“Now then, I wanted to take this time to properly introduce you to myself, the organization, and our goals. I am your employer, you can call me Broadcast.”
I couldn’t understand the name choice. It didn’t really inspire fear hearing it. It felt like the kind of name someone trying to stay under the radar would pick, not someone who was effectively managing a team of villains.
“The Order is a group of villains focused on one thing. Making money. There is one man sitting at the top of the organization, with 5 ‘admins’ who end up doing most of the work. Each admin focuses on a specific route they feel suits them best. I am one of those admins. The others hire more villains than I do, as they end up going toe to toe with the NDI and legal forces more often due to their various businesses. This comes with the territory when they are peddling drugs, weapons, and more visible forms of crime. My goals, my methods, are a little different.
“Subterfuge. Assassinations. Espionage. Indirect attacks. Events that may not even look like an attack. These are my focuses, what I bring to the organization. You could think of me almost like the cleaner for the organization. If someone is in the way, I get dirt to blackmail, or we take the target out.” He paused, letting it all sink in. This is the organization, this is my life now.
A chance to grow stronger.
Broadcast continued on. “You felt Macaw’s power. It proves very helpful for forcing attention away from where Nebula might be working. I expect you to be a key player in their missions very soon. Now, an important distinction. The Order is focused on making money, that’s their goal. However, it is not our goal. My team has a separate goal that we are working towards, something that none of the other admins can know about. As you earn my trust, I will share those details, but for now, just know that The Orders goals are not yours.”
It was a lot of information to take in. I felt the familiar tug to a memory of Andree’s. I allowed it in, but chose not to focus on it immediately. I could view it after the discussion.
“Now then, I’ve heard them call you Crow. Is that going to be your final name?”
“No. It was a temporary name.”
“Then I suggest you think of what you want your villain identity to be soon. We need to get you outfitted with a costume. I’ll order the basics you’ll need, any future changes or customization will need to be done on your own dime. Oh, which reminds me. I’ll get an account created for you that I can deposit money into for your completed jobs. It wont be much to start with, but prove yourself and you’ll earn more. Be careful coming and going from this base, I’ve taken precautions but I don’t want you to expose it as hidden base. I’ve taken great lengths to keep it hidden.” The tone of voice shifted, back to how it sounded when he was first speaking to me when he offered a job. “I’ll leave you to think about this and figure out your cape identity. Tomorrow morning provide me with your name. Goodbye.”
Overall, I couldn’t help but think this sounded like a fair deal. Room and pay, plus a free costume to get me started. I can see the draw to villainy if these are the sorts of perks to expect.
With the conversation over, I focused on the memory of Andree’s to see what else I could learn about my new boss, and the organization we all worked for.
"Look, I know there's more to what your plans are! I work for The Order, not for you. Sugar has been making it very clear that what I'm doing for you is not in -line with the rest of the organizations goals."
Andree's voice was filled with frustration and anger. His hand gripped the phone in a near vice grip. The person on the other side spoke back calmly.
"Andree," Broadcast spoke. "What you need to understand, is that each of the admins has their own goals they work towards." His voice was sickly sweet, and Andree... I... no, Andree, was having trouble remembering what it was that had upsethim so. "Sugar has her goals, I have mine. The other have their own as well. Hell, even our boss has his own goal for The Order."
"I-I understand, but-"
"Do the job." Broadcast voice was chilling. It was a demand. There was no backing out.
Turning aback around, Andree's eyes locked with the man tied to the chair. His face was bruised and eyes swollen.
"Do. The. Job." Broadcast repeated. "Now!"
Andree raised his gun, all hesitation and worry gone. Broadcast was right. His only job was to do the job, follow the orders, and get paid.
He pulled the trigger.
As the memory ended, I found myself breathing fast, and my heart was racing. Everything I saw lined up with what Broadcast said my job might be like, and it seemed Andree had not always been as eager as he had been. Still, seeing the hesitation, the dare I say, humanity, that Andree used to have was enough to bring the images back of him lying dead on the floor.
The fact I could remember all the details, down to the how his arms looked was awful. In fact, it seemed like everything I tried to remember, I was calling back with perfect recollection. This wasn’t limited to my memories, it even extended to all the memories of Andree. I could still remember the code he watched Keiji punch into the elevator when they came down to see me.
Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.
I had no clue what any of this meant, but I recalled all the information correctly in my memory. Is a photographic memory something I gained from my powers as well, or was this something I had always had? If it’s not tied to my powers, then why can’t I remember anything before waking up in that room? As I closed my eyes my thoughts still wandered, so I focused on one thing. I thought of what I wanted my name to be.
Obsidian
Shade
Ebony
Dusk
Sable
I kept coming back to one of the names as I sat there. Still, I wasn’t going to rush the decision. Whatever I picked had to be better than Crow though.
