Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

In talking with Jesus, I thought I was feeling more confident in setting out since most of the shit I should pay attention to were pending—and in this case, I didn't need to have direct involvement concurrently because Jesus himself was asking for more time, and just wanted to give an update.

Still, it almost made me spiral for making a proper decision, but after talking for another half and hour, we decided on a few things he should do:

First off, the info he managed to obtain was severely lacking—and as much as I hate to bring this up, if they couldn't even figure out the person's gender, much less, their name, we're fucking fucked.

Two— well~ it shouldn't come as a surprise but we severely need an expert on this matter because, in all honesty, I still feel that all of this was just hookum for maybe 98% of the time. While it was true that there were still a lot of things I couldn't explain, we really shouldn't put it on the same shelf as magic or anything else that's intangible or belonged in a fantasy/sci-fi film.

And even though what we've been dealing with was within the realms of science fiction, our situation would be several times harder if we start to explore realms beyond grounded sciences.

Though lastly, I don't know what angle Jesus was playing at but there were just times when peace wasn't an option.

While I still understand the importance of life, it shouldn't be cut and dry when that said life had started to affect others. Because yeah, Alexander's head was supposedly "brainwashed" or "corrupted" and him running amok could've cost us two lives if his aim was a little better.

On that note, I began to look for Kaley to see if she knows where Marisha, her mom, was, and luckily enough, they were having a nice chat at home with Olivia.

[Just come in, you wouldn't be a bother.]

"You sure? I may ask a few rude questions regarding her profession."

[Just drop by! Jeez~]

"Okay, okay~ Relax, alright?"

[Don't tell a woman to relax! We're calm! Always!]

"Riiiight~"

[You— DOOFUS!]

"Can… C-Can I still come?"

[YES! OH MY GOD!]

With that said, I dropped by the Payan's household for a consult and Zeus obviously tailed from behind. It was a blessing in itself because it'd somewhat distract Olivia, but I really can't find the reason as to why I need her distracted for our impending conversation. But yeah, once we exchanged simple greetings and pleasantries, it was then that I brought up the topic of brainwashing or hypnosis.

"How real is it?"

Marisha answered promptly, "It's real in a sense but not in what society perceives it. There are varying degrees of it too that we can't consider straight-up hypnosis. Sometimes, it's even regarded as a strong suggestion but the weaker ones tend to have less of an effect and could be in a Venn diagram with a normal command."

"I was asking because—"

"Because of Alexander, right?"

"Yeah—"

"There are strong signs of it but it's getting weaker each day. It seems the seeds the person who did it to him has certain requirements to be met to stay on him."

Olivia cut in, "Like a drug he needs to lay off on?"

Marisha chuckled, "Something like that but that's a rather specific comparison, pfft…"

Kaley chimed in, "So, all Alexander needs to do is nothing?"

Marisha nodded, "I suppose so but I'd suggest having the source away from him as much as possible. I'm not well versed on this type of thing but since we're comparing it to drugs, we shouldn't let an addict get back on it, right?"

"I see…"

I cut in, "So let's say… Umm… Is it possible to maintain the control in a~ let's say a thousand people?"

Marisha thought for a while, "It's hypothetically possible but the work and time needed to pull that off would be immense. If anything, it should be done in select 'leaders' of the group and have them command the people they're tasked with."

I dryly chuckled, "Sounds like you know more about it, Mrs. Payan—"

"You— How many times do I have to tell you to call me 'Marisha', huh?!"

"Ah…"

"Anyway, I am speaking the truth, there were studies of this and the concept was even made possible for robotics—and it was also studied from certain people who tried taming just the leader of a pack of wolves to get close to the whole team."

"...! Oh~ That is weird, some freaky shit."

"I mean, take it like a grain of salt but that's just the recorded history of it. The person responsible could have a few more tricks up their sleeves and your people should be really careful in dealing with them."

"That's… That's also one of the reasons I came here—"

"To have countermeasures?"

"Right—"

"You're good. Kaley too—"

"Hah?!?"

"I mean, everyone who had a session with me probably~ has a bit of resistance to such things but like the person you're up against, it needs a lot of work, time, and most importantly, patience."

"W-Wait, what did you do, exactly?"

Marisha chuckled, "Magic."

"You—"

"But dear… Please, don't tell anyone about this. My daughters know of it to an extent but it's not like a charm to ward off everything, you still have to do some work yourself—and coming to me to talk every single day wouldn't increase the chances either… maybe~ just a bit… like— .0001% each time but don't quote me on that.

Let's just say that I… I open your minds bit by bit and those with open minds tend to have greater resistance against tricks like hypnosis and the like…"

I never looked so confused, "Still… I don't understand…"

"Remember that time on your boat?"

"The ship, but yeah…"

She chuckled again, "Pfft… That's one of the reasons why you have such great resistance to it… Kaley's doing it to you too. Subconsciously but I can see the effects."

"She does?"

"I do?" Kaley was also confused.