a new name or simply cover it up all together."

"The US Government is aiding with that now," Lance replied. "Nobody knows about Falcon's city. But it's designed to move. He will locate the First Age Capital, he will take that enormous monstrosity of a city out to it and drill into the seabed, and use it as a base of operations."

"He still cannot get in without a child from the Parker twins."

Steven frowned. "Actually. There is technically a way."

Lance snorted with disdain. "Ripping the American east coast off the continental shelf and forcing that strip of land to lineup with a mountain range on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean isn't possible. You cannot move a section of a shelf, tectonically speaking, in reverse like that.

"What would it take for you to believe otherwise?"

"Scientific evidence, Steven. And there is not enough evidence to support your theory. They would have to bring the state of Virginia over the mountain range. They would have to line up New York City with Iceland. All the way to Florida. And then would have to bore out the tunnel to the city rediscovered in August of 2011. That 'superdeep' tunnel has been destroyed. All of Falcon's chips are in that submerged city he built over the last forty years, preparing for this moment. And even if he could navigate through the city buried beneath Virginia, he messed up and removed the power core without the artifacts. He cannot control he power core, so he cannot access the small city to make his way to the larger one."

"They have Vincent Nevada. His ability to control radiation makes him the perfect candidate to manipulate the power core, without needing the artifact hidden away by the Parkers. If those damn children hadn't stolen it from Greg Watson all those years ago, we would have secured the power core ourselves and stopped any of this from happening."

"Okay, Steven. Calm down. You were there, Milford. Krys removed it without the artifact, and you didn't get your hands on it. So don't blame the Parkers or Greg Watson for what happened all those years ago. How long has it been? Twelve years?"

"Roughly." Steven sighed. "God only knows which township is buried beneath Colorado. But I think we both can agree on what caused the earthquakes in August of 2011 - Falcon lying to us and stealing the power cores. The question is, if he were able to access the Capital City, what would he do with the technology there?"

"Well, why not ask Falcon or Sire?" Steven said with a smirk.

"Oh, yes, because that's what I want. I want to be tortured before I'm killed. Suicide with a twist - yes, that's the ticket. Sometimes, Steven, I wish our people were more like the humans depict our children in their comic books. Capable of fantastic abilities like traveling through rock or tunneling through granite or moving mountains."

Milford sighed. "I have to say, the ability to phase through a solid object would be rather fascinating. All the things that girl character could do and the writers squandered and ignored her ability by giving her outlandishly unrealistic story arcs."

Lance furrowed his brow. "Tell me you didn't read comics."

"Lance..." Steven folded his arms and shifted his weight in the back seat. "Of course I did. Science Fiction is based on science. I had to make sure these stories were based on imagination and not somehow influenced by an inside source. In the end, I determined that most of those characters were simply works of uninhibited imagination. No one shoots lasers from their eyes, after all. Then again, perhaps one or two characters could have been somehow influenced by the whisperings of one of our kind. But it doesn't matter anymore. It changed nothing."

"Quite so." Lance checked his blind spot then changed lanes. "So do we help them, out in the Atlantic, or do we retreat like before? Do we go into hiding with the Kincades and hope that Falcon's new lack of opposition will give him the freedom to create his own undoing?"

"I need to sleep on it to make a proper decision. What of your thoughts on Johann Foster and the recent resurfacing of Justus Loupe?"

"I'm not sure Justus can sway the boy to see the bigger picture. At least not on such short notice." Lance brought his right hand down to the shifter and eased his left foot into the clutch. "The boy is quite determined to go and help his friends seek a quick end. It's all folly. And since Justus lost the heart for living in the sects quite some time ago, how can we expect him to help Johann Foster make such a transition, himself? Where did Justus Loupe even go wrong? From Justiciar to rogue. You have to admit ... it's quite sad. He was an exceptional political figure while it lasted."

Steven withdrew a cellphone and said, "There's a flight out of Jacksonville leaving in a few hours for New York City. Let's make haste. I'll make some calls so we can return the Limo there, then we can fly north. We should speak to Kalen and have him hide us with Natalia. The only way we'll survive the fallout is by lying low. At this point, I'd prefer Eurasia. I don't want to be anywhere close to water until everything has blown over."

