Blaze of Glory - Chapter 7
Does destiny choose the person, or does the person choose their destiny?
He's supposed to be just another guy. Just another notch on Brian's belt.
But Justin has other ideas; a whole other master plan that's going to shock Brian about everything he's ever known.
One thing is for sure: whichever road Brian takes, his life is never going to be the same again
Chapter 7:
Brian tapped his fingertips on his desk, and looked at Justin expectantly.
Justin returned the look, his expression unreadable. “Why do you assume that I had something to do with it?”
“Because that’s been the pattern since the day you walked into my life.”
“That’s a fairly logic-free, unreasonable stance, don’t you think? Besides, it’s the middle of the day, and we’re in your office. Shouldn’t you be working, instead of trying to interrogate me?”
“Logic has been conspicuous by its absence, again, since the day I met you,” Brian said, giving Justin a hard look. “While I was busy turning into the Hulk, Ted goes into a coma. Miraculously, even before a week goes by, he is out of the coma. Don’t think I’ve forgotten that eye-trick you played on Michael, practically erasing his memory. Now. For the last time. What did you do to Ted?”
Justin huffed like a petulant child. “I fixed him, to keep him from turning into a huge distraction for you. And what do you know, he’s alive, well, and soon-to-be released. No harm, no foul.”
Brian narrowed his eyes. “So you’re a doctor? You have medical training?”
Justin sighed, and almost seemed ashamed. “Unfortunately not. I have some basic skills in case of emergencies, that’s all. In your friend’s situation…I brought with me some emergency supplies, just in case. The Professor said it would likely come in handy. It didn’t take much - I gave him a tiny dose of Cryostim Cordrazine -”
Brian assumed that Justin paused on account of his uncomprehending expression.
Justin cleared his throat. “His - your friend’s - Ted’s chart noted that he was in a coma after a drug overdose. So obviously either his cerebral cortex was injured, or his reticular activating system was injured. Whichever it was - or both - it was going to take Cryostim Cordrazine to fix. If they - the hospital, I mean - noted only slight improvement, I could have given him more, depending on what they observed. Anyway. You’re giving me that look again. Unfortunately, being in a coma has become a fairly routine in the time I’m from. Fortunately though, they discovered a drug that mostly takes care of it, at least in all but the most extreme cases. Giving a person a Cryostim Cordrazine shot is like…for you…” Justin paused to think. “It’s like giving - I think - someone an insulin shot? Or those allergy injectors you have.”
“An EpiPen.”
“Right. He’s going to have nausea and mild rash for a week or so, but that’s all.”
Brian shook his head. It was hard to begin to imagine a future where Mexican food was banned, but a coma could be cured by an EpiPen.
If Justin was from the future.
The one thing that Brian could be sure of was that Justin wasn’t just some crazy-but-hot person. A crazy person couldn’t change Brian’s body chemistry from the inside, and a crazy person certainly couldn’t cure a coma.
“Why…”
Justin shrugged. “Ted being in a coma had the potential to become a distraction to you of epic proportion. Plus, bringing a decent person back to the world of the living is exactly the opposite of a bad thing. Lastly, he was never in any danger, because where I come from, it’s so common and almost anyone can do what I did.”
“So…what? You’re just going to walk ahead of me and remove all distractions and annoyances from my life?”
Justin scoffed. “Just the big ones, just for now.” Justin walked to the door, and then turned around. “By the way, can you at least try to control your temper? I saw the fury you had unleashed in the Production Department.”
Brian snorted. “May I remind you that ALL of that is your fault, seeing as how you’re the one who started this whole thing?”
“Whatever. I told you to call in sick so that we could get a head start.”
“I’ve been thinking…we could skip the meditative bullshit, and start with whatever it is that you used on Michael.” Brian could think of at least a hundred things he could use that specific skill on.
Justin sighed like an old, put-upon wife. “I think we’re going to stick to the plan, and start at the beginning. Besides, it takes seven years, give or take, to learn how to use compulsion, and it’s one of the most unreliable methods of subjugation out there. We don’t have that kind of time. We don’t have half that time.”
“So how do you -”
“I’ve been trained for this mission from the time I could crawl. I was taught any and all skills that they thought may be useful.”
“Do you have any independent thoughts at all? An opinion on something that is in no manner or form related to this mission of yours?”
