Chapter 2

Or, more accurately, “the Liberator” was lauded as a hero. Again.

There was that one time, before this all started, when Simon had rescued hundreds of imprisoned minds in Colombia and discovered government use of the illegal drug, Dream Dust, that rendered a mind completely helpless to resistance from invasion from outside MindHacks. Fox supposed that he deserved some acknowledgement for that one, especially since he would never receive recognition IRL.

None of them would, but that didn’t mean that their aliases weren’t well known.

Fox sulked silently and fiddled with the buckle on his glove, but was drawn out of it a minute later with the arrival of Karl and Mrs. Parks. Fox had a hard time looking at them, for two completely different reasons. Karl never appeared as a human-like figure; instead, his features were nothing but a shapeless form of writhing grey mist. Fox found that trying to stare directly at Karl made his head hurt, so he’d stopped after the fifth time or so. Mrs. Parks always appeared in a white, hooded cloak backlit by a blindingly bright light.

“Good, we’re all here,” King said with a clap of his hands. “We can proceed with the meeting.”

He never got even the slightest bit annoyed with their perpetual late starts. Simon would get himself worked into a huff and complain, but King never did.

“Sorry I’m late,” Mrs. Parks said, as she did at every single meeting.

Karl didn’t say a word, simply slid into the seat next to King.

“You did a very good job, dear,” Mrs. Parks said to Joanne.

Joanne leaned over the table to tell Mrs. Parks all about the story and Simon slumped as her attention was taken away from him. King and Karl talked quietly together and Fox waited for the meeting to really begin.

That was the one bad thing about being a band of misfit revolutionaries: meetings were extremely casual and always started twenty minutes after the appointed time. Not to mention, no one ever stayed on topic. He listened for a second; Mrs. Parks had moved on from the story and was talking about knitting patterns.

Fox wouldn’t mind normally. It wasn’t as if his job IRL took up too much of his time, and he had nowhere pressing to be that he would be late for if the meeting went too long. Except this always happened. King and Karl would have a mini pre-meeting without them, Mrs. Parks would talk to Joanne, and that left Fox to talk to Simon.

Simon wasn’t a bad chap, really. It was just that he was always sulking because Joanne wasn’t paying enough attention to him. Apparently, his ego needed almost constant upkeep.

“So…I like your touch with the…little cape thing,” Fox said, initiating conversation, because Simon never bothered to even try.

He was talking about Simon’s projected appearance in the Cerebrum. Simon favoured an old-style formal military uniform with a mask that covered his eyes. This time, he also had on a little cape, with one edge thrown dramatically over one shoulder.

Simon bristled, and his mouth thinned. “Well, I don’t suppose we could hope for better from you, with all your skin-tight leather and your meaningless buckles that serve no purpose!”

“Hey, I was saying it was good!” Fox jerked backward. “No need to say mean things about my leather!”

“I can tell, you are making fun of it!”

“Simon, mate, I wasn’t trying to start a fight—”

“Guys, break it up!” Joanne broke in. “Fox, apologize for the comment about the cape.”

“I wasn’t making fun of it!”

“Oh, just do it, dear,” Mrs. Parks urged. “Look at him, all in a huff.”

“I’m sorry for your insecurity about your appearance. I’ll keep it in mind next time you add superfluous accessories to your outfit.”

King stood from his seat, and everyone fell silent, even Simon, who looked as if he were winding up for a long-winded rant in Fox’s direction.

“The meeting is starting now,” King said, ignoring the preceding argument. “We are hoping everyone has come prepared to present their current project.”

Simon grumbled and shot a sharp glance at Fox, but settled back in his seat. It probably helped that Joanne was the first to present, seeing as her project had just concluded and she had yet to start a new assignment, as far as Fox knew.

“I worked very closely with Simon on this one, because of his background in the effects of Dream Dust,” Joanne started, and her words seemed to perk him up somewhat.

Fox already knew the story. He half-listened to her outline of the events and her own conclusion. It was one of the biggest news stories of the decade, finding out that one of the most powerful governments in the world was using Dream Dust as a method to keep their agents under control.