"Fair enough, my friend. To be honest, I still consider joining them."

"You'll die, Lance."

"Perhaps. No matter. And what of Falcon?"

Steven rubbed his face then gazed out the window with a sigh. "He's come a long way from where he started."

"In reference to working with Jon Parker a few decades ago?"

"No, Lance, much further back. Do you remember when Stalin deported Aris and Ilya Ivanov to Kazakhstan?"

Patterson changed to the fast lane. "You know I've driven the Koenigsegg Agera. And I enjoyed the speed of the Hennessey Venom GT. But there's always something to be said for the Ferrari."

"Indeed. Do you remember why those two scientists were banished?"

Lance shrugged. "Of course. For failing to create a human-ape hybrid. Stalin became very paranoid of scientists at the time."

"Mm, yes. And then Aris went to England and furthered his education.

"Yes, he earned several degrees, then went to South Africa."

"Yes." Steven cleared his throat and shifted his weight in the back of the limousine-modified Ferrari. "Then Falcon began the study of genetics in Candido Godoi, Brazil in the forties."

Lance nodded then shrugged again. "I'm not quite sure I follow."

"The highest birthrate of twins in the world comes from that town. He studied cloning, twinning and genetics before the town was known for such. The current story concludes that it was from generations of intermarrying. However, it's no worse there than any other part of the world where people gossip about incest, in which the twin rates are quite normal. I often wonder if Falcon had a hand in the development of that town."

"We may never know." Lance maneuvered the Ferrari limo onto the northbound interstate and said, "It's a few hours on ninety-five. Do you really think Raúl will involve himself? Even Karla has no contact with him. And they're family."

"The Oracle is one of the only ones that knows how to do so. He's the most powerful wildcard of us all. God only knows when he'll appear ... if he does so at all." Steven glanced out the window again. "If only the answers weren't beneath eleven layers in the Jewish cemetery of Prague."

"That artifact is still intact?"

Steven shrugged. "At this point, I have no idea if the shem is still buried there. One can certainly hope Falcon hasn't managed to recover it."

"How exactly does that work?" asked Lance, moving into the center lane. "It was an incantation written on calfskin on the Golem's mouth? An inscription, one of the seventy-two names of God?"

"No," Steven said, his tone a bit louder, glad for the change of topic away from Falcon. "Not the seventy-two names of God, but the _name of _God, which is made up of seventy-two letters. It's long forgotten, as is the power it wields, so it's said. It was never allowed to be pronounced except once a year by the High Priest in the Holy of Holies, on Yom Kippur. I wonder if even the greatest of Rabbis today even still know it. Then again, I haven't seen a Golem in centuries."

"I've never seen a Golem. It's just a story. There are no such things as creatures animated from rock."

"Lance..." Steven shook his head. "It was technology from the First Age. How did you not know that?"

Lance frowned. "I see."

"Just because we're told creatures were created with magic doesn't mean there wasn't a science behind what people reportedly saw so long ago. The last Golem I saw was created using lodestones and pyrrhotite and pieces of metal scraps. And it was fearsome. You're nearly as old as myself, how have you never seen a Golem?"

"I rolled my eyes at the mere mention of such things."

"I've seen them with my own eyes, Lance."

"So are we really going to abandon Karla when she'll surely be in need?"

"We're not exactly abandoning her," said Steven. "We're merely staying out of her way. Did you talk to Justus or Greg about Johann? He needs to expand his ability."

"I put a bug in their ear. They'll explain to Mister Foster what he's capable of. I told them to start with fire and ice."

"Ah. A step in the right direction, very wise."

Lance smiled inwardly and moved into the fast lane. "Indeed. With a bit of practice, the boy should become quite powerful - a necessary trait to maintain the position of Justiciar."

X

X

February 3, 2024 - 4:00pm CST Foster Residence - Chicago, Illinois

** "What is super-cooled water?"** asked Johann Foster.

Justus turned to Greg Watson then back to Johann with a slim smile. "Would you like to explain it, Agent?"

Watson turned to Johann and said, "From what I understand, it is water so pure that it can't freeze because there's nothing for the cold to latch onto, in order to freeze into ice. It's so clean and so perfect that it stays liquid even in incredible cold, like negative sixty degrees Celsius, for example."

