Chapter 233 B4. 21.2 – Return to Barstow

“Let me get this straight,” I said. “You were going to offer Red Hood a fake alliance to buy time. If Red Hood rejected that, you’d bust out your Purple Bloom proposal. Then, you’d find a way to switch to Red Hood’s team while working together on this Purple Bloom thingy.”

“Correct,” said Cecilia.

“Okay… But you don’t actually have anything to help Red Hood’s Purple Bloom dreams.” Funny how this rumor spread. I couldn’t even remember who started it. Was it me or one of the gangsters? Somebody else? “I don’t think Red Hood will accept you into the fold if she finds out that you lied.”

“But I wouldn’t have lied,” Cecilia said. “Recall our first meeting.”

What is she talking about? We gatecrashed Cecilia’s experiment. Myra thought she killed Cecilia, but it turned out that Cecilia could detach her head, like a pilot ejecting from a crashing plane. Cecilia’s head ran off while we fought her captive Adumbrae. I knew that Cecilia didn’t hang around for long; otherwise she would’ve seen my Pino form.

Didn’t we, the 3Bs, also discuss my Pino powers? We really sucked with security back then. Now, look at us with our burner phones. Cecilia seemed excited about my transformation power and didn’t ask anything about that robot woman.

“I remember it clearly, Cecilia,” Deen said with clenched teeth. “You connected several innocent people to an Adumbrae. You threw away their lives for—”

“Wasn’t that for curing seeding?” I raised my voice to talk over Deen. I was surprised to find myself no longer annoyed by her moral grandstanding. Shutting it down quickly was the best way to deal with it.

“My invention could be adopted to a different purpose,” Cecilia said. “It is connecting brains, just the same. Don’t forget my works before joining the PCM. I consider myself a student of Euphonia, even if she thinks of me as property. I believe my services would be more appreciated in Red Hood’s camp.”

“How would you help Red Hood turn into a Purple Bloom?” I asked.

I didn’t want to be a Purple Bloom. It was an introvert’s nightmare, connected with all other brains. And I wouldn’t be able to move because I’d just be a biomass of a megastructure that spat out monsters. But would it be possible to control a Purple Bloom?  

“If I reverse the signals of—” Cecilia began to say.

“I forbid any attempts to make a Purple Bloom,” Deen said.

“There’s no need for concern,” said Cecilia. “I’m allied with you, not Red Hood. We will cure seeding and also find a way to remove your artificial Cores. I will return your humanity. It will take time to do so, and I’d fight with you throughout.”

“So… You’re not going to try to work with Red Hood?” I innocently asked. “Against Euphonia, Red Hood’s the better option than us.”

“Don’t view me as if I have no drop of loyalty in my body,” said Cecilia.

“Do you?” Deen asked as the car came to a stop in front of a red stop light. She turned to look at Cecilia. “You’re our prisoner. You haven’t attempted to escape because you benefit from our protection. You’ll betray us once you contact Red Hood.”

“I am hurt you think of me that way,” Cecilia said. “However, I can’t change your views. Following your logic, if I’m completely selfish, staying with you is the best choice. Red Hood had eaten my previous body. I’d be foolish to literally walk into her gaping jaws a second time.”

“We still don’t know if that’s true.” I wished Cecilia would try looking for Red Hood with us. It’d be instructive on how the BID, Corebrings, and whoever else could find me. That was one of the reasons I pushed for trying to ally with Red Hood.

And it’d be a really hilarious situation—this was the main reason.  

“Marlon mentioned that Red Hood attacked the PCM,” Cecilia said. “He must have information about that fateful night.”

“He probably meant Myra,” I said. “She did trash PCM offices.”

“And killed many innocent people,” Deen mumbled.

“Myra Fletcher… Hmmm…” Cecilia fell silent.

Deen and I looked at each other. Deen frowned and shook her head once, signaling that I should drop the topic. She faced the road and drove the car. We passed familiar sights as we neared Barstow Station. I shrugged. I’d bring this up again eventually.

After five minutes, Cecilia said, “I’m no longer interested in it.”

“In what?” I asked.  

“The truth of my death,” replied Cecilia. “I shouldn’t let the fate of my previous body bind me to the past. Whether the BID or Red Hood killed me, it shouldn’t matter. Pondering over it needlessly uses invaluable brain power. To the future we face! We have much to accomplish to better our situation. Your friend, Myra Fletcher, has given me a new idea.”

