(Frerard) Ozone

4

Frank estimated the stack of paper would take him three full days to complete. That landed him on Friday, with enough time to tell Amy and his family something about how he got a promotion and had to move. He couldn't believe it - Gerard didn't have the right to stride into his life and demand he move to a different state with less than a week's warning.

Except he did threaten to kill him.

Shit.

A part of him - a pretty big part - was still puzzled over the whole scenario. He'd literally been given all the information on Monday - yesterday - and even though that gave him a night to sleep on it and think about everything, he was still somewhat convinced this was a dream. Or maybe a messed up nightmare.

Frank didn't understand why Gerard needed an assistant, other than he was looking really tired today. He did, however, grasp the concept of Project OZONE and hoped to hell Gerard wasn't making things up to test him. What if this entire thing was a trust test set by the government? Frank supposed he'd be able to tell after reading the papers. There was a colossal amount - that much couldn't be faked.

He also could understand why he'd been chosen as the assistant. He had a photographic memory, and his bet was that nobody else in data input had one. It wasn't that special or a stand out, but is sure as hell was useful.

The final reason Frank was going along with everything was Gerard. Gerard and his death threats and his chilling career path and his cold, calculating stance that covered up everything else there was to see. If anything, the death threats were enough to keep him going.

But Frank desperately wanted to know more about him. Gerard was strangely both captivating and someone Frank wanted to stay away from. He didn't know about his family, his hobbies - hell, he didn't even know if he had hobbies. Gerard was inexplicable, and Frank was equal measures drawn to and apprehensive of him.

Oh, shoot. Frank didn't mean to zone out for a long time like this. He started up his computer again and shuffled the papers around.

While he was working, a few headers stood out to him. The first few pages were a briefing on the Project OZONE facilities, including a few maps, one of which he stared at, trying to commit to memory. The next were in-depth descriptions of how the AI worked. He scanned it, then gave up, thinking maybe it would make sense if he actually knew computer science.

It was giving Frank chills, reading this. There weren't any numbers given about how many subjects they needed, or any explanation for what was being done to them. A dark thought, unbidden, and inspired by Gerard's words about experimenting, crept into Frank's mind. They need to find a fast way to kill people.

After reading all that, he couldn't find any evidence to suggest it was all forged. Frank was starting to believe he was actually part of a serious plan to overthrow part of the government, and it scared him.

***

Frank picked up sushi takeout on the way home. He also stashed his papers in his bag to take with him - he didn't know if he was allowed to shred the ones he logged yet, or if he should leave them in the office for everyone to find the next morning.

"Welcome home! Is that sushi?" Amy yelled from the couch.

Frank shut the door behind him and shouted back. "I hope so!" He heard Amy laugh.

"Anyways," he said, setting everything down on the kitchen table, "I have some news from work." He tried to look excited about this. Really, he was afraid or her reaction.

"Spit it out, genius."

"I got a promotion!"

Amy stared at him, then burst into a grin. "You're kidding! It's about time, you've been working there for two years! Hey, wait, what's wrong?"