"Cold enough to crackle spit in mid air," Johann mused.

"Indeed," Justus murmured.

Watson nodded somewhat. "If you introduce an impurity, the water will freeze instantly. Let's say you fire an ICBM into a high storm with extremely low pressure. It goes through a cloud in a very clean sky. The moment the missile fuselage touches the super cooled water those water molecules would turn to ice instantly. The Pitot tube sensors, even with high power heating elements built in, would turn to a block of ice in a fraction of a second. Johann, you can change the molecular properties of things."

"Is this why pollution has a big effect on the environment?"

Watson gestured in a dismissive fashion. "Anyways, you should be able to remove impurities from water and create water from vapor in the air. Then you could remove heat. When the water is super cooled, you simply introduce molecular impurities to the liquid. The air would freeze instantly. You could create ice the way Evan creates glass. You could throw ice or freeze a weapon. You just need to have an understanding of what you're capable of. You need to practice doing it, and then utilize the ability effectively under duress."

Johann looked down at his hands. "So if someone with telekinesis can bend a spoon, then someone with molecular-kinesis can freeze or unfreeze ice, create fire, suffocate an enemy or create a pocket to breathe under water?"

Watson looked back at Justus, who offered a nod, then he turned back to Foster. "Yeah. Now you're getting it. You're impressive, kid. You just have to know what you're capable of. Someone with your power could swim to the bottom of the Mariana Trench in a self-sustaining pressurized bubble. You could take oxygen out of the water, bring it into your bubble, and filter the carbon dioxide into the water. You could turn lead to gold and back."

"It won't be easy to learn because I have no idea how to do it without a lot of experimenting."

Watson nodded in agreement. "I'm sure. But with practice, you could be one of the most powerful supernaturals still alive. And, like your friend Evan Balmoral, you see the good in people. I can't see you using it hurt people."

"Yeah." Johann looked down at his hands. "Preservation of humanity over the temptation of selfish power."

"Sure, whatever," said Watson. "However you want to word it; however you want to look at it."

"It's the only way of looking at it," Johann replied.

"This kind of power is corruptive. And you're a bit naïve. That makes you corruptible. I'm not trying to profile you, kid, but you're not at the point where you can make worldly decisions. Trust me, if your friends were hostages, you'd make the wrong decision in an instant. Naïve people can be selfish without meaning it."

"It's better to be responsible than to be selfish. If gaming has taught me one thing, it's that."

Watson glanced at Justus then back at Johann and said, "But you could have all the money and power you could ever want. And you'd probably use it to help others, wouldn't you?"

"I already have power. _You _are talking about control. So far as money, I'm a friend of Fox and Topaz Parker. If I needed some cash, they'd simply lend it to me. They're not your typical rich people - they didn't rip off companies to make their money. They stole it from thieves, who didn't deserve it and added it to a huge piggy bank comprised of family members who did the same. They could flood the world economy with enough money that the influx would make every bit of currency lose value and crash in worth. But they're responsible enough to know better."

No one spoke. Johann fidgeted a bit. "I overheard you two talking a while ago. Are we going to Washington DC?"

"We can. Would you be willing?" asked Watson. "I know you want to help your friends but I'm going to be leaving here shortly. I'm headed to meet up with the Coast Guard. They have Topaz Parker and her friends. I'm going with them to stop Falcon."

"How is that your concern?" asked Johann.

"Mister Foster, I was in play working for Falcon and feeding him disinformation. Turns out he used the CIA. And the sad part is ... people like Eric Loupe were given the short end of the stick. USPRI learned that Falcon and my old employer were working together in a program that we referred to as MK Ultimate."

"What the hell is MK Ultimate?"

"It's the training of esoteric people. And so they wouldn't be susceptible to telepathic esotericism, they were bent and broken to have split personality disorder. When activated, the other personality would come into play."

"What? That shit is real?"

"Yes, Mister Foster." Watson frowned thoughtfully. "As real as the fact that some of the oldest supernaturals in the world lived in Israel up until the very moment of the attacks. Why do you think this country has been so invested in Israel? Because the supernatural forefathers lived there, and they used the world to protect themselves."

