by The Eurostar
Edulcore Cicciotto:
Darkness. And voices. Voices coming out of the darkness?
"...do you think it will take for him to discover that it's not Cicciotto?"
"I don't know. By this time they should've crossed the Atlantic. I'm surprised Turner has not discovered it was Agent F7 disguised as Eurostar. He was such a clever young man some time ago. I'll bet he has some sort of problems in his private life."
"That, Lorena, isn't anything we should worry about. I wonder what will happen when they find our agent."
"Oh, I'll bet that for now he has disguised himself like the pilot or the driver that will transport Cicciotto, while the true pilot is tied up, masked like Eurostar. He has to stay there to fake the explosion, and then he'll come back."
The voices come toward me. Then the lights are turned on. I'm inside a glass box -- a cage, I think -- and in front of me are Quantos and the Lioness. "What... I ran away... when..." I babble.
"Shhh..." says Quantos, putting his finger before his mouth. "Don't talk for now. I'll explain everything." He takes a seat and sits in front of my cage. The Lioness smiles a little provocatively at me and leaves the room.
"Edulcore... can I call you Edulcore? I could be your father... umm... Anyway, I am sorry to have you imprisoned, but we have discovered a few things... But let's proceed in order. First, you never ran away. When you tried, we stopped you and drugged you. I don't know what you have been dreaming, but we heard you mumbling in your sleep about running away.
"Second, the visit Turner made with you, when I was in the other room, was taped. We knew of the rendezvous in two hours Turner told you about, so we had Agent F7 impersonating you on the streets of Mandelovia. Lioness was a bit of a distraction, too.
"Third, we found that, in all his words, Turner spoke of some true things. Obviously, the crap about the terrorist attack over the science district was false. Mandelovia could be planning on... slowing U.S. research in certain areas, but we would use other methods. Harmless methods, at least concerning people.
"What was true in his words? That you are a walking bomb, Edulcore. You would have exploded long ago, if you hadn't have indulged in drugs. It was actually the drugs that kept your metabolism slow. It's hard to explain, but instead of augmenting your stamina, the drugs kept your true powers from manifesting. The velocity was only a byproduct, a shadow of what you may be able to do."
"The drugs... I used them because they were the only things to quiet my anger."
"It's not anger, Edulcore -- it's the Alpha Class metagene that wants to manifest."
"So, what do you want to do with me? You said that you ask and don't take."
"Our offer is still valid. If you want, I'll open the cage and you can leave. Or, we help you to become a true metahero, like those in the comics. You will be superstrong, superfast, you will have supersense. And, maybe, you will be able to fly."
To fly. Can I trust him? What do I have to lose? And if they are not telling the truth? And that kid... my son... I have a son?! Does he really exist? Oh shit, what should I say?
"Just say yes, Eurostar." It's the Lioness. She has just returned. I begin to think that she's a telepath. "Quantos, we have news. The Watchingbird has registered the explosion in Nevada, and a few minutes ago Lexicon transmitted an internal document of TriVext, which states that subject Cicciotto has been destroyed in the experiment. I bet Knell is really mad now."
"So they think Cicciotto is dead, right?"
"Definitely."
"Perfect." Then Quantos turns to me. "Edulcore, this would be the best time to let your metagene express itself. To the world... the world that counts, the U.S. and TriVext, the world that wants you enslaved or dead... you are dead. They will no longer be after you. But they still have your son. We can help you to retrieve him. Will you help us in turn?"
"Okay. What I have to do?"
"Edulcore, you must explode."