“I’m almost too afraid to ask what fresh craziness it is,” Deen said.  

“Myra Fletcher, when she attacked PCM establishments,” Cecilia said, “pretended to have been sent by Red Hood. Only when we captured her did she reveal information about the artificial Cores. Erind, how does your transformation power work?”

“Uh, there are certain conditions…” I trailed off at the end of the sentence. Just make up stuff. “Like, I have to see the person. I should spend time with— Wait a minute. Are you saying that I should impersonate Red Hood?”

“That’s too dangerous!” Deen exclaimed.

“And impossible.” A challenge to laugh while trying to sound worried.

Cecilia was really a mad scientist! She’d make it appear that Red Hood was on our side. I had thought of doing something like this, but just through rumors and setups. Cecilia’s plan was another level of crazy.

“You don’t need to meet Red Hood,” Cecilia said. “Copy someone with her body type. Her clothes are easy enough to find at a thrift store.”

Wow, Cecilia’s mad at Red Hood, I thought. Also, I should have a better costume.

“I’ll 3D print a fake mask,” Cecilia went on. “It’ll be an easy task—I have a compilation of pictures and videos of Red Hood’s base form, before she fully transforms into a titan of a furry beast. Erind, you’ll copy Deen’s body and wear—”

“Wait, why me?” I grinned at Deen, who was now in a permanent state of frowning. She should relax, or those wrinkles would permanently etch across her face. “We have Amber Deen Leseka, in the flesh, right here. We’ll dress her up like Red Hood.”

“You know I won’t agree to this,” Deen said with a tired sigh.

“The disguise has to be believable beyond appearances,” Cecilia said. “Erind, you can fool sensors into showing you’re Red Hood.”

“I can’t consciously control my powers that way,” I said. “If I copy a human, I’ll show up as a human to bioscanners. If you want me to make the illusions of Red Hood’s energy levels or something, I actually need to copy her.” I decided to explain this part of my ability because I wanted Cecilia to come up with a way to make it work.

“I might have a solution,” said Cecilia. “At the least, can you control your illusion? Grow taller, sprout fur, pretend to turn into a furred beast? Else, Deen can wear Red Hood’s outfit.”

“A bare midriff look isn’t for me,” Deen said, even though she had great abs that she could be in an ad for paleo cakes or almond milk or whatever healthy food was trendy.

“I’m not sure if I can grow fur,” I said. “Maybe I can copy a dog and combine disguises?” My powers didn’t actually work that way—not that I know of. But I’d just transform into Red Hood, rip the clothes and mask that Cecilia would make, and voila, Red Hood pretending to be fake Red Hood.

“I’m putting on record that I’m also opposed to this plan,” Deen said. “Don’t think I’m opposing everything for the fun of it. We shouldn’t—”

“I get you, Deen,” I said. “Cecilia wants to make it appear that Red Hood is at a certain location to draw Euphonia’s attention away from our place. Problem is, fake Red Hood will also attract the attention of the BID and the real Red Hood.”

And the Corebrings, I silently thought. I already had a clean getaway from Clive and Trepanner. They were just Initiates. What if a full-fledged Corebring appeared next time?

I wish I could be proud of this rare moment of prudence. But I’d be lying to myself if I thought that I shouldn’t ‘pretend’ to be Red Hood. Be safe and miss out on the fun? Of course, not. Cecilia had planted the idea—I was waiting for the right opportunity.

“If someone figures out Erind’s power, the whole equation changes,” Deen said. “We should be careful in using it. Sometimes, the best move is to do nothing.”

“And nothing, I will do in that regard.” Cecilia patted the cooler. “I’ll stick to my assignment.”

When we arrived in Barstow Station, the afternoon sun was making its way down the sky. The parking area was mostly empty. No frat boys and no Khaki Cop to ruin my day.

Cecilia’s lab underneath Barstow Station had two entrances. One was inside the shopping center. The second was through one of the old train cars lining the side of the building. The train cars had been turned into themed dining areas, except for one at the very end that appeared to be a storage area. It was actually the opening of a tunnel into Cecilia’s laboratory.

“How long will it take to analyze?” Deen asked, observing Cecilia switch on weird-looking machines.

