The two appeared in sickbay, where Clarisa's broken wrist was bandaged and the bullet was removed from Leo's shoulder blade. There, Clarisa witnessed other perceivers coming in from their assignments, and she counted three deaths and seven casualties. The nurses told her that Leo required at least a week of medical leave from active duty. She pleaded with them to let her see him, but they insisted for her to return the next day and allow him time to rest. With no other urgent matters demanding her attention at the moment, she headed to Johnson's office.
“Come in,” he called in answer to the knock on his door. His eyes flared when he saw Clarisa step in with only an injured wrist. It frustrated him that he couldn't just pull out a gun, take her life, and get the task over and done with. Most unfortunately, the Darkness wanted a painstakingly slow, calculated mass destruction of morale before anyone died. Its need for the perceivers to suffer emotionally delayed his ultimate goal of uniting his body with the Darkness, but their suffering was precisely what it wanted. He told himself to be patient, because after all, he craved to see some form of suffering in his enemies.
“Johnson,” Clarisa began politely, “I didn't mean to bother you, but I came to speak to you about several things that concern me.”
She half expected him to chase her out, but he acknowledged her with an upward nod. She made a deliberate understatement,
“I happen to notice a decline in the department’s morale.”
“Evidence?” he responded.
Was this man joking or was he really oblivious?
“The Darkness defeats perceivers by taking advantage of their negative emotions. Three have died less than an hour ago in sickbay, and more than five have died in the past week. Clearly our department’s confidence has dropped greatly, and I don't think a reduction in funds alone could have caused that. I was wondering if you had some insight into what is happening.”
“And what if I told you that I have none?” Johnson sneered.
“Then I’d go ask the executive committee.”
“Good luck,” Johnson shook his head. “They’re not gonna tell you anything.”
“That won't stop me from trying,” she said firmly. “And that's not all. The Darkness has evolved. The assignment 2847 that I’ve just returned from is unlike any other that Leo and I have encountered. The Darkness can now deprive us of our powers, create projections, and control our minds. I don't think our department is prepared to deal with such assignments.”
“Look,” Johnson turned around in his chair to face her. “This is all none of your business. Why do you even care?”
“I thought you'd be more concerned about the welfare of your subordinates,” Clarisa said carefully.
“Clarisa, look at me,” he faced her squarely and sniggered. “Do I look like I care about welfare?”
“I really think you should, because it appears to have a direct effect on our productivity,” she pointed out.
Johnson stood up, deciding that she had crossed the line. “You know your place, Clarisa. You don't have a right to tell me what I should and should not do.”
“With all due respect, Johnson,” she asserted, “I don't need you, or this organisation. I accepted the offer because I thought it was a more systematic and efficient way to fight the Darkness as opposed to confronting it by myself. I could leave and still survive perfectly well on my own. But I care about this organisation, and I don't want to see it collapse by the hands of the Darkness. I didn’t think you'd like that either, so I was hoping you'd be more cooperative.”
Johnson knew he had lost the conversation. Her motivations contradicted with every last one of his own.
“Tell all of that to the committee, maybe they might listen,” he shooed her out of his office. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some work to do.”
The door slammed on her, and she went without hesitation to look for the chiefs. To her dismay, the chief fieldwork officer was at a meeting and the CEO was on leave. Finally, she agreed that the following day would be a better time to return to headquarters after all.
* * *
Knowing that Clarisa had tried to contact him the previous day, the chief fieldwork officer welcomed her to his office, and was fortunately much more receptive.
“You wanted to see me,” he gestured her into a chair.
“Yes,” she nodded. “I wanted to talk to you about a couple of matters, among them the rising death rate of our department.”
“I've been looking into that,” he tapped a pen to his lip. “The reduction in funds has certainly been a problem.”
“What if it isn't the only problem?” Clarisa presumed. “From the cases of Antonna and Jaydis, it appears that sabotage is involved.”
“I share your concern, Clarisa,” said the fieldwork officer, “But it is difficult to carry out investigations and go around interrogating people without elevating the level of fear and suspicion in our department.”
“On the contrary, investigations would reassure me,” she remarked. “But I see your point.”
“If things do get too serious, we might consider that loan London is offering,” he brought up, “But as you know, there is tight rivalry between our branches, and some of us aren’t too willing to give up our best performing perceiver. Of course, the decision doesn't lie solely with me, but I'd like to know what you think.”
Clarisa frowned a little. “If you ask me, I'd think of all this as very strange.”
The chief cast her a look. “May I ask what you mean?”
“It doesn't matter to me personally which branch I work in, as long as it's Francis’ organisation. What perplexes me is everyone's obsession with money and success, and the need to be recognised for their efforts. I think the job alone without all its embellishments is fulfilling enough for me, if it's done properly.”
The chief smiled. “Then I beg to differ.”
“Another thing I wanted to discuss is the Darkness,” Clarisa went back on topic, “Lately its been able to cloak locations, disable teleportation and create projections, and that's not even all on the list.”
His forehead creased. “I've never heard of it being able to do all that. Which assignment was it?”
“2847, a getaway car.”
