Numbers

I was sitting in an office in DC with the others. It was a comfortable room, but I expected nothing less from the capital. The room they had placed us in was one of the smaller rooms with a large round table in it. James paced before us in the small space that the table allowed but Richards was the one that sat in front of us with a stack of paper before him. “This is the final offer Doctor,” Richards was telling me as he pressed one of his beefy fingers into the stack, “I don’t think there is going to be many more chances for you guys. This is our final offer,” he repeated pushing the pile toward me.

I read the final paper and placed it amongst the others in the pile, “This is ridiculous, Richards, they are just people, just individuals that want to start their lives over again.”

Richards nodded as if he understood, “I get that, Doctor, but they are also people that could help the human race. We can’t pass up this opportunity.”

“What about what is best for them, sir? What about what they want?”

That gave him pause, “We aren’t the inhumane ones, Doctor. We’re trying to help all of you.”

“You’re trying to help all of us by throwing them out to the public and announcing they are going to be keepers of the peace, which, by the way, I’m sure is what Hitler called the Nazis when he was rising to power!”

“You’re over thinking this Doctor.”

“No actually I think she is thinking just enough,” Gab snapped from his spot to my left, “This isn’t going to help anyone this is going to start a riot.”

“What do you suggest then, Doctor Gabriel,” Richards snapped at him, his eyes narrowing daring Gab to speak.

“Why can’t we just work for the government as part of the FBI? Why don’t we have our own department where you can come for our help if you ever need it?”

Luke cleared his throat from somewhere behind me, “You really need to stop reading those comic books, Gab, totally not a sexy trait.”

Gab rolled his eyes while Cynthia chuckled but the comment gave Richards pause. “If I agree to this,” he started slowly, eyeing the stack of carefully drawn documents, “Would you agree to it? Would you join the FBI?”

No one said anything for a long moment then Paul leaned forward, looking straight at Richards, “Yes,” he said simply.

Richards nodded, regarding all of us for a moment, “Done, it’s a deal.”

After two weeks of negotiations the papers were signed and we started working for the FBI. Within a year I had started working in my dream job which also turned out to be a job of my nightmares. I had lived with monsters and I had lived with loved ones, I had learned what evil truly looked like and I had watched it be persecuted. And then I had changed jobs. I now live with all of them: Paul, Cynthia, Luke, Gab, Drew, and Rose. We have been given a house to live in and we still live there happily. It all started out nice…until I watched the video.

I came home the day we signed the deal and pulled out the CD case. I waited until I was alone before I put it in the computer Luke had gotten somewhere in town. My hands shook as I pressed the play button. Tony appeared on the screen, his smiling face now seemed mocking instead of happy and kind as it had before.

“Hello Doctor,” he said pleasantly from the screen, “I realize now that I had misjudged you. Congratulations on your newly formed conscious and I hope it will serve you well,” then his smile disappeared and his eyes turned to stone as he leaned closer, “Just know this, I will find them. This is far from the end, Doctor,” he laughed wickedly, “oh no, this is just the beginning.”

The screen went black leaving me to stare at the blank computer with my mouth hanging open. I heard everyone down the hall talking and laughing like our world wasn’t about to be turned upside down. There was only one thing I could do, “Shit,” I breathed.