Lightspeed: Drug Detectives

Chapter 8 (Act I): A Takedown For A Takedown

Sorry to keep you waiting, everybody! It's me, Ariel Axilas, and welcome back to yet another chapter of my second novel, "Lightspeed: Drug Detectives"! Last time.....gosh.....if you'd told me earlier that I was going to run into Herman—like, the fucking Paragon Herman—at the Mastermind Conspiracy's Cambridge branch, I'd have looked at you like you were complete, Grade-A, prime-cut, batshit insane. But.....nope! Turns out that he's here, he heard Marle Atkins's confession—sorry, boss—and now he wants to help us take down the Celestial Syndicate! Sick, right? But.....ugh. I thought he and I were going to get along well when I first met him back during the Cosmic Armada campaign.....but now, he's just getting on my nerves, I swear. My best friend Erica Shields seems to like it, though, as does Marle; if anything, at least our bickering is going to make them happy, no matter what gets said.

We put together a plan to get our shit together and meet back up on the surface near my car, at which point I would bring us all to the Dominican Republic in the blink of an eye using my super speed; I can take anything and anybody with me as long as they're physically contacting me. But apparently, before we do that, we have to help Marle take out ANOTHER cop guilty of police brutality, as if she hasn't terminated enough of them already. Pretty much the only one I was concerned about was Erica, since she's the only one who has absolutely zero experience working for Marle up to this point. I.....guess Marle agreed to give Erica a blindfold and noise-canceling headphones, but.....I don't know. Let's just hope that equipment works. Otherwise Erica's going to be saddled with more than enough guilt for a lifetime. She really only did it because Marle insisted on doing it before we left, anyway. She seems to have her priorities a little skewed. .....Marle does, not Erica. That was clear, right?

Anyway, this time, Erica, Marle, Herman, and I set out to kill the cop before heading out to the Dominican Republic to stop the Celestial Syndicate. Maybe if we do a particularly good job, Her Majesty Marle will give us a raise.

.....I said that mockingly. I don't know a good way to portray that through text alone. Oh, well. ACTION!

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Marle Atkins leads my best friend Erica Shields, the Paragon Herman, and myself—that's me, Ariel Axilas—into a new room which I had never seen before, even back during the time when I worked more closely with her. I shoot Herman a look, and he returns it back with an expression that tells me he's never heard of or seen this room before, either. He worked with Marle before I did, so I initially thought that maybe the room was something that only "veterans" got to see.

.....But that wouldn't make any fucking sense anyway, 'cause we're currently bringing the newbie Erica into it.

Speaking of which, Erica already has the blindfold over her eyes and the noise-canceling headphones clamped over both of her ears; Marle had given them to her shortly after we began the walk to the new room. Because both her vision and her hearing have now been temporarily taken from her, Herman and Marle have to share the task of guiding her. I get that she's my best friend and all—my ride-or-die chum—but I can't help but snicker a little whenever she stumbles.

I don't know why the hell Marle chose to put the "guilt erasing equipment" on now instead of later, but who am I to question the leader of the Mastermind Conspiracy herself? Besides, I already basically threatened her into joining my cause, and I wouldn't want to push my luck too much.

The room—once Marle shoves open the two double doors with circular glass windows—looks like a huge square, and its interior appears to be composed of a high-end metallic texture that looks way too sterile for my liking. Red LED light bars grace the ceiling, and in the very center of the room is a bound and gagged police officer with widened teary eyes and incomprehensible words desperately attempting to escape his restrained mouth. He is in the center of what appears to be a quincunx formation, which is a formation with four items at the corners of a metaphorical square with the fifth item in its center—the more you know—and the other four "items" of the quincunx appear to be four red pressure-activated switches embedded into the floor; they are currently up, though, which tells me that they're inactive. Near each pressure-activated switch is a huge dark blue power generator with wires spanning from it to the chair that the unlucky cop is seated in.....and while some of the wires appear to affix themselves to the chair, others are actually jabbed straight into his back, which makes me cringe on the inside.