Justin narrowed his eyes. “Only that you’re a highly unlikely candidate to be anyone’s hero, let alone mine. Nevertheless, we all have our orders to follow.”
“Yes, ‘yours not to reason why, yours but to do and die’.”
Justin looked at him uncomprehendingly, and Brian took delight in there being something he knew that Justin didn’t. “Looks like your Professor missed giving you a complete education. Tennyson. Look him up when you have a minute. Tell me, how does compulsion work, exactly?”
Justin shrugged. “It’s like…I think you call it hypnotism. With your eyes, you force the subject person to stare at you and you induce them. It takes forever and a day to learn how to do it quickly so it appears normal and natural, and there’s no real advantage if you do a cost-benefit analysis, because compulsion only works on people who are gullible and susceptible to begin with, or people under the influence of something like alcohol. And depending on the person, it sometimes wears off after a while and they snap out of it.”
“It sounds highly useful.”
“Pity we don’t have seven years to spare,” Justin said, and he looked anything but pitiful. “Someone’s at the door.”
There was a knock.
Of course the cheeky fucker would hear a knock before someone actually knocked.
“Come in,” Brian said, annoyed that Justin seemed intent on not teaching him any skills of real value.
“Brian, I…oh, hello Justin. Should I come back later?” Cynthia asked, masking all her unwanted opinions underneath an air of professionalism.
“Hi Cynthia. Brian and I were just discussing skills that are mostly useless and would take years to master. Ergo, I was just leaving.”
Cynthia watched Justin leave, before turning to Brian. “Did he just use ‘ergo’ in a sentence aloud?”
“He’s weird, if you haven’t gathered that by now.”
Cynthia fixed her eyes on Brian. “Are you going to tell me what the deal is between the two of you?”
Brian focused his attention on a memo that was on his table. “You’re always bitching about how much work you have. Now you have an assistant. Intern, if you prefer. Wait…was that a ‘thank you Brian!’ that I just heard? Why Cynthia, you’re welcome. Now, I’m sure that your new assistant won’t do all your work for you, so if you wanted to be leaving, feel free to do so.”
“Soooo…you like him?”
Brian rolled his yes. “I already slept with him, if that’s where you were heading.”
“I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess that Justin isn’t a male Dark Fishing Spider, that dies after mating. So…you like him?”
The woman was insatiable. “I already slept with him. Ergo, what else do I need him for?”
“To assist your assistant, apparently. Come on Brian, the guy is young, cute, and smart. In all the years I’ve known you, you’ve never offered employment to men you’ve slept with.”
“Justin interests me for other reasons. He knows how to hypnotize people. Think of how useful that would be with Ryder.”
“I like how ridiculous both of your excuses are.”
“Cynthia, what did you tell him?”
“Nothing. I asked him if he was interested in you, and he said that he didn’t have time in his life to ‘spend on trivial matters such as sexual pursuits when there were more important things to be done’. I figured that you had said something stupid, like not doing repeats.”
“Hmmm,” Brian said noncommittally. In between wondering whether he had completely lost his sanity, Brian had spent an inordinate amount of time wondering why Justin had expressed zero interest in him. Pride alone had kept Brian from propositioning Justin the night before, given Justin’s apparent disinterest. And Justin’s answer to Cynthia did not help clarify matters. “Was there anything specific that you came to discuss?”
“Well…Justin gave me a ‘preliminary report’. And I heard that you broke a computer in Production. Do we need to talk about something Brian?”
“I’m fine. I just…” Brian had spent some time rehearsing what to say next, knowing that Cynthia would eventually get around to asking him if he was losing his mind. “I thought it was E, but I got a bad batch from Anita. Feels like a cross between ‘Roid Rage and…anyway, it’s mostly out of my system. I’ll be back to terrorizing everyone in my usual manner soon. What’s this report Justin gave you?”
Cynthia seemed unconvinced, but didn’t press the point. “Well, he’s been here for just half a day, and seems to think that you hired him to run an audit. Which, if that’s the case, I’d appreciate knowing about. He gave me a report on everyone who’s stealing petty cash, stealing stationery, watching porn on company bandwith, sending out resumes, and possible leaks. He wants to know which areas he is to pursue further. First, I assume that you’ll deal with this. Second, why would you make him my assistant?”
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