He gave me an odd look at first, then glancing up at the crows, realization set in.
“Right, shared vision or something.” He took in a deep breath. “Funny you should ask, that dome is where we are going. It’ll be the answer to a few of your questions, and raise quite a bit more.”
His normal jovial nature had been subdued since the topic of the cold had been brought up. I was curious, but also not wanting to pry. This was now the second time I had seen him drop the jovial nature of his, counting the time yesterday when he was discussing Exalts who had passed. Were the two events related in some way? Lucas continued to talk, pulling me from my thoughts.
“Regardless, until we get there, I’d like to see how much you do remember. Maybe the key to solving your amnesia is finding pieces that remind you of… anything I guess.” He was grinning again, but I was starting to wonder how much that smile was a bigger mask than his bird beak. Still, I had no reason not to talk about it. It’s not like there was a lot there anyway. We started walking, and I began to explain.
“It’s not really that interesting. I woke up in an abandoned building filled with bodies. There was a note left on the windowsill. From what Keiji told me, the person responsible is called The Reaper. The stress from being there caused me to pass out again. I guess that might be when Andree found me, I heard some sirens before I passed out.” I went on to explain what happened after I woke up in the other building. We weren’t walking fast, and I didn’t skip any of the details. When I finished, we walked in silence for a bit longer.
“The Reaper has been a huge problem for the city over the last six months.” He spoke, breaking the silence. “The timing is interesting, as the first happened a week or so after…” He trailed off before continuing. “People began to think it was someone taking advantage of the weakened state of New Impetus.”
New Impetus. Was it my home, or was I visiting? Either way it’s my home now. It was hard to imagine a situation where someone would be able to cause an entire city to panic like this.
“On and on it continued. 24 separate incidents with no survivors. Until you.” He paused, looking at me. There wasn’t judgment in his eyes, only puzzlement. “Keiji and Andree must have told you that you have been the only survivor right?”
I shivered at the mention of how many incidents there had been. Yes, he had brought that up. He did also mention that the boss wanted to hire this guy?”
“Yeah,” Lucas nodded. He cupped his hands, blowing hot air into them and rubbing them together before continuing. “I think he’s been planning some pretty big job and wanted the backing of a strong Exalt with a reputation. No one can find this monster though, so he had tasked Keiji and Andree with looking into it.”
We stopped talking, just making little small talk quips, as we passed larger groups of people around us. I knew enough to know that talking about this in front of people that we can’t trust would probably be a really bad idea. Once the crowd thinned out a bit, Lucas spoke back up.
“If you don’t mind, what exactly was left on the note?”
I stopped walking. It wasn’t that I had to really work to remember the words. I don’t know why, but I felt scared of how Lucas’s perception would change after hearing them. He seemed likes such a nice guy, despite being a super villain, someone that was more likely to be a hero. It wasn’t anything incriminating either, but I couldn’t help but wonder. Was the note left for a reason?
I realized he was still staring at me, worry on his face. That look was enough for me to know, almost instinctively that I could trust him. The thought from earlier came back. Can you really trust anyone though?
No.
Yes. I decided to ignore the intrusive thought this time. I think I can start trying. I told Lucas exactly what the message said, and we started walking again. Lucas seemed to see how this had been a bit of a sore subject, as he asked his next question.
“Hey Ray, you remember your name. What else do you remember about yourself?”
It was a good question, and something I hadn’t really focused on. I slowed my pace as I thought on it, and tried to really focus. My name had come to me when I had seen my face for the first time, maybe seeing my face again would help again. I stopped walking and looked at my face in the reflective windows of the building we were passing. I took in every detail, from the shape of my eyes to how the ends of my hair parted. My name was Ray Ingram. I spoke it like a chant. Repeating it constantly while I stared at my face. Nothing. I added to it. My name was Ray Ingram. I have the memories of Andree, the detective. I repeated that a few more times. On the last time I repeated it though, something changed. My name was Ray Ingram. I have the memories of Andree, the detective. I am 24 years old.
That was new, progress in some fashion. With the new information, I repeated the whole chant again. I couldn’t remember anything else though. There was a blank, a wall, something stopping me from remembering anything further.
“The only thing that comes to mind is my age. I’m 24, if my memory on this can be trusted.”
“Ah, I see. I just turned 28 last month. It might not seem like much, but being able to remember your name and age are huge!” His smile turned into a frown. “I’ve known people who can’t even remember that. So I know a bit of what you’re going through, even if it’s not first hand experience.”
There it is again. Three times now a discussion has led to him losing his jovial nature! I couldn’t help but wonder now, did he have something to get off his chest?
But I didn’t get the chance to ask.
“We’re here.”