"Okay I'm not... Let's not talk politics. One thing at a time," said Johann with a sigh. "So how are you, personally, involved in all of this?"

Watson began pacing again. "One day soon you're going to have to acknowledge the dichotomy between world governments and the Esoteric Council and you're going to need to learn how to make them work together."

"Please," Johann said, frustration in his tone. "One thing at a time. The EC doesn't even exist right now. I'd like to start with how you're involved. Are you purposefully dodging the question?"

Watson shook his head. "No. I'm just eager to get your people back on track, starting with a leader. You think ungoverned third-world countries are chaotic? Try ungoverned people with supernatural abilities."

"He makes a point," said Justus to Johann. Loupe turned back to Watson and added, "but answer the boy's question."

Gregory nodded with a frown. "USPRI inserted me back into the CIA to spy on them. The CIA learned that most esoteric people didn't have access to their abilities when activated. They wanted to study Falcon's interest in the program. The CIA, not knowing I worked for USPRI, had me spy as a double agent for Falcon."

"So you're a triple agent?"

"It's not that simple. CIA and USPRI are on the same team, but they're not on the same page."

"I see. So you're a double ... double agent."

Watson nodded. "At this point, I work for myself. I watched Krys die over this mess and didn't understand it. I feel like if I knew more, I could have stopped this train before it left the station. So I kept my nose in the CIA, I kept my ear in USPRI, and I kept my eye on Falcon. The only person I'm loyal to is myself. If that makes me a triple 'triple agent' then so be it."

"Geeze. So why are you helping Justus now?"

Loupe folded his arms. "That is an excellent question, young man." He turned to face Watson and asked, "Why are you helping me? To spy on us, now? Telling us select information about the others could be your way of securing our trust."

Gregory paced the living room with a sigh. "I feel like I owe Eric to some degree. My constituents got him into that mess. He's involved with Karla's group. So the plan is, I head to DC then use my credentials to gain the cooperation of the Coast Guard. And then I'm headed out to the Atlantic so I can help Eric and Karla put Falcon down."

Johann stared at the agent for a moment, judging his facial expression then frowned. "You actually feel bad for what happened to Eric?"

Watson nodded. "The man didn't deserve to have mixed up emotions and a broken, repressed memory. I need to make sure that Eric and his girlfriend make it out alive."

Loupe arched his brows. "You'll be at the heart of the danger, Watson."

"Yeah. That's okay. I've hired Topaz Parker to make sure I make it out alive. She's been secretly working for me since shortly after this mess started."

"What?" Johann moved to intercept Watson's pacing. "Hold up, are you serious? Since when?"

"Since she left Karla and her brother in a rainstorm back at the end of November. I told her that she'd need to distance herself from her brother and the succubus. She left the evening of November 28, met up with me and I gave her a set of missions. She went dark for a while then resurfaced when everything was done. You would be surprised what Topaz is capable of; she's very motivated and very focused."

Justus eyed the agent for a moment then turned back to Johann and guided him to the living room. He gave Johann a firm pat on the back. "I see you don't own a butter bell. So we're going to make a similar contraption using dishes here in the kitchen. Then I will have you make an attempt at purifying the water vapor in the air."

Foster nodded. "Then what?"

Justus went through the cabinets. "The, you will remove the element of heat from molecules inside that location only."

Loupe used bowls of varying size and a plate of sink water. "Now. Freeze the air inside. But don't just make the air cold. Turn water vapor into ice. Just think about it, then clear your mind, and do it. You have to will yourself over the wall."

Johann put his hand on an upside bowl covering a smaller bowl. It sat on a plate of water. He said, "I can do it with other objects for Evan. There is no wall. I just don't know what I'm capable of, like you said earlier." He pulled the large bowl off the top and nodded for Justus to look.

Inside the bowl was a block of ice. The water on the plate was still liquid and no colder than normal tap water. Loupe smiled. "Good. You already have a practiced hand in this matter."

"I've seen a lot of combat for the last few months. I've had a lot of focused practice."

"Now, let's try something new, Johann. I want you to create a guiding track for the impurities. That will form a pole of instant ice. I want you to be able to pick up the cylindrical ice in your hand - something with polished shape if you can - then turn it back to water. Finally, I want you to turn it back into water vapor ... air."

