Garage of the Barrett residence.
Candy Candido sat tied to a chair, a black hood over his head, wrists zip-tied tight. Around him stood the agents—and Roxy.
Jody was carrying Sera's limp body back inside the house.
"Get her upstairs. Please," Mickey had told her.
FWIP!
The hood was yanked off. Candy looked up to see the agents surrounding him, his feet encased in a shell of Roxy's ice.
"Well then, Candy," said Syd Barrett. "We've got some things to discuss. That plane ticket you booked—what exactly were you planning to do in China?"
.
.
.
Inside the house, Jody dragged her soaked English friend through the doorway, leaving a wet trail behind her. Mickey had said Sera was out of danger now—she just needed rest.
Jody hauled her up the stairs to her bedroom. She grabbed the plastic tablecloth to line the bed and laid Sera on top, covering her with towels.
"You're heavier than you look, Sera…"
"Ugh—AAAGH—!"
Candy's body convulsed violently in the garage, his chair rocking as electric current surged into his brain. The sharp smell of burnt flesh followed… and then silence.
He hadn't said a word. Just like Betty.
.
.
.
Time passed. Eventually, Jody heard the front door open and voices chattering beyond it.
When she stepped out to check, she saw it was only Mickey—and he was covered in blood.
Crimson smeared his skin from neck to ankle. His clothes, thankfully, remained clean—he had wrapped himself in something beforehand.
Just the sight of it made her not want to imagine what Candy had gone through.
"How's Sera?" he asked, stepping into the room.
"Still unconscious."
"..."
"How did it go outside?" Jody asked.
"They came and picked him up."
"Did we get anything?"
From their conversation, the team had learned that Candy Candido had a romantic connection with Betty Moretz. The two of them worked for a certain group—unnamed, higher up.
Candy and Betty's job was to receive shipments of the power-enhancing drug, sell it through black-market channels, and document which buyers survived its effects. Those names were then reported back to that same group.
"Who are they?" Jody asked.
"…A married couple. Public figures. Roxy's digging into them now—soon we'll see if what she found matches what I saw myself."
"…And the girl. The one with orange hair?"
"…I think she's part of a trafficking operation."
"Trafficking?"
"I saw pictures of Candy and Betty in the Middle East somewhere… Iraq, maybe. Not sure. But the manifest from one of their plane drops—Jody, I saw it with my own eyes. They weren't shipping goods. They were shipping people."
"?!"
Jody's eyes widened.
"Candy and Betty kidnapped people from the Middle East and handed them off to that couple. That's what I know."
She hadn't heard it firsthand, but Jody still felt a weight settle over her heart.
"…That orange-haired girl and the couple… They're our next target. Especially the girl—she's the key to everything. We need to find out who she is, and where she is now."
"Candy didn't give anything else?"
"He's gotta be squeezed at HQ. They've got tools to make him talk better than we ever could."
"…Got it."
As for the disk… there was no update. Candy still wouldn't speak a word about it.
"That's the weirdest part… Normally sleazebag politicians like him crack after a couple punches. This one…"
Mickey nodded in agreement.
"…They've got an ideology. That's gonna make them harder to break."
"..."
"You're sure Sera's okay?"
Mickey asked again.
"Lungs are clear. Breathing's stable."
"..."
"..."
"…Good."
He sat down beside Jody.
"..."
"..."
"Hey, Jody…"
"…Yeah?"
"I didn't read your file that closely… but… is it true you knocked out one of your classmates' teeth back in middle school?"
"..."
She knew what he was talking about. It was true. Back in 8th grade. She still remembered it. She'd done it just because she didn't like the guy's face.
"…Yeah."
Jody replied calmly, eyes cast down.
"You remember how many people you bullied?"
She shook her head.
"No."
"How many did you hurt?"
"..."
"…I don't remember."
Even as the words left her mouth, they made her heart sink. It felt like Mickey was rubbing salt in a wound she hadn't let heal.
"No… I meant how many did you really hurt?" he emphasized.
Jody froze. She knew exactly what he meant.
Her face sank further. Images of her father and older sister resurfaced.
"…Two."
"When you… when you beat the hell out of them…"
Mickey twirled a pencil between his fingers as he spoke, his tone as casual as ever.
"Why did you do it?"
"..."
"…At the time, I thought it was fun."
"Fun to control someone weaker than you?"
"…Yeah."
"Fun to play god?"
"..."
"…Yeah."
"No pity in your heart at all, was there?"
"..."
She didn't deny it.
"..."
"A victim of your own cruelty."
"Why are you asking me this?"
"Humans are the most savage animals," Mickey said. "It's not that far-fetched."
He glanced toward Sera's unconscious body.
He did it again—dropping a cryptic line at the end of a conversation, leaving it to the listener to figure out what he really meant. That usually left people confused.
He didn't expect Jody to catch on. She didn't seem much different from Sera.
But he was wrong.
Because Jody replied with a line just as cryptic.
"To be alive is to suffer. To survive is to find meaning in that suffering."
Mickey's eyes widened. He turned to look at her, now clearly intrigued.
"I still wonder sometimes…" she said. "Why didn't I just die when I fell down those stairs and cracked my skull open?"
Jody sighed softly and met Mickey's gaze.
"I think this is God's punishment… For the strongest ones, the worst punishment isn't wounds. It's a shattered mind."
But Jody knew Mickey wasn't actually feeling sorry for her. If anything, he should be feeling sorry for her victims. So, she changed the subject.
