Powerless

XXI - Master Plan

Theo sipped some more water from my hand. 

"My plan..." he repeated. "Since the first time I had heard of Stormlings, I've been working on this. Every detail was planned." 

"Planned for what?" I asked. 

"Unification, Luci! Unification!" Theo stood up. "Stormlings and Shinelings? It's nonsense! They're all the same. Only the methods to stay out of the government's claws are different. Is that a reason to go slaughtering each other? No!"

"And yet we do." I said.

"Exactly!" Theo shouted enthusiastically, and he pointed at me like I said something brilliant. "And that's why I planned to make it stop!"

"Makes sense. But what does Myrsky have to do with that?"

"Ahaa..." Theo started to smile. "Myrsky's role was crucial. After all, who else has seen the true faces of both camps? Nobody! So who else could explain the pointlessness of it to you?"

"To me?" Now I stood up too. "Hold on a second. I'm a part of your plan?" 

"Of course you are!" His voice echoed through the room. "You're the most important part of it all! You link everything together and make the plan work!"

"I'm... flattered..." I said carefully. "But... I'm not sure if I'm the right person for that job."

"Of course you are." Theo said again, and he came a few steps closer. "You have everything I needed you to have. You're intelligent, social, curious, and you can be very convincing. You are perfect."

 "Okay then..." I said. "What exactly is my role, then?"

Theo sighed. "Now that all is lost, I guess I could tell it all. The one who bounded you was me." 

"You?!" 

"Yes, me." He turned around and stared at the door. "And don't think it was easy. But it was necessary for my plan. You had to learn everything at once instead of growing up with the knowledge, because that'd make you choose a side immediately. You had to be an outsider in order to see the stupidity."

I stared at him. I couldn't say a word. 

"When you arrived here and fell off the stairs, you weren't braindead, though I told everybody that you were. When I "healed" your brain I actually checked if the blockades were still good. I also made a few modifications to make you suitable for the next step in my plan."

"You manipulated my brain?!" I yelled. "How dare you!" 

"Shh, yes, I did. I know you don't like it, but it was important!" Theo said, while stepping back. "I needed to make you good at bluffing so you could fool the Stormlings in the next invasion. Didn't you think it was a little too much plot convenience that I was just there at exactly the right moment? It was planned!"

"You're crazy." I hissed. "You're a dangerous lunatic!"

"I suppose I am." he said. "At least a lunatic with a noble goal. Don't you understand? If we're united and stop killing each other, we can form one enormous group. The government can't ignore us anymore, the people will know that we are here, and they won't simply let us be killed. Unification is the best option our kind has! Won't you let me change your brain only a little in order to achieve that?"

Though a sudden realization made his eyes lose their light again. 

"But we won't achieve it..." he mumbled. "Idio killed Myrsky. The plan has failed."

"No, it hasn't." I said, and grabbed his arm. "I won't allow that brain manipulation to be for nothing. If I have a task to complete for you, I will- But not because I like you, let that be clear!"