one step closer to proving to the world that TOXIC has been using the creation drug, which means we’re one step closer to stopping them.”
His sentiments eased my lingering guilt. Crane was right. With Erik, Penny, and I, the Coalition had irrefutable proof that TOXIC was creating Talents.
Proof was the second reason Crane had agreed to the rescue mission.
After Penny recounted her appalling tale of torture and testing while in TOXIC’s custody, Crane had given me a history lesson on the creation drug.
The United Nations International Talent Education Division – UNITED – had banned the use of the drug over a decade ago, after their own research had hit a brick wall. Unlike Mac, their primary concern hadn’t been over the short period in which most recipients exhibited talent, but rather the long-term side-effects.
Natural Talents learn to cope with the power that accompanies their talents from a young age. Even before talents truly manifest, you know they’re there, just below the surface, separated from you by an invisible barrier that you can’t seem to cross. And while it has never been proven, I’ve always believed that the talented are born with an extra gene or whatever that helps them control the power. Sometimes the combination of genetics and learned behavior isn’t enough, and your talent is your undoing. The power builds and builds inside of you until you think your skin might rip open to release it. With no outlet, the abundance of power begins to erode your mind, and eventually there’s nothing left in your skull but mush.
Nearly a century after the Great Contamination, it was rare to find a Talent strong enough that the whole brain mush phenomenon was a real concern. Well, rare to find a natural born Talent with that much power, anyhow.
UNITED referred to them as the Created, the manmade, genetically engineered Talents who resulted from the creation drug.
UNITED had encountered the same problem with the creation drug that Mac’s medical research team had. Knowing no better, they administered repeat injections to their test subjects to see if that made the talents stick, so to speak, for longer. It worked, sort of. The recipients’ talents lasted for weeks after the second injection, months after a third, and so on and so forth. Soon though, UNITED’s research team realized a direct correlation between the number of injections and brain deterioration. Even the subjects injected just once had holes in their brains. It was determined that their bodies weren’t equipped with the ability to handle the manufactured power.
Switching gears, UNITED had next enlisted talented test subjects to see whether they fared better with the drug since they were already talented. This, too, sort of worked. The hybrid talented-created showed less deterioration and sustained their engineered powers for longer, but they still weren’t completely immune to the side-effects. It was after this avenue lead nowhere good that UNITED shut down the project and banned the drug.
Crane had strong allies within UNITED, many of whom were only too happy to help bring down TOXIC over the use of the creation drug. But, they needed proof that they were using it. Penny and I alone were probably proof enough, but Erik would be icing on the cake.
Once we provided them with proof, UNITED would intervene and Mac would have to answer for illegal experimentation, genetic engineering, and generally being an asshole.
But will he have to answer for killing your parents? a voice in my mind asked. Once UNITED became involved, I worried my window for revenge would close. Sure, Mac would serve time in prison for his crimes against humanity. Was that enough, though? After my parents’ murders, I’d vowed vengeance: a life for a life. How would I feel if that never occurred?
“Ian?” a high-pitched female voice called, dragging me out of my thoughts. Crane and I both turned to look at her.
She appeared young, no more than
His sentiments eased my lingering guilt. Crane was right. With Erik, Penny, and I, the Coalition had irrefutable proof that TOXIC was creating Talents.
Proof was the second reason Crane had agreed to the rescue mission.
After Penny recounted her appalling tale of torture and testing while in TOXIC’s custody, Crane had given me a history lesson on the creation drug.
The United Nations International Talent Education Division – UNITED – had banned the use of the drug over a decade ago, after their own research had hit a brick wall. Unlike Mac, their primary concern hadn’t been over the short period in which most recipients exhibited talent, but rather the long-term side-effects.
Natural Talents learn to cope with the power that accompanies their talents from a young age. Even before talents truly manifest, you know they’re there, just below the surface, separated from you by an invisible barrier that you can’t seem to cross. And while it has never been proven, I’ve always believed that the talented are born with an extra gene or whatever that helps them control the power. Sometimes the combination of genetics and learned behavior isn’t enough, and your talent is your undoing. The power builds and builds inside of you until you think your skin might rip open to release it. With no outlet, the abundance of power begins to erode your mind, and eventually there’s nothing left in your skull but mush.
Nearly a century after the Great Contamination, it was rare to find a Talent strong enough that the whole brain mush phenomenon was a real concern. Well, rare to find a natural born Talent with that much power, anyhow.
UNITED referred to them as the Created, the manmade, genetically engineered Talents who resulted from the creation drug.
UNITED had encountered the same problem with the creation drug that Mac’s medical research team had. Knowing no better, they administered repeat injections to their test subjects to see if that made the talents stick, so to speak, for longer. It worked, sort of. The recipients’ talents lasted for weeks after the second injection, months after a third, and so on and so forth. Soon though, UNITED’s research team realized a direct correlation between the number of injections and brain deterioration. Even the subjects injected just once had holes in their brains. It was determined that their bodies weren’t equipped with the ability to handle the manufactured power.
Switching gears, UNITED had next enlisted talented test subjects to see whether they fared better with the drug since they were already talented. This, too, sort of worked. The hybrid talented-created showed less deterioration and sustained their engineered powers for longer, but they still weren’t completely immune to the side-effects. It was after this avenue lead nowhere good that UNITED shut down the project and banned the drug.
Crane had strong allies within UNITED, many of whom were only too happy to help bring down TOXIC over the use of the creation drug. But, they needed proof that they were using it. Penny and I alone were probably proof enough, but Erik would be icing on the cake.
Once we provided them with proof, UNITED would intervene and Mac would have to answer for illegal experimentation, genetic engineering, and generally being an asshole.
But will he have to answer for killing your parents? a voice in my mind asked. Once UNITED became involved, I worried my window for revenge would close. Sure, Mac would serve time in prison for his crimes against humanity. Was that enough, though? After my parents’ murders, I’d vowed vengeance: a life for a life. How would I feel if that never occurred?
“Ian?” a high-pitched female voice called, dragging me out of my thoughts. Crane and I both turned to look at her.
She appeared young, no more than
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