A Complete Account of the Hive Mind: Volume 1 - The Torture Branch // A Note & Account 1: Mason Moore
Now that the War on Misfits is coming to an end and I have finally settled down with my partner, I have decided to publish these interviews I got from the four branches, as well as a few friends. These are supplementary to the logs that some of the survivors of the time are doing, but not necessary for the understanding of the story itself. The first volume of the four is the accounts of the torture branch, the oldest of the four. As they were illiterate at the time of the interviews, these were recorded on tape and then transcribed by the late Colin Scroll and edited by yours truly. I hope that you all may be enlightened by these accounts, and possibly see these peculiar characters and their actions in a new light.
-Anette Scroll, mate to (The name has been colored over)
Diversum - Diversum Academy; One of the 13 professional warrior academies across the solar system
Rai - Rai Academy; A preparatory academy located in the human city of Liela Pilsetta
IP - Internal Power; The power unique to an individual, usually linked to their personality or place in the world
Human, He/Him, Pure Orange
Dad was never really present. Sure, we kept in contact with him as he traveled, and he came back for birthdays and big holidays and such, but it wasn’t enough. He wasn’t there when I toured Diversum, he wasn’t there when I graduated from Rai, he wasn’t even there when I died. Marco’s mom was more present than he was.
Mom was there for the most part. She had her sleeping spells (self-inflicted) when things got too much for her, and those would last hours, but she was fine otherwise. Did all the things a mom should.
I really shouldn’t complain. Compared to the other guys, I had a perfect childhood. I wasn’t bullied or had bad grades, and I certainly wasn’t abused. It just felt like it wasn’t… enough, y’know?
I think the hardest part was having to see Laura go through all of that and not being able to help her. Human vs Demon never ends well for the human. It was a miracle he had managed to get arrested. Of course, the cops did have access to things to neutralize him, I guess. A gun, for one. Probably some other fantasy shit I didn’t know about. Luckily, Gareth and I had distracted her while her father was getting cuffed.
Gareth had been my rock before I went to Diversum, but now that he was engaged and ready to settle for once in his life, I had found a new rock.
Stephen had been assigned to me because he was the leader and I was the weakest. I wasn’t particularly weak, he was just stronger. Not to say he was the strongest, hell no, that was James. By a long shot. He was one of two magic users, and since Ethan has a lot less magic, and James’s style is also heavily physical, James is our strongest.
Stephen wasn’t bad, though. He was a good fighter and a better leader than any of us could ever be, even Peter. Peter wasn’t a bad leader, per se, Stephen was just better. He learned to work with his blindness and he was like the father I never had.
He sometimes took his role as a father too far, though.
Not this time. This time, him being a father was completely warranted, necessary, wanted, and expected.
“Mason, can you hear me in there?”
I could. Not very well, the voice was muffled and distorted, but it was Stephen’s and I knew what he would be saying in this situation.
“Who’s brain are you in?”
I don’t know. It looked so familiar and yet so distant.
I tried to let out any noise, any at all, but none came out. Not even a squeak.
“Shit…” There was no voice for a few seconds. “Okay, I’m going to have Ethan send a message through all of our brains, then I need you to alter what this person remembers it as, okay?”
I could do that. That was easy. Simple.
Okay. Ow. That hurt a bit.
I wandered around the brain until I could find the memory, neatly aligned in a line with other short term memories, though this one was being focused on. I quickly changed it. Stephen went down the line, asking us what word we heard. Six pineapples, then…
James. I was in James. I didn’t go in James very often, it was uncomfortable. His memories were all weird and a lot of them were fuzzy. And all of his thoughts are about that boyfriend of his, Vic. He’s obsessed. Honestly, I don’t even understand what he sees in the guy. He’s nothing like my Mallory.
At least now they knew which brain I was in. Hardest part would be to get me out. I mean, it wasn’t too hard. We had done it before. A couple times, actually. It just took some water and sleeping pills. I couldn’t go into a sleeping person’s mind no matter how hard I tried, and we learned that I would be kicked out if someone fell asleep while I was in their mind. It sucked, but it was hard to train my IP, especially when it activates out of panic.
I wandered a bit more around James’s mind as shit happened around me. Shit I had no control over, nor could I see because for fucks sake where the hell is James’s current view?!
Wait. Fuck. Right. It’s James. He’s fucking scatterbrained. It could be anywhere.
I finally decided to take a good look at his mind. I never have, really. It was a light blue, the ceiling was kind of short, and every here and there, there were columns. It was very empty, and I could see piles of memories in the distance. I stood next to one, too.
I looked up, thinking maybe his perspective was up there. It was not and I looked stupid.
I decided to just lay down and look up until eventually, without warning, I closed my eyes and was back in my own body.
