Chapter 52: The Control Weapon

Chapter 52: The Control Weapon


Fountain's words hung in the parched air of the hideout, every syllable a dismal find. The fluorescent light above his head pulsed, casting stretched, leaping shadows on the walls, setting aflame the tension that captivated the room. He shifted uncomfortably in his chair, his eyes sweeping their faces, testing their response.

"Seraph," he spat the name like a deadly poison from his lips. "A test tube ingredient in question, a designer. Not something that shows up on the street. This product. it reprograms the mind. Weaken people, overrules free will. That's why she has followers so completely devoted, so blindly loyal."

He paused, allowing the implications to fall. "Think about it. Fear can hold bodies in its grasp, but Seraph holds minds. And it's a far more wicked instrument. She's building an empire, she's building an army of puppets. An army who will follow her, blind, unconditionally."

Rico, until now quiet during the debate, only now spoke and, his voice laced with fear and disgust, commented, "So she's spiking them cocktails? Turning them into zombies?"

"A whole lot more zombies," Fountain replied, scrunching up his face. "Zombies don't have minds. These people are aware of things, they're walking around, but they're completely under her control, they're mind warped to what she wants. They think that they're doing it themselves, but they're just puppets of hers."

Zane shook his head, hand fisted in his hair, shoving it off his forehead. "That makes sense. The way they were moving, the way they appeared. It wasn't fear. It was something else. Something other. Something not quite human."

"It's why she could mobilize so fast," Fountain continued. "She's not making followers; she's making them in dozens. And she's making them to propagate Seraph further, to make more puppets, to tighten her hold on the city."

Jake's flesh crawled. He glared at Zane, whose fists clenched at the mention of Lisa's involvement.

"Which drug?" Jake demanded in a gruff but dazed tone.

Fountain shook his head in a bitter sigh. "It's not a normal drug. It has been created to kill free will. It compels supernatural obedience. Werewolves, vampires—all of the users are completely in her control. No fight, no fear. They comply like automaton soldiers in an army."

Mia's own gasp was stifled. "That's why her enforcers never turn on her," she panted. "We always wondered why they never turned on her, never wavered."

Rico slammed his fist on the desk. "And we are supposed to just take this for granted? Some random human comes into our office and then, he has all of Lisa's deepest thoughts in her mind?" He stared hard at Fountain. "How do we even know you're not colluding with her?"

Fountain did not flinch, meeting Rico's glare with a steadfast stare. "Because she took everything from me. My sister was one of the victims. She wasn't supernatural, but Lisa wanted to know if humans were commandable too. It killed her." He spoke so harshly that Rico would shiver. "I learned about this drug while being worked in the medical lab that Lisa's scientists were experimenting this on human beings. I know what it can do. I stole what I could and I escaped."

Jake narrowed his eyes. "You have proof?"

Fountain nodded, reaching into his jacket and extracting a vial the thickness of his thumb. The liquid inside glowed, an inky supernatural blue. "This is diluted. It's sufficient to test—to prove I'm speaking the truth. But the remainder of it? That's in a padlocked depot at the edge of town, where it's watched like gold."

Zane clenched the vial in his hand, spinning it. "If this is true… Lisa isn't deadly—she's unstoppable. She can manipulate enough people into doing her bidding, and she can assemble an army that'll never turn on her."

Jake released a slow breath. "Then we have to break it."

Rico shook his head back and forth. "You don't even know if this will work. What if he's lying? What if this is a trap?"

Fountain grinned, unsealing the vial and letting a single drop land on his own face. His body twisted at that point, his eyes bulging out of his head as his teeth were firmly closed. A snarled agony burst out of his lips before he tried to breathe, trying to become leveled.

"It doesn't quite work on humans," he snarled with teeth exposed. "But it does work on us quite well enough. Just imagine this being injected into a werewolf. Just imagine them not being able to refuse a command, not being able to think for themselves."

There was silence.

Jake glared at Zane. "We have to act fast. If Lisa has more of this, she can enslave packs."

Zane nodded. "Then we break into the facility and torch it."

Mia bit her lip. "Sounded easier said than done. If it's as secure as Fountain claims, we're going to have to be subtle. We don't have enough personnel for a full-on attack."

Jake massaged his temples, weariness creeping in. "Then we find another. We go in incognito, blow it from the inside and take nothing with us."

Fountain's face appeared in the light, his own expression one of clenched hardness. "You don't know. Lisa's already started using it. I've overheard her talking about dosing more enforcers this week. You don't have time."

Desperate silence filled the air around them, the weight of what he'd revealed falling.

And from the shadows, the barely perceptible noise—metal scraping on stone. The unmistakable ring of being near the place where the hide had been.

Jake leaped to his feet in a flash. "We're not alone."

Zane snarled under his breath, setting off the gun. "Lisa's already at our backs."

Fountain covered his hand over the vial. "Then we'd better leave here. Now."

The chase had started.