“Minutes? Hours? Days? I can’t give an exact duration,” said Cecilia. “The material has degraded over our trip. We might need a human brain that has consumed the pills for comparison and—”

“We’re not going to find one such person,” Deen said. “I also won’t allow feeding anyone your pills. End of discussion.”

“So… We’ll just wait then?” I looked at one of the creatures inside the vats.

It was slightly bigger than a few days ago. Though it had curled into itself, it was clearly humanoid. Kind of. Not sure if having four arms still counted as humanoid. Its skin was grey, pebbly in certain areas, almost like elephant hide. Inhuman.

“Don’t touch anything, Erind,” Deen said, fond of roleplaying my mom.

“What are these, Cecilia?” I asked.

“Spare bodies,” Cecilia curtly replied as she sliced the brain.

“Huh? Your spare bodies? They’re not going to be your minions or what?”

Cecilia paused mid-slice and looked up. “My spare bodies. I envision a future where I’d no longer wear a human shell. If you can kindly keep silent while I work, I’d appreciate it.”

“We’ll wait for you at the food court,” Deen said.

“We’re just leaving Cecilia here?” I asked. The Deen I knew would insist on staying and watching Cecilia’s every move. She’d lecture Cecilia about her faults and moral failings. All that to make herself feel good. Was Deen starting to change?

“She’s not going to escape,” Deen said. “She also can’t cause us harm, like self-destructing this laboratory with us above—my power will warn us. Let’s see what Barstow Station has to offer. Unwind. Maybe have dinner later.”

Deen wants to talk, I realized. It was rare to have some privacy now that Cecilia was with us.

Cecilia gave us a tiny USB-like key to enter her lab if we wanted. We exited into Barstow Station, passed through the historical exhibit, and headed to the food court. Our path was lined with souvenir stalls on one side.

“Look,” I said, lightly elbowing Deen. “Red Hood merchandise.” I pointed at a mask shaped like a snarling wolf’s snout, bared fangs and everything. It didn’t look like my real one, but it was unmistakable what it meant to be.

Deen groaned. “Don’t tell me you’re going to buy one.”

“Why not? It’ll be another souvenir.” I hurried to the store. “How much for the Red Hood mask?”

“Thirty bucks,” said the man wearing a pair of shades indoors. The lights weren’t even bright.

“That’s a rip-off,” Deen said, who probably had millions of dollars in trust funds.

“Hey, I’m not ripping off anyone, lady.” Indoor Shades knocked on the imitation Red Hood mask. “This is made of a very durable printer filament. I had to make the design myself because there’s no template online—Red Hood’s not that popular. Yet. Mark my words, the terror of Red Hood will spread.”

“How can you be so sure?” Deen asked.

Indoor Shades shrugged. “They haven’t found her yet, have they? That stuff Red Hood did in La Esperanza? It’s just the beginning of something bigger. There are rumors that Red Hood is trying to make a Purple Bloom.”

“The Corebrings will stop her,” I said.

“They can do whatever they want,” said Indoor Shades, waving his arm at his store. “I’m only concerned about the merchandise. Take my word, come Halloween, every girl’s going to wear a Red Hood costume. It’ll be the sexy Halloween costume of the year!”

I jabbed my thumb at Deen. “My friend here will definitely wear—Ow!”

Deen thrust the mask into my stomach. “We’ll take this mask. Here’s thirty dollars.”

Deen steered me into the food court so I wouldn’t visit the other shops. I had seen a red hoodie with ears and gloves with claws. Someone from like fifty years might think this was insensitive or even immoral, profiting off the likeness of a monster that had killed lots of people.

But humans had always been like this. I had read about it, the only historical stuff that my brain retained.

During the French Revolution, when their king was guillotined, dozens of people dipped their handkerchief into the pooling royal blood as souvenirs. Back when hanging was popular, the executioner would cut the hangman’s rope into tiny pieces and sell them to the crowd as… souvenirs. And there was this one executed criminal whose tanned skin was used to cover a book detailing his crimes. Sort of a souvenir.

Humans were weirdos back. Humans were weirdos now.

I was about to talk to another weirdo. “What is it, Deen?” I asked as we sat inside one of the train cars. The other seats were empty. “What couldn’t you say with Cecilia around?”

“It’s…” Deen chewed her lip for a moment. “The PCM member. Did you eat him?”

“Yeah. He transformed into a monster. I transformed into Red Hood. We fought. I won, and I ate him.”

“The frat boys… You also ate them, didn’t you?”