**
Hugo gripped the steering wheel tightly; his head was spinning. It was one experiment on five unaware test subjects with disastrous results. Three of them were dead. Gideon Enterprises had killed them. They were testing an accelerant they referred to as the Substance. It dramatically increased abilities, but for all five test subjects it had come with a very high psychological price. Charon, Apollo, Hermes, Haley, and Ifrit. Haley and Ifrit had simply lost control, but the other three thought they could change the world for the better…by destroying it. Charon, Dr. Martin Kimble, population control through diseases, Apollo, Jack Nelson, a matter creator, had wanted to tear down the world economy, and Hermes, Mr. Hansen’s brother, had wanted to create a planetary hive mind. These were not delusions of grandeur, after the effects of the Substance, all of them had been capable of accomplishing their goals. The project had been officially shut down after Hermes had been killed. But the gasoline…was Mr. Gideon trying to recreate it? It was a little hard to tell because he didn’t understand all the medical terms used in the files. He’d have to speak to a doctor if he wanted to figure out what exactly had been done to them.
Charon and Ifrit were the only ones still living. Charon was held in a facility in Alaska, and Ifrit in the basement of the Seattle building. Ted. Despite the fact that Maggie had the medical files, Mr. Gideon was still trying to poison Ted. But everyone had known about the experiments, so why was he going behind the back of the doctor in charge of the original experiments, Dr. Arliss? Why was he still trying when the process had already failed, why did he need such a huge expansion of powers? Who had pulled the trigger on the three test subjects? Who had killed Mr. Hansen’s brother?
Was Mr. Hansen’s brother dead? If Hermes had figured out what was to become of him beforehand, he could have easily used his powers to convince his brother that he’d died, when in fact he hadn’t. All he would have needed to do was tell Mr. Hansen to use his ability on himself, making him think someone else was his brother. Was that what he had seen when he shook Mr. Hansen’s hand? His brother tricking him into killing Diane instead of him?
Hugo wanted to smoke, but didn’t think he could manage it without running them off the road. CJ was alternating her attention between him and the window, “What’s going on?”
“I…don’t know yet. But I think Mr. Gideon is experimenting on Ted. And I’m worried he’ll try it with someone else.” CJ? He’d already taken an interest in her. Hugo shuddered and his hands squeezed on the wheel again. Shit, what was he doing? What was he supposed to do? These people killed people. But what else could have been done? There was no recorded way to get rid of abilities, they couldn’t just send these people to mental hospitals or jail, so what was the solution?
“Like who?”
“I don’t know CJ!” Hugo lowered his voice, “Sorry.”
CJ merely shrugged and returned her attention to the world outside.
What was he supposed to do now?