"That quote… it's Friedrich Nietzsche, right?"
"..."
Mickey tilted his head, visibly surprised.
"You know him?"
"We probably read it from the same place, Mickey."
"I read it from a book."
"I read it as an e-book."
Mickey raised his eyebrows—he hadn't expected Jody to be into philosophy. That was new to him.
Something about it just clicked between them.
"I thought all you knew how to do was fight and order coffee while scrolling Twitter."
"Most American teenagers these days are too busy wearing Supreme and doing dumb stuff on TikTok. I don't blame you for assuming."
"You're not like those kids."
"Actually, it's not just Nietzsche. I've read some Eastern philosophy too... Buddhism, things like that. I was planning to ask Syd about it, but I haven't had the chance."
"You're more capable than I thought."
"I just dabble."
Jody closed her iPad and set it aside.
"Not that I know anything deep."
She downplayed it.
"Was Nietzsche part of your organization?"
Jody asked jokingly. Of course, it made Mickey smirk.
"Heh."
"At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if the squirrel outside your house was a Thrak agent."
Mickey shook his head slightly at the tease.
"What about you? You study this stuff too?"
"...Yeah. I met someone I really respected who recommended it to me."
"Who?"
"..."
Mickey paused, then decided it was safe to share—it wasn't a classified secret.
"...Syd's mother."
Syd's mom?
"What's her name again… I looked her up once. Forgot."
"Anong. But we called her Annie—her English name."
"...Annie Barrett?"
"Yeah."
"What was she like?"
"..."
Mickey took a breath.
"She was… really kind."
From the way Mickey spoke and the look in his eyes, Jody could tell he held a deep respect for this person.
"Mm... ngh..."
Suddenly, they heard Sera mumble, interrupting their conversation.
Jody got up to check on her, but it turned out Sera was just sleep-talking. She still wasn't conscious.
"Hehe… heh heh… gotcha now… you damn Mannix… stupid dickhead, took a knee to the nuts… hehehe… I... win... zzz."
"..."
"She's..."
"Yeah."
Jody answered.
"I think she's dreaming about kicking you in the nuts."
"If she gets her revenge in a dream, I'll take it."
Mickey picked up his pencil and went back to doodling.
"You're really calm, huh..."
"How's that any different from you?"
Mickey shot back.
"I respect that about you… that you can stay calm, even when Sera was beating on you."
"What are you trying to say, Jody?"
"Just look at you guys… You all could've snapped our necks anytime you wanted."
Mickey started to get what she was trying to say.
"You think we all look down on you?"
"...Well…" Jody shrugged.
"It's not like that," Mickey said. "You haven't been trained. Why would I act superior about that? That's not professional, Jody."
"...That's true."
Jody looked over at Sera.
"You know, ever since I met you guys, I've seen sides of Sera I never expected. I never thought she could actually be… sweet."
"What's she usually like?"
"If you were a student at our school, she would've sent you to the nurse's office long ago."
"..."
"I think Sera knows… that deep down, she still can't beat you. I bet she's already planning her rematch behind your back."
"A rematch with me?"
"Sera's addicted to winning. Back in school, she kept trying to get a rematch with me."
"Stalked you?"
"That's a little harsh… but yeah, I think she trained herself hard just to fight me again. For all I know, she might be better than me now..."
"When she was chasing you around, didn't she scream it across the entire school hallway? Loud as she is."
Jody chuckled at his remark.
"Bit much, Mickey… heh."
"The reason I can put up with it is simple—and I think we're on the same page."
Mickey glanced up at her.
"If everyone in the world were like us, it'd be boring as hell."
An image of Syd flipping her off popped into Jody's head. She smiled faintly and replied,
"Couldn't agree more."
Knock knock knock.
The door creaked open.
It was Syd Barrett. He poked his head inside.
"What're you two talking about?"
Syd asked.
"Jody knows Nietzsche," Mickey pointed at her. His tone had a spark of excitement, like he'd found someone who finally spoke the same language.
"Let me guess—bonding over edgy quotes? You know it's all pointless, right? Everyone dies anyway. Why waste your time on that crap?"
"Wow, okay... So what's your life philosophy then, Syd?"
Jody crossed her arms, raised a brow, and gave him a sly smile.
"Easy."
"Do tell?"
"If someone pisses me off, I beat the crap out of 'em."
"...And what if you can't beat them?"
"Then I make sure they're humiliated and run."
"..."
Clap. Clap. Clap. Clap.
Mickey applauded the wisdom of his friend.
"You can't be 'on' all the time, Syd."
Jody said.
"Then I'll 'be on' right now—with you, nosy Brit."
Mickey in the back: "Ooh, racist now, are we?"
"Shut it, gay boy."
"Such language, Syd."
"Shut it."
"Jeez, you're aggressive today, Syd. What's up? Jealous?"
Mickey again: "He's jealous I'm getting along with you, Jody."
"Enough flirting. HQ called. Meeting. Now."
"Ah, roger that."
Mickey folded up his notes, tucked the pencil away, and followed Syd out.
"Do I need to come?"
Jody asked.
"No. And don't try eavesdropping either."
"I wouldn't dream of it."
Character sheet : Candy Candido.
Candy's ability was the creation of illusions—projections so convincing they didn't just trick the eyes, but hijacked the brain itself. Anyone who saw them would be deceived on a neurological level, unable to resist or reject what they perceived.