"You make it sound easy," Johann murmured. "Okay, ice spear. Got you." He rubbed his hands together then focused. A splotch of fog formed a few feet away. He tensed up and squinted his eyes. The miasma of gray became a lumpy block of ice and fell to the ground, cracking at the center, but it didn't break.

"You can turn air into a cloud, into ice. It's a start."

"Yeah," Foster murmured. "If I want to drop ice blocks on the toes of my enemies, it's a great gimmick."

Watson's phone rang. He answered then said, "Thank you, I'll be right out." He put his phone back into his pocket and said, "That's the taxi. I'm headed to the airport. Let's hope that things aren't advancing quite as rapidly as Lance and Steven have suggested."

"Good luck Agent Hat-Trick," Johann said. The block of ice turned to water, leaving a puddle on the floor. He lowered to one knee and worked his hands over it. The carpet dried instantly. "Not quite as fast as I'd have liked, but I turned the water back to air. This is going to take a lot of practice."

"I'm not a triple-agent anymore," Watson said. He tilted his head then leaned down a bit, looking at Johann. "Your ear is bleeding. I need to catch this taxi, gentlemen. Fingers crossed. I'll send for the both of you when I know DC is safe for supernaturals." He opened the front door of the Foster home and closed it behind himself.

Justus walked to the kitchen, took a paper towel from the counter and brought it back to Johann. "Ever have that happen before?"

"No. Well, once." Foster took the paper towel and dabbed his ear then glanced down at the rusty coloration. He put it back into his ear again. "I was trying to reverse really old concrete to its base ingredients. That's harder than turning rust back into metal. After all, it is typically easier to break an object down into its base components than it is to build the base components into an object. Evan got his ability at a young age. I've only been at this for two years. I need to take it slow; I'm straining too hard. Blood, CSF - I'm not a superstar at this stuff like Evan."

"Odd, Evan seems to think you're superior because you can work with more than just sand and glass."

"It's easy for him. He can turn almost any silica-based object into glass in an instant. He can also use silica-based objects, like sand, to turn any other object into glass, then back into sand. It lets him turn bullets and guns into sand if he wants. I've seen him turn weapons to glass from across a room. To create things from nothing, he simply needs sand. I'm good and breaking things down, so when we worked together, we'd both make sand, and he'd use it to create objects. Seemingly from thin-air. It's from him that I learned I can turn a bullet to dust."

Loupe nodded with a thin smile. "And you both taught each other to create a field around yourself that will turn any incoming object to something else."

"Yeah, man, but I have to focus on it and think about it, and his field covers several people. Bigger and he doesn't have to try so hard. A bullet moves fast and I have to keep thinking about it. I mean. I did it once. But it's not easy. All that focus is tiring for me."

"Calm down, young man. Take a break. You've already made ear bleed. Relax yourself or you'll never become apt at such."

"Can I ask you a question, Justus?"

"Yes?"

Johann settled on the loveseat adjacent to the sofa, which was still flipped on its backrest. "Are people like Watson, or even his superiors, running the world like some sort of secret World Government? I mean, you hear all this bull about chem-trails and fake snow, and mind control crap. Is any of it true?"

Loupe dropped onto the loveseat adjacent to Johann and sighed. "No."

"That's it? Just no? You sigh and say 'no' and expect it to be that simple with everything else going on in the world?"

The shadow master shook his head. "You want me to rant blunt truthes about why you should take off your tinfoil hat, young man?"

"I'm sitting here opening a channel. It's up to you to communicate."

Justus looked away and rolled his eyes. "Fair enough. Where do I start? Lithium in the sky? Contrails? Sublimation of snow?"

"With all due respect, I'm supposed to be read in on what's going on in the world. Should I expect to find fluoride when I separate molecules with my abilities? Or do they not exist?"

Loupe shook his head. "I never said chemicals don't exist in the atmosphere. Let's be very blunt here. An internal combustion engine puts chemicals into the atmosphere every day. So does a cigarette, a factory, plants and human methane expulsion from digestion troubles. Anything the Government puts into the air is done so out of negligence and idiocy."