“Now that's strange,” the fieldwork officer stopped tapping his pen. “I don't remember passing off that assignment.”
“Johnson assigned it to Leo and I.”
“Well, then I must have a deteriorating memory,” he decided.
“There can't possibly be faked assignments, can there?”
“Why would anyone in the world fake an assignment?” he laughed. “As if there aren't enough of them already.”
Clarisa smiled, but was already beginning to see the growing plausibility of her suspicion.
“If you don't mind me asking, has a perceiver ever tried to make a deal with the Darkness?”
“Not that I know of. Why?”
“It's not impossible, is it?” Clarisa looked at him intensely. “If they have an ulterior motive that they share with the Darkness?”
“Doesn't sound impossible to me,” he shrugged. “Are you worried that something like that might have happened?”
Clarisa thought it wise to keep her position neutral.
“I’m worried that the present circumstances might allow for such a deal to take place, but I don't have the evidence or theory of how it can be done.”
“I will keep it in mind,” the fieldwork officer nodded. “If there isn't anything else you wish to tell me, I wanted to ask how the new perceiver is coming along.”
Clarisa raised her eyebrows. “You know about Kathryn?”
“Of course. I first sensed her before relaying the news to the manager, who in turn relayed it to Jonas.”
“Ah, of course,” she laughed. “Kathryn’s progressing well, faster than I thought she would, in fact.”
The chief smiled, pleased to hear the news.”Has she learnt to master the basics of emotional control?”
“Why do you say that?”
He reached for a file in his desk drawer. “I've found an assignment that might be suitable for her as a first training ground, because it's in a school setting.” He showed Clarisa a picture of the institution, which looked to be for students of Kathryn's age group. “It's advisable to start practising early, it'd makes things easier later.”
“Why, thank you, but I don't think Kathryn’s ready for her first assignment,” Clarisa shook her head. “Apart from the ability to see small manifestations, she hasn't developed any of her powers yet.”
“Hm… Maybe you could check her out one more time? Find some way to take her with you?”
Clarisa frowned. “Is there an urgency?”
“It's just, like you said, this department is running short of manpower,” the chief sighed. “I was thinking it would be good if she could join us as soon as possible.”
Clarisa took over the file and stared hard at the picture.
“I… will think about it.”
* * *
Leo had grown tired of gazing up at the ghostly white ceiling, with nothing but the sharp ache in his back for company, as well as the unsettling vision he had seen on assignment 2847 that replayed itself without end in his mind. Nobody told him how he had obtained his injury, thus leaving him restless and frustrated during his whole stay. He tried to smile when he saw Clarisa glide across the room and kneel down by his bedside, but it came out more as a grimace.
“How are you?” she asked softly.
He was in real pain, but the sight of Clarisa took some of it away instantly.
“I'm better,” he groaned. “What happened to me back there?”
“I shot you with the revolver and got us out of that getaway car.”
Leo frowned, failing to see the link.
“You were possessed by the Darkness,” Clarisa elaborated. “Your eyes turned black and you started driving.”
He remembered the bright road, the lady, how he drove after her but couldn't reach her…
“I had some kind of hallucination,” Leo revealed. “My mother was in the distance and running away from me, so I chased her in a car.” That was when he spotted the white dressing on Clarisa's wrist.
“What hurt you?” he said with a sudden energy in his voice.
Clarisa glanced down at her wrist and smiled back at Leo.
“I did say you were possessed.”
Leo blinked in astonishment. “I have zero memory of doing that... Sorry…”
“If you're sorry about breaking my wrist, what about the bullet wound I gave you?” Clarisa said lightly.
“What did you do that for?” Leo growled in pretend anger.
“To be honest it was only a guess,” Clarisa said sheepishly, “I thought since the Darkness was inside you, and you were in control of the car, the only way to end the assignment was to shoot you, and it worked.”
“You were willing to take that chance and risk imprisoning me in a boring white room for a week,” Leo grumbled.
“Be thankful I didn’t shoot at your head,” Clarisa jested, then decided it was enough of the banter. “I’m sorry, Leo. There was really nothing else I could think of.”
“Did you talk to them about the Darkness?”
“I did, with Johnson and head of fieldwork, and they're not very helpful on that.”
“Only you would try talking to Johnson,” Leo rolled his eyes.
Clarisa remembered that there was important information not to be missed. “Leo, can you tell me more about the hallucination?”
“There isn't much else,” Leo said flatly. “I just didn't want her to leave me.”
“Is your mother abandoning you in some way?” Clarisa asked.
“No. I live on my own, and we still call each other all the time.”
“Do you have any fear that she would stop calling you one day?”
Leo frowned as he tried to recall how the vision made him feel.
“No. But I remember experiencing a fear of not living up to expectations.”
“Your parents’ expectations?”
Leo half-shrugged. “I have no idea what I was thinking.”
Clarisa told him severely, “That is your fear, otherwise the Darkness wouldn't have used it against you.”
The nurse walked up to Leo's bed and made Clarisa a time-out sign before walking off.
“Get well soon, Leo.”
“Your visit just sped it up by a few days, at least.”
Clarisa smiled at him and resisted squeezing his hand before disappearing from the ward in a blue light.
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