Galatea 2 - Chapter 23

CHAPTER 23: INVESTIGATION TWO

A singular bulb dangling from the middle of the room exploded with light, causing Brian to groan in distress, his eyes rocketing shut on instinct as his hands shot up to cover his face. Once his vision adjusted to the room’s new luminescence, he was greeted by the same two men that Audrey was presented with earlier.

“Brian, correct?” Asked the man with the glasses, opposite to the general.

“Uhm, y-yes? That’s me,” the disoriented college student replied.

“Is it true that you were employed by one Kevin Giles over the past year?” He wasted no time firing off the next question.

“Employed? I mean, it was more of an internshi—”

“So ‘yes’ then? Good. Were you aware of the happenings that took place within Dr. Giles’ lab?” The man continued with the line of questioning, not even waiting for Brian to finish his previous answer. “Remember, we have already asked this question to other witnesses, and will be using the consensus to corroborate with your answer.”

Brian figured he could deny, but what if Giles had already ratted him out? Best to answer as honestly as he could. “Yes. I was aware of the viral research, but I had no clue it wasn’t approved by the government! I-I just thought that since it was an invention not yet tested for public use that the professor needed to keep his work private!”

“Of course you’d say something like that!” L’Enfant shouted in an accusatory manner. “Downplaying your own involvement for a lesser sentence, I bet?”

“N-no!” Brian shouted back, frightened. “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, me, Audrey and Vanessa are the victims here! Giles roped us all into his crazy experiments! We shouldn’t be imprisoned here!”

“Even if that were true, you must understand why we cannot release you without extensive testing, correct? Like your professor, both Audrey and Vanessa have been extensively genetically altered. Until we understand the extent of both alterations, we can’t have anyone leave this offshore facility.”

“D-did you just say offshore!?” Brian asked incredulously, before burying his head in his hands. “Look, I’m just a college student, okay!? I’m not a genius tech-savvy guy or anything! I don’t belong here! Honest!”

“So, you personally didn’t ingest the modified virus in any way?” The man in black asked, his raised eyebrow peaking above his glasses.

“No I didn’t! I wouldn’t want that thing in my body anyway! I’m happy enough with my life as is, or, at least I was until you people dragged me to the middle of the ocean!” his tone was louder, angrier.

“Are you absolutely positive? The virus must’ve been around you a lot. Surely, it would’ve been easy for you to—”

“I said I didn’t take any of the goddamn virus!” Brian shouted, retribution for being interrupted earlier.

“Brian, level with me here, we’re all compensating for something or other,” the man admitted, shifting in his seat. “For example, my compatriot here will have you believing that the nameplate adorning his chest is made of gold, when in fact it is artificially hollowed and weighed down with sand.”

L’Enfant looked baffled, as if his trust had been genuinely betrayed. “You promised me you weren’t going to tell anyone…” he responded softly. The man in black was quick to move on.

“My point is, we all want to be more than what we are. It’s simply human nature. There’s no way the thought didn’t at least cross your mind.”

“Exactly! Becoming exponentially more powerful? Effortlessly exceeding peak physical conditions? Not to mention, you let the women have it?” L’Enfant chimed in with his usual commentary. These two men just couldn’t seem to fathom the idea that Brian wouldn’t scramble for power at any chance he got. That he was simply content with his life and having a girlfriend that could power lift him in her sleep.

“You people just want to hear me say something that validates your existing mindsets!” Brian sneered. “Just because Audrey is stronger than me and Vanessa has insane reality-altering abilities, doesn’t mean I need what they have! Sure, life would be a lot more convenient, but I know that’s not why you guys want them. You want them for war. To become even more of an oppressive threat than you already are!”

Both men were stunned. Brian was surprised that his rant seemed to resonate with them so heavily. But the war accusation was not what had caught their ire.

“What did you say Vanessa had, exactly?” the man in black asked, his voice quivering.

“Err… reality-altering powers? Like, she can fly and even projected her voice into my mind once. It was super freaky, actually.”

The two men exchanged nervous glances. “Those… weren’t listed in any of the documents we retrieved from Giles’ lab. Are you saying that Vanessa descending from the sky slowly was not her merely creating some sort of air pocket to descend slowly or elaborate wirework, but instead actual, honest-to-god flight?”

“And thought-projection!? Dear god, what the hell kind of virus did she get!?” L’Enfant exclaimed, doing his best to retain a collected air to his emotions before utterly failing to do so.

“Yeah, and couple that with her strength being even crazier than Audrey’s, I’m surprised she went quietly when you arrested all of us,” Brian pondered aloud.

The usually calm and collected man in black retrieved his walkie-talkie, putting it to his ear with haste. “To the guard stationed at cell block oh-two, I want constant status updates on Vanessa. If she even has a hint of suspiciousness to her actions, you let me know immediately, okay?”

“Um, sir, ever since she got here she hasn’t moved an inch, physically. It’s kind of creepy, actually.”

The man sighed. “Alright, then we’ll have to put the Giles interview on hold for now. Get me Vanessa! And when you do, make sure every guard on that block is watching her intently. She’s capable of things we didn’t even know were possible.”

Brian watched with bated breath as he was escorted out of the interrogation room, witnessing hundreds of armed men marching in the opposite direction.

What horrors had that virus unleashed upon this world? More importantly, how screwed were they that Vanessa of all people was capable of unleashing them?

***

Vanessa’s left eye twitched, as did the index finger of her left hand. The stars had finally aligned—the guards were shifting positions and the camera had positioned itself away from her cell. Specks of debris and dirt cobbled themselves together, against the call of what little wind breezed into Vanessa’s lonely cell. Sure, this action would’ve likely gone unnoticed given how subtle her telekinesis needed to be, but she couldn’t afford to take any risks. After all, she was perfect and this plan simply needed to reflect such a reasonable self-set standard.

Using expert precision—which to her was effectively mind’s eyeballing it—Vanessa’s powerful brain carefully maneuvered the tiny chunks of dirt and debris towards the exposed part of her cell, hiding each of them behind the individual bars that erected from the ground, each as close to the locked door as they could while remaining out of sight to both the patrolling guard and the security camera. All done within a three second window.

She took a deep breath of satisfaction in, her sizable breasts straining against what should have been loose-fitting prison garb. The guards, probably desperate to not be so distracted around her, attempted to find the largest shirt they could, but it just never seemed to be enough.

As Vanessa waited for her next window of opportunity, her patience was suddenly interrupted by a larger than usual police presence.

“Well, hello little lady, would you like to come with us?” came a particularly sleazy voice, knowing that there wasn’t a choice for her. For the first time since being dragged out here, Vanessa’s eyes actually moved, the piercing viridian pupils locking onto the target of her desire. He was a rather burly man, one who was tasked with picking Vanessa off the ground. Of course, he didn’t hesitate to be grabby with her, enjoying where his hands landed as he frisked Vanessa to her feet.

Her face did not show any signs of disturbance, remaining a stone cold poker face as she walked alongside the swarm of guards surrounding her. The frisky man chuckled to himself, standing proudly in the front of the pack as he puffed his chest out with confidence. But not for much longer.

Charles… Often called Chuck by your peers… When I bust out of here, I’ll make sure you’re the first person I kill. Spoke a heavenly feminine voice from within his mind. He wanted to panic, but knew that he had a reputation to uphold as the toughest guard around. All he could do was let the thoughts fester as his jaw quivered, hoping that the might of this impenetrable base could withstand this new viral threat towards humanity.