Johann blinked. It wasn't the answer he was looking for. He tilted his head and frowned. "So they're not putting more shit into the air on purpose for any one reason or another?"

"If they are, you need to ask yourself why. Yes, I'm aware that conspiracy theorists come up with ridiculous claims like 'nanobots, acid,' and 'mind control chemicals.' But the world leaders breathe the same air we do. So it can't be any of that unless the world leaders wanted to brainwash themselves, which is idiotic. And even if that were the case, why doesn't it work? Let's look at a simple fact. The world distrusts their governments. People in every country make jokes how they cannot trust a politician anymore than they can trust a lawyer."

"So they're just polluting and don't give a shit?"

"There's no secret agenda, Johann. They're not trying to fix or cause Global Warming. They're not trying to control people, because all they're able to do is upset the people. They're not trying to change the snow. Besides, it wouldn't have any effect on most of the world's population, which lives just a few hundred miles from the equator. And they're certainly not trying to make the air breathable for aliens, because there's hardly change to the air at all. It's simply dirty."

"You mentioned asking 'why.' Why wouldn't the Government do something top secret in such a way? It's it at least possible that they're able to keep global secrets? After all, nobody knows about Falcon."

"Falcon kept himself secret using Sire. What you're suggesting is a global secret shared between world leaders. Johann, remember the number one rule of big business government: Profit. Return on investment."

Foster tilted his head. "How do you mean?"

"There is no product. There is nothing to make money on. There's no oil involved. There are no state-secrets being traded. And then you'd need to keep a world-wide secret. The people who couldn't catch Edward Snowden? The people who can't even keep their extramarital affairs a secret - you expect those morons to be able to keep a secret about 'agenda chemicals' or other such compartmentalized projects? These are the people who earmark projects that put a rocket into the air that gushes Lithium in a very small amount in 2013. And it was mentioned on the Whitehouse website. There was no coverup, because it wasn't done for the reasons you're thinking."

"With all due respect, the world kept supernatural people a secret from the rest of the world from the Industrial Age all the way up to the present."

"They knew about us. They didn't even need to cover it up with any sort of disinformation. Instead the human population romanticized it with comics and TV shows and video games. With novels. With action figures. Humans are in denial. We take advantage of that to protect ourselves from hunting parties."

"I see. I'm almost disappointed. I thought I could make a difference and change the world, but there's nothing to change if you're telling me the truth."

Loupe shook his head again. "You're giving the world leaders way too much credit, Johann. The truth is, they're just children playing with toys that aren't safe or clean. That's it; nothing else. Take off your tin-foil hat and stop trying to convince yourself that idiots are smarter than you. Because if they were, we would all think that the world is okay when we all know it's going to shit."

"And what about these high-horse 'truthers' out there?"

"They've yet to look down and realize that they have been riding a pony all this time. If a conspiracy, the likes of what you mentioned, were to come to light ... would you be surprised?"

"No. But I wouldn't jump up and down and point at the TV, shouting, 'see I knew it!' either. I'd just shake my head and say, 'that figures.' Or something like that."

"Mm, that would be everyone's reaction. The world wouldn't be surprised if Jesus appeared tomorrow. The world wouldn't be surprised if extra terrestrials arrived tomorrow. The world wasn't surprised when Reno and Evan used their abilities to save people at a bank and at a school. The world simply shrugged."

"So why hide ourselves?"

"Because a handful of bigots and racists would hunt us. And if we defended ourselves, they would gain support in claiming that we're dangerous. And then it would spiral out of control. No conspiracy, just a war of misunderstanding that couldn't be solved with words. So we hide. Do you understand?"

"Yeah. I do." He frowned again then asked, "How do these conspiracies even start?"

Justus shook his head. "Half truths. The United States of America gave money to countries like Afghanistan and Pakistan to stop Soviet expansion. That investment helped lead to the collapse of the Soviet Union. America left the region destabilized and didn't help to rebuild. Those people thought we would help the way we did with Japan after World War Two, but it never happened. And they grew bitter. That money stayed in the region. Eventually extreme religious groups wound up with it, and two decades later, al-Qaeda attacked the United States."

"Where are you going with this, Justus?"

