Chapter 30: Commander Petrovich

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Eryn, Clancy, and Olivia are not at dinner, and I cannot help feeling slightly on-edge with only Kristenson and Torres at the table.

Kristenson has been back for several hours now, and it seems his trip to town has put him into an even more undesirable mood than I am accustomed to.

He has brought back a newspaper, which he and Torres are currently scoffing over between mouthfuls of pasta.

"Superior teen loses control, murders Italian diplomats and levels their Florence home." Torres reads, rolling her eyes, "Sixteen-year-old Alessa Serpico, a Superior and former member of the Florence City Patrol, seemingly lost control of her abilities two nights ago. Acting on her rage, Serpico destroyed the home of two Florence residents, Giovanni and Francesca DiLorenzo, and attempted to murder a pair of Superior children. The children, ages eight and thirteen, are currently staying at another residence with their friends while Serpico is to be executed for her crimes."

"Damned Superiors!" Kristenson grumbles, slamming a hand down on the table, "I can't wait until we have a cure for these freak abilities. Children are out murdering people with their 'talents' now. Pathetic! We'll put an end to that soon."

"We better," Torres declares, "I'm getting tired of reading about all these Superiors in the large cities killing, stealing, lying, and manipulating."

"Everyone does that."

Both Torres and Kristenson stare at me in surprise, as though they had forgotten I was there and could weigh in for myself.

"What's that?" Kristenson scowls, glaring at me over his plate of spaghetti, "What did you say?"

"Everyone does that. I have done it, and you cannot say you haven't. We all lie, all manipulate others to keep ourselves alive. It is what comes from a war."

Torres rolls her eyes again.

"Ignore him, Brutus." she purrs, "After all, he wants to end up just like them by getting his own freak abilities."

Kristenson sighs, shoving the newspaper away from himself and Torres as though one more word might poison them both.

"How did the tests go today? You've managed to avoid telling me."

Torres pushes another set of papers in Kristenson's direction, talking the entire time as though her words cannot escape her fast enough.

"It works ... That is, it works to some extent. Subject Five was under my observation, and though the subject complained of a headache and was weak for an hour or so afterward, the injection did take away his abilities for a time. Eryn, though, seems to be trying to contradict me. You know, Brutus, sometimes I swear she skews her results on purpose."

"Sandra," Kristenson looks to Torres, exhaling another long sigh, "I know you don't care for her. I don't care for her either. Still, you have to stop criticizing her ability to do her job. You are a geneticist, I'm a biochemist. We might understand a bit about the freaks' and Inhumanes' brains, but she knows far more than we ever can. She went to medical school for it, Sandra. Now, what is it that you think she did?"

Torres fumes, flipping through the sheets of paper until she finds what she wants.

"I know," Torres proclaims irritably, "that Eryn skewed her results. She had to. Look at this! It is right here in my notes, this injection works with minimal side effects for a short span of time. All my data supports it. Then you have Eryn, who claims that this injection brings about neurological side effects."

Torres continues rifling through her stack of notes, watching in annoyance as Kristenson continues eating disinterestedly.

"Here!" Torres finally exclaims, all but pushing the page under Kristenson's hooked nose, "Seizures, she says. If that were the case, wouldn't my subject have had them as well? In most of our tests the effects are the same for-"

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