Triple Point

Chapter 96: Foul Play

Camilla

"That's why this is so personal to me," Senior continued. "And I know that makes this seem like my quest for revenge, but it isn't. Admittedly, I was furious with her for what she had done to me. But eventually I realized that it was my fault for allowing her to do that in the first place. She had told me that her experiment would increase the strength of my abilities, and I had been naive enough to believe her. And as much as I regret my actions, I would be even more mad at myself if I let her continue to destroy other people's lives, especially when they don't have a say in it like I did.

"And even though I know now that everything she told me was a lie, none of us know for sure what exactly she was after. It's possible that her goal has been the same all this time, and finding out what drives her could play a key part in determining what her next move might be and how we can take her down."

Belatedly, Camilla noted that her words were a perfect segue to talk about what Hester was up to at Farallon. Unfortunately, she didn't come to that realization until Senior's gaze turned to her, leading the way for every other pair of eyes in the room.

"Captain Wyatt," Senior began, her professional tone softening into one that resembled compassion. "Would you be able to give us more details on what Hester was after at Farallon?"

Honestly, that was the last thing Camilla wanted to do at the moment. But that's what she was there for, and it was too late for her to go back on her word.

Instinctively, Camilla leaned towards Elsie. She hadn't even realized she had done so until she felt Elsie's stability holding Camilla upright. The gesture gave Camilla a sudden sense of determination, and she steeled herself to focus on the task at hand, her mission. With Elsie by her side, with her friends at her back, she was strong.

"Honestly, there's not much I can tell you," Camilla began. Immediately, she realized how small her voice sounded in the silent room, and she forced herself to continue with more volume and determination. "I only have my experience to go off of, and... well, most of it was a blur. As I mentioned to Captain Lee before, you may get better information from AJ or some of the Exodos members that were being held captive. From what Hester and Stein implied, there were plenty of other metas there before me."

"Thank you for that suggestion," Senior replied automatically. "We'll keep that in mind, but we'd like to start with what you can tell us."

Whether the Alliance took her advice or not was on them, and Camilla left it at that. As much as she thought they were acting like stubborn children, she couldn't put off sharing her information any longer, not without making it seem like she was stalling. And stalling made her seem weaker than she already was.

"She never specifically said what her goal was, but from what I could gather, Hester was trying to brainwash me," Camilla began, surprised by how calm and nonchalant she sounded. "She wanted me to forget all of my memories, even my own name. She wanted to control me and make me obedient to her every command; she even put a device in my head to do so."

Senior nodded. "I heard it's called a Seed—I'm not surprised she would choose such a name. We have people looking into the ones recovered by Exodos, but we're having trouble understanding how it works, if it even does at all."

"It does," Camilla said almost too quickly. But she couldn't help it, not when her body remembered being completely powerless to stop herself from stabbing her own leg. "Hester could've probably made me do anything with that thing in my head, even if I tried to resist. And she would've used it to erase the rest of my memories too, if my friends and Exodos hadn't shown up then."

"We believe Stein may have helped develop that device, given his background in psychology and how metas' minds control their abilities," Senior said, smoothly ignoring Camilla's obvious plug vouching for Exodos. "Could you share what you remember about him?"