London, England
Thylonius-18
"I've never seen anyone like her before…"
"Destabilizing the world is much more fun than I ever anticipated." That was my sister's sarcastic response to being up till 4 in the morning going over mission prep. I couldn't help but laugh at her but almost as soon as I did…
"Stop screwing around we got work to do." She looked at me intently. She had been doing this a lot since we left America. Looking right into my eyes. Like she was looking for something in them. "What?" I asked. She just shook her head and went back to work.
"Idk how you figured out how to just keep it turned on." She was referring to the color of my eyes which have changed from dark brown to a light grey. I made it so that it was a permanent change. I experimented to the point where I'm always in a heightened state from analyzing our past experiences. My 'abilities' as we referred to them, were all mental, so it was easier for me to hone it. I found my cognitive abilities were enhanced and seeing the bigger picture was easier for me. I was now able to learn and decipher knowledge in minutes that would take me months previously. Ni couldn't achieve the same results as it drained her physically if utilized too long. However, her abilities seemed to get stronger each time she used it. Although, her physique didn't show it. She was a very beautiful woman, the type of beauty you would see on social media. You would see those type of women ever so often out and about, but you would never think she could lift over 500 kilos. There was no muscle to tell you that, but I had no doubt she was the top physical specimen on this planet.
We had made a lot of progress since we ruined the United States. Well to be literal, we just removed the head, the rest of the body deteriorated on its own. The disarray of the world due to the passing of the United States was palpable and something to commend. But the upheaval had not yet truly spread to Europe. Our current endeavor, however, was trying to change that. If the key to destabilizing the West was crippling the United States, then the key to destabilizing Europe was crippling its mother: Britain. We had been picking off the royal family one by one. We were down to the immediate royal family. The queen, whom we already met, The King and the last two princes. Cnidaria has already taken care of one.
"Ty?" Ni had a look of concern on her face that made me look up from my thoughts
"Yeah, what's up?"
"Are you good?" I gave her a quizzical look.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean are you good? Maybe you don't see it. Maybe because you're looking out for every other single thing. But you don't seem happy."
"Happy?" I looked at her. I hadn't thought about that word in a while to be honest. "I can't say I'm happy. Nor can I say I'm sad. Ni, all there is the MISSION for me. I do well in school because that's conducive to the MISSION. I've charmed women not because I wanted to but because it was part of the MISSION. You've done the same thing. I don't take pleasure or happiness from those encounters because that is not their purpose nor is that my purpose. Happiness may not be possible for me. Especially not in the line of work that I aspire to, and especially after the childhood we've had. Ni, I see you looking at me like I'm not the same brother you've had." She looked at me with pity. Words a big sister didn't want to hear. "I can't say that I am, I've changed. You've changed. But we have purpose and we're achieving it so no I'm not happy but I'm… I'm good. That I can promise you." She had that look on her face that she usually made when I had told her a truth she hadn't yet thought about. She nodded, saying no more on the subject. We then finished and went to bed.
The next day, I went down to Camden Market in London. CniDaria was going to take care of the parents. The sons… the last sons were my responsibility. We already did our reconnaissance work a little bit from our prior trip to the country. It was amazing how they protected their symbols more than their actual officials. It showed me that the British citizens cared more about the idea of their nation than the actual functionality of it. Speaking of official vs. symbols, it just so happened that the princes were having a meeting with the Prime Minister to discuss their choices for wives. I set up my perch on the building opposite the cafe they were at and lay in wait. We were so close. It had taken longer to plan than even our assassination of the U.S cabinet. To be fair killing 20 people in seemingly random ways while making sure it actually seems random, takes planning. Staging car accidents, smothering people in their sleep, killing a… burning a whole family with an unfortunate grease fire. That one included killing an infant. I… That was the only time in my life that I ever hesitated to take out a mark. Ni refused to do that one. I had to do it myself. I felt like I burned away a part of my soul when I did that. But then again maybe there wasn't much left to burn. His name was Charles. Charles Windsor, he was 9 months old. I kept trying to convince myself that it was necessary to murder that child. I guess I still had some humanity left in me because I didn't believe myself. Trying to become the cold hearted, merciless monster I had to become to achieve this crazy dream of mine, took a little bit more time than I wanted to admit to myself. I wasn't exactly upset about that. I had a purpose to achieve but the things I had to do to achieve that purpose had been bogging down my mind lately.
The princes however, had started to stir. I let my mind clear. I had a job to do. A purpose to achieve. The princes stood up. I took a deep breath and let go. One hit. Two hits. All the princes did was wave at their back as if they were just bitten by a mosquito. The poison vials I had just shot into them had already slid off. By the time I had packed up my perch both Princes were coughing assuring the Prime Minister that nothing was wrong. Little did they know, they would both be dead by daybreak.
So, knowing that the Princes would be dead soon, Ni had to move fast. The only way the plan would work is if the King, Queen and Princes all died within hours of each other. Luckily for us Cnidaria was always good with a deadline. I was her backup but by the time I arrived she had already set the plan in motion. King and Queen rarely make appearances at Buckingham Palace in front of the public. Sometimes tourists and citizens gather at the gates to hope to catch a glimpse of the royal family. After months of waiting this was our chance. I watched from across the park as she planted a different poison for the King and Queen on the path they usually take to smile and wave to their fans on their brief walk behind the gates of the palace. We wanted to make sure the symptoms of death were different so the authorities would be confused. We were banking on the confusion and destabilization to work for us like it did in America but one or two in this case could never be too careful, she planted the poison, made sure it made contact with any part of their clothing and sneaked out. She maintained radio silence on this one. It was the first time I had provided backup for her, and she didn't say a word to me. I think taking that child's life had more of a toll on her than me, but maybe… maybe it was the conversation we had last night. Well at least she wasn't really talking to me the way she used to. I was getting distracted again. Thinking about something I didn't want to think about. I had to stay focused. Soon England was going to fall and hopefully Europe would follow.
The following months went the way we expected. The UK was completely devastated. For the first time in their considerable history there was no monarch, at first, they thought it was a mistake. How could there possibly be no heir to the throne? It went twenty deep. Sure, they had noticed that some of the more obscure numbers had died earlier in the year, but the deaths had been so random that no one made a connection until the death of Prince James, the man Cnidaria killed, as he was the only death where foul play was initially expected. But you see by that time it was too late. The rest of the family had been poisoned, burned and well on their way to death. It wasn't quite the chaos that the Americans went through because the acting government was still intact, but the hopelessness was just as profound. The English had lost their symbol and in a lot of ways their hope, and the rest of Europe soon followed. Old enemies started to pounce on the vulnerabilities. France started to advance on English territory resulting in massive naval battles. Spain advanced on Portugal to increase their territory. The Italians looked to conquer the entirety of Greece. While the Polish, Czech, Austrians, Swiss, and Dutch all cohesively attacked Germany and took the territory and its citizens for themselves. We weren't close to being done. But our start was tremendous. Cnidaria and I worked through our rift. She knew I did what I had to. I did what she couldn't. I think what really bothered her was the fact that it didn't seem to bother me. 'Seem' to bother me. I guess it really didn't, if the roles were reversed would I have gotten that same emotion? Wait, I was on the other side of that right?