A Duel of Hearts and Minds

[Shroom Man 777]

This is a creation that's rather different from all the others you've seen me post, whose styles you've grown familiar and perhaps bored with (hence why The Dogs of War is a dead thread). Anyway, this is a breath of fresh air, I'm sure, for all of you. It has elements from Equilibrium, The Matrix, some animes perhaps, and some other things.

A few notes.

TACS = Tactical Assault and Counterterrorism Specialists, the SWAT of the year 2567

Odin = Odin's Eye. A Terran/Human organization whose purposes run contrary to that of most nations. They have psychics.

Shield = Silver Shield. The opposite of Odin. A non-governmental organization that's siding with the government. Also has extensive ties to CEID.

CEID = Central Earth Intelligence Department

Enjoy




A Duel of Hearts and Minds


“You shouldn’t have come here, old friend,” a figure said from the shadows. Though the building was barren and almost entirely comprised of glass and other transparent materials, the early hour meant that there were still many places shrouded by darkness. “Did they send you to kill me?”

“No,” Kevin Holt responded before he pulled out a pistol from within his coat. “I am to bring you alive, preferably.”

“That’s nice,” dawn was breaking and the shadows were melting away. Holt was now able to see his quarry. “Did you come alone?”

“No. There’s a squad of TACS waiting outside. They gave me twenty minutes to bring you in, when the time elapses, they’ll come in and take you out. Not even you can stop all of them, Bouviere.”

Bouviere was silent, apparently distracted.

“No use in calling anyone too. This building and an area of a square kilometer around it is blanketed by multiple AWE-jammers,” AWE stood for Area-Wide Ectoplasm. AWE-jammers could block an area from psionics, specifically from long-range telepathy, by flooding it with artificial psionic signatures, kind of like electronic countermeasures.

After a short pause, Bouviere spoke. “If you capture me, or kill me, you’ll alert my handlers. They’d know and stop their operations, lie low, get new operatives. CEID would be too stupid to do that. So why?”

“You’ve caused a lot of damage. Three of our operatives in Odin were caught last week. CEID wants to do some damage control.”

“It’s much safer for it to just continue watching. Better to have moles you already know of, rather than having moles you know nothing about coming in after a while and causing damage that you can’t control. Enough bullshit. What does CEID want?”

“Honestly, I don’t know. I believe they want you to spy on Odin.”

“More bullshit. They know I won’t do that. Not after I sold my soul to Odin.”

“I mean, they’re going to lobotomize you and use you as a puppet. At least that’s what I think.”

Again, Bouviere was silent.

“Anyway, my turn.”

“Go ahead.”

“Why’d you do it? Sell us out and work for Odin.”

“Don’t you already know?”

“No. Do tell.”

“Don’t you feel sick of it?”

“Hm?”

“Working for inferiors, norms.”

“Then why not work for the Shield then?”

“That bitch Wayne?” Bouviere snorted. “She’s the most powerful psion in the universe and she spends her time kissing norm asses. Disgusting tramp.”

“So you had to work for Odin, right?”

“Right.”

“Don’t lie to me, Bouviere. I happen to know that your hatred for norms isn’t the only reason you had for defecting. In fact, I’d wager that it isn’t even a reason at all. It’s probably just a façade. I’m psychic too, remember.”

Before Bouviere could reply, Kevin continued. “So cut the shit out and tell me why you did it.”

“Alright,” Bouviere took a breath. “When I was twelve, my psionic abilities manifested themselves. Previously, they were just latent, previously, I was just a bottom-level psion. So CEID didn’t really take much interest in me until that incident. Once they found out how much potential I really had, they kidnapped me and neurally resocialized me. Flash imprinting into my brain new memories, an entirely new life.”

“But…?”

“But as the years went by, as the psionic growth spurts came and went, as I grew up and grew stronger, my mind somehow found a way around the brainwashing. At first, I had mild dreams, but the unraveling grew faster as I matured and-”

“You found out.”

“…yes. Even before the visions, I had already pieced things together. I found out. Found out about how things could’ve been so very different. How my life could have been so much better. I found out about what I could have had… and how those bastards took it away from me! Those animals destroyed my life, Kevin! They took me, wound me up like a tin soldier and used me like a puppet and now they want to do it again! By all means I deserve to kill them!”

A minute went by without either one of them saying anything.

“Did you bring an incapacitator?” Bouviere, resuming his calm demeanor, finally asked.

“No. I wanted it to be a fair fight. How ‘bout you?”

“Nope.”

“Why don’t you just surrender peacefully?”

“I can’t. Not after what you’ve told me. Not after what I told you too. And especially not after what they’ve done to me, what they’ve taken away from me. I’m sorry.”

“Me too,” Kevin drew his silenced pistol with incredible speed and let out three shots, but as the gun electrically ignited the caseless projectiles, Bouviere was already in motion, sidestepping out of harm’s way and telekinetically slapping the gun away from Kevin’s hands, sending it flying straight into his face. The gun met his nose, drawing blood, and bounced off, cluttering uselessly on the floor. Bouviere then hurled it to the other side of the building and drew his own sidearm, only to have himself disarmed by Kevin’s own counterattack.

“Good move, nice counter.”

“They trusted me to bring you in. Even though they knew you were much stronger. They said I was wiser, more experienced,” with a handkerchief, Kevin wiped off the blood that was flowing from his nose. He inserted the hanky into his pocket and placed his hands on his belt. He removed the buckle and, in one swift motion, hurled it at Bouviere. He manipulated the buckle, causing it to morph into its default form, a giant globule of liquid steel. Then, with another mental command, the blob of chrome diffused into a hundred tiny droplets, which then solidified into needles, each thinner than a human hair and sharp enough to effortlessly shear through body armor.

The hornet swarm of telekinetically propelled chrome needles sparkled in the sunlight as they closed in on Bouviere with frightening speed. But with one swift motion of the arm, he effortlessly backhanded the swarm away with his mind, deflecting every needle right back at Kevin.

While in fact the needles were moving almost as fast as bullets, Kevin could see them sail through the air, like tiny glimmering paper planes that left trails of distorted air in their paths. He could do nothing, however, despite being able to see them come. His mind, extraordinary and gifted with psionics, was way too fast for his body, which was merely ordinary. Even his psionics could do nothing, as the needles were propelled by Bouviere’s mightier telekinesis.

[darthdavid]

I think this could be very good.

[Ace Pace]

I think this could be very good.

You don't Think, you know.

[darthdavid]

I think this could be very good.

You don't Think, you know.

[hokey german accent]I knooow nooooothing[/hokey german accent]

[Kuja]

Awesome.

[Shroom Man 777]

Awesome.

This means a lot for me, a compliment coming from a writer like you

[Crazedwraith]

sweet. Is this the entire thing? (Kevin goes splat. Fini. ) Or a clifffhanger?

[Shroom Man 777]

Cliffhanger.

[Shroom Man 777]

Editted. Elsewhere I recieved constructive criticism that the conversation derailed after Bouviere ranted about the inferiors and the norms and how psions were the ubermensch. So I did some fixing.