"Next thing we know, conspiracy theorists come up with this idea that the United States created and controls al-Qaeda. They come up with these silly notions that the CIA controls these seemingly uncontrollable zealots. They talk about how the US funded them then used them to attack the US in order to create a reason to go after their oil. That is how these conspiracies begin. You need to understand the fact that you do not live in a world of fiction, Johann Foster."

"Yeah. I guess you're right. I'd really hate to find out I was living in a fiction story. I'd rather live in ignorance then to find out my life was a lie. But to be honest, I just needed to make sure that supernatural people weren't behind anything that the weirdoes are blaming on 'the illuminati' or whatever. I need to make sure we were never that."

"No. And if we were, it was only to a small degree. We never involved ourselves in massive global-scale conspiracies. At least not the kind you're thinking of."

"So there's never been any kind of huge cover up?"

"I never said that. Your friend, Karla, manifested control of her teleportation ability in the 1940's. She caused a ship to phase, and that was covered up. But it didn't effect the world. Just one ship, one crew, and one girl. Again, we protected ourselves. And when people made up stories about how it traveled through time, we ignored the drama."

"I see."

Loupe turned to the living room television and turned it on then flipped through stations to find something for Johann to watch. Three channels in a row showed the same thing, causing him to stop surfing the channels.

"Yeah, yeah. When Evan comes back from his little adventure in the Atlantic, he and I need to train together. I'll get better in time." Johann folded the paper towel and used a fresh end to clean the side of his ear. "I hope they're alright out there. He's my best friend - I can't help but worry about him. And Karla, too, even though I'll never get that kind of chance with her again. I just don't want to see my friends in danger. I wonder what they're doing right now."

"Johann. Look at the television"

Foster turned about and stared at the TV, watching the news bulletin.

The anchor said, "We now go live to our sister station in Daytona Beach, Florida."

The image changed to a woman with a microphone in one hand, using her other hand to hold her hair down. She appeared to use her bicep to hold her earpiece into her right ear. After a brief pause from the delay, she said, "Without a cloud in the sky, it appears the beaches all along the coast, as far north as Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, are being evacuated. Experts have said this isn't a Tsunami, because the waves typically retreat when a Tsunami is incoming. However, enormous waves are pounding beaches along the Atlantic Seaboard. The Florida Keys are being evacuated and there are reports that Cuba is also receiving the same problems.

"Despite some people with surfboards trying to go out into these waves, Florida, Georgia and South Carolina have already called for a State of Emergency. Beaches are quickly eroding in areas and some flooding has been reported in coastal cities like Miami. Experts tell us that these waves are hitting with a great deal of power and pressure but meteorologists have been unable to determine the cause. Reports show that the weather is calm save wind coming in off the ocean, which makes it gusty along the beaches.

"There seems to be no indications that this is a weather related incident as the Jetstream is unaffected and it's a mostly clear day this afternoon. Meanwhile, we're now getting reports that as high north as Virginia Beach, even this time of year, are showing water temperatures twenty-five degrees Fahrenheit warmer than their average, suggesting that the warmth of the water is possibly coming from somewhere east of Puerto Rico."

The reporter paused, listening to her earpiece then added, "It appears cities like São Luís and Fortaleza, Brazil, has waves similar to what we're experiencing but they're coming from the north. The Dominican Republic is being evacuated and reports are coming in that Cape Verde, off the western coast of Africa is nearly engulfed from waves that are striking their western shores. Waves that are hitting as far as Sierra Leone, where Freetown has been evacuated as well. It seems whatever is causing this is coming from the heart of the Atlantic Ocean. We've been asked to move back further from the beachfront. For now, we're going to take you back to the newsroom; this is Andrea Gambia, back to you." The Anchorman returned to the screen and began speaking.

"God dammit." Johann turned to Justus and frowned. "Great timing, Mister Loupe."

"I had no idea." He put the remote control down and withdrew a cellphone. "I need to call Steven. Last I heard he was in Miami to pick up Lance from the airport. They're right in the middle of this mess." He began dialing his thumb across the glass screen.

Johann tensed his jaw. "No. They're close. But my friends are right in the middle of this and I have no way to get a hold of them right now to find out if they're okay."

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Next chapter: https://www.sofurry.com/view/671179