The One Leader's home was famous for three reasons. Its location, its environment, and the excessive security surrounding it.
At the northern end of the Congo Basin, surrounded by various greenery, stood a three-story glass cube. On cloudy days, one wouldn't even be able to see the glass cube, as without the sun's reflections shining on it, the glass would look no different from the greenery surrounding it.
An ape peered inside the glass, curiously staring at the man sitting on a chair, his fingers pounding something black and rectangular.
Vikhan noticed the gaze, but gave it no mind. He continued typing.
As he finished the sentence, his finger pressed the backspace key repeatedly, deleting the sentence. He frowned and then typed the same sentence in a similar, but slightly more abstract way.
The finger did not delete the sentence.
'It's too vague…'
He tried again, but he tried to add more specific information this time.
The sentence was deleted.
The sentence was deleted.
The sentence was accepted.
Vikhan wasn't satisfied with the outcome, but he knew it wouldn't get better than this.
He looked at the paragraph he had written.
It was a collection of ambiguous and ominous sentences, but it was hard to make sense of it all.
A bell rang in the room.
Vikhan stretched and closed the file he was working on. He fell on the couch and idly stared at the nature surrounding him. He pressed a button on the remote, and the sounds of the nature surrounding him were allowed inside the house.
His head, muddy from all the thinking, slowly loosened up.
A message came to him. He checked the contents.
[Information about Falling Cosmos has been leaked.]
Vikhan called the person.
"Explain."
"Gweniera Cross has relayed the following message to Elan Cross through Harold Cross. 'Enter Experiment Do Spirit Bond'. The cryptologists think that there was another message in the mix, but they have too few information to make a proper guess."
"Where are they both now?"
"Gwen is headed towards the research center and Elan is inside the office he uses for his private business."
"Capture them. I'll meet them in the Capital."
"As for Harold?"
"Leave him be, but keep him in the dark."
"Yes, sir."
"Tell me Gwen's contributions for the research," the One Leader said.
"She is working on finding a cure for the 80%. She has created a program that creates personalized treatment methods for the test subjects. We have yet to prove its effectiveness, but there are a few subjects who are feeling better."
"How much time will her contributions save for us?"
"If it is successful, I believe we can save as much as six months."
Vikhan nodded. "In that case, include her treatment methods and change the master plan. Do whatever you need."
"Yes, sir."
"And send someone to pick me up."
"Yes, sir."
A day later, Vikhan stood before the two Crosses sitting silently on two chairs. Gwen's appearance had changed little. Her makeup was ruined and her clothes were a bit ruffled, but that was it.
Elan, on the other hand, suffered a few bruised to his body and was granted another scar on his face. There were rope marks on his wrist and knees and most of his clothes were ripped. He must've struggled quite a bit when he was abducted.
Despite it all, the two maintained a calm expression. Gwen was warily looking at Vikhan, trying to keep her face level. Elan was smiling, humming some tune with a carefree attitude.
They were famous people. Useful as well. Vikhan wasn't going to let them free so easily.
"I assume you know why you're here," he began.
"I'm sorry for transgressing the Contract," Gwen spoke.
Vikhan stared at her silently.
"I'll do anything in my power to make up for my mistake. Please give us another chance."
"It's weird," Vikhan sighed. "You'd think that people will learn eventually, but they never do."
Gwen was silent at the remark.
"Everyone thinks they're special. They feel entitled to a second chance. They think that if it was them braving the dangers, they would somehow turn out okay. They never see a future where they'll be shot in the head by some nameless thug on a nameless street. No. They can't accept such a boring death. Where was the glory? Where was the sacrifice? Where was the love?"
"…"
Gwen's eyes betrayed her fears. Elan had stopped humming.
"At least you two have it better off," Vikhan smiled. "The One Leader of all people will shoot you dead."
As Vikhan pulled out his pistol, the two jumped at him.
Elan was the first to throw a punch at him. Vikhan grabbed Elan's fist and pulled hard at it. Elan groaned loudly as he was thrown over Vikhan's shoulder.
Something hard slammed into his head the next moment, throwing splinters all over the room. The chair. Vikhan barely felt it. He turned around casually and saw a shocked Gwen holding a broken piece of wood in her hands.
Her shock was quickly replaced with desperation as she tried to stab Vikhan with the piece of wood.
Vikhan thought of taking on the attack, but that would be too much trouble. He caught her by the arm and threw her at Elan.
As the two scrambled to get up, he pointed his gun at them. They both stopped moving, their eyes darting everywhere. Their lives seemed to be flashing before their eyes.
'Enough scaring them.'
"Go sit at your places."
They silently complied. Elan sat on his chair, and Gwen, who had broken hers, sat on her knees.
"Gwen," he resumed. "You'll go back to the research center and work on finalizing your program."
Her eyes flickered with hope.
"Yes," she replied immediately.
"Elan. You'll join the experiment like your sister asked you to."
"I understand."
Vikhan then thought of a certain unlikeable fellow's face.
"And. You are familiar with Lorn, yes?" Vikhan asked.
Elan's eyes went wide at the question.
"I am…" 'But what's it to you?' Elan's eyes seemed to ask.
"Your job is to make trouble for him in the experiment."
Elan did not hide his surprise.
"Gather your henchmen, lure people with promises of erasing their debt, do whatever you need to fuck up Lorn's life however you want to. The necessary arrangements will be made."
"I understand." Elan's voice was crisp and lively.
"But. Remember this. You are not to touch in him reality. Keep his debt until he pays you back, but after that, leave him alone."
"But inside the experiment, anything's fair game?" Elan asked.
Vikhan nodded. "Here's your first task. On the morning of the 17th, go meet Lorn in person and whisper this into his ears."
He let the two go afterwards.
Lorn would suffer for a bit, but that was for the best.
After all, Vikhan couldn't do everything by himself.
***