Mind Puppeteer

Amelia looked across the meeting room, many pairs of eyes were staring back at her.

She couldn't help but smile.

An old man coughed, attracting everyone's attention.

"We learned a lot of things that we don't fully understand in these past days. The most important thing is that we figured out how those crystals come to exist."

He pushed a button on the remote control and the huge screen behind him showed a picture of a tiny red crystal.

"The reason is Substance 001, we confirmed it through various tests that it detaches itself from the other components of the Paradise Virus. We haven't found out yet why it reacts this way after entering the body of a human." Spoke the old professor calmly.

The other professors inside the room nodded.

"Those crystals are the results of Substance 001 gathering at a single point. Substance 001 changes its liquified form into the solid form once it invades the brain of the human target. The reason why humans don't become mindless animals after consuming the solid form of Substance 001 is that its solid form is pure. It doesn't has the other components of the Paradise Virus."

The old professor pressed the button on the remote control a few times, showcasing different pictures.

"A very important point is that Substance 001 didn't react that way before we spread the Paradise Virus through the globe. Sadly we haven't made any progress regarding this matter..."

The old man was interrupted by the other professors in the room, they started to whisper agitated.

The old professor coughed again, making the room turn silent.

"Another very important thing that may ruin our vision of "Project Doomsday Paradise" is that that humans who consume the solid-state of Substance 001 gain the powers that were originally only reserved for the infected ones...This alone isn't a reason to ruin our plans, but we learned that humans can grow stronger as long they consume a greater amount of Substance 001.....Not a single one of our test subjects have shown any signs of reaching a limit...." The old professor paused.

The meeting room exploded into wild discussions.

Those were very bad news, their grand plan could be ruined...

"SILENCE!" Shouted the old professor.

"Our soldiers across the world have reported strange events. Substance 001 became unpredictable and started to randomly mutate. The situation is grave, we confirmed that the cure for Virus Paradise became practically useless. Humans all over the world have already started to gain power through Substance 001. If the situation continues like this....it won't be long until our Valori Company loses the advantage..."

This time the meeting room stayed dead silent.

Amelia ignored them, closing her eyes. Many thoughts crossing her mind.

She leaned back on her chair.

Amelia opened her eyes, a red glint flashing through her eyes.

"The answer is simple...we will do the same and use Substance 001 to strengthen our own forces. Regarding the other forces appearing around the globe...we will crush them! We will keep researching how Substance 001 is able to multiply itself. We will gather as much solid Substance 001 possible and grow. We are the number 1 force and it will stay like this! This is everything, everyone return to your duties until the next meeting." Spoke Amelia with authority as she stood up, leaving the room while licking her lips in anticipation.

At the same time in Dortmund, Germany...

Three people stood inside the living room.

They stared at the 3 crystals on the table in front of them.

Jenny shook her head, "I.....I don't want to become a zombie..."

Kevin ignored her, grabbing a crystal, "You didn't experience Benji's power, you have no idea how sick it was. I made up my mind, I don't want to fear for my live all the time!"

Roland felt conflicted, he witnessed Benji's power and was shocked how such a thing was possible.....on the other side he was fearful he didn't want to turn into a zombie.

He gritted his teeth and took a crystal in the end.

Jenny was shocked, "Even you Roland?"

"Kevin is right, I don't want to become food for the zombies, I rather flip the table around and turn them into my prey!" Argued Roland.

Jenny was at loss for words, she reached out, taking the last crystal on the table.

Roland and Kevin looked surprised at her.

She hesitated for some time, "If you do it then I will too!"

Kevin nodded, "Good we three are together in this, let's do it."

The three exchanged gazes before throwing the crystals in their mouths.

What they didn't know was that Benji has always been watching them secretly ever since they entered his range..

'I knew they would take it, no one would refuse power after going through everything they did....' Thought Benji while observing them with his inner eye.

There were plenty of his puppets stationed in the buildings across his home, ready to take care of them if they tried anything fishy. He would never trust some people he just met.

Benji lit up a cigarette smoking relaxed, he found it fascinating how the three of them looked through his inner eye.

They also had a tiny dot of light inside their head but it was different from the red dots of light from the zombies. Theirs were multi colored...

'So this is how humans look like through my inner eye....' Thought Benji as he breathed out a cloud of smoke.

He took out another cigarette and offered it to the man standing beside him. The man took it and began to smoke too.

Benji smiled evilly, the bald man standing beside him was his baby, his masterpiece.

It was already dark outside and the two of them were standing on top of a building.

"You know what to do right Cain?" Asked Benji.

The tall bald man nodded as he breathed smoke out, "Don't worry Master Solomon, we got this." The bald was wearing the same military clothes as Benji.

Benji couldn't help himself but laugh out loud. He was literally talking to himself through his puppet but he really enjoyed it.

Soon more and more silhouettes appeared behind them, their eyes glowing red in the darkness.

Benji's gaze turned towards the east, he had been searching for something through the last week but didn't found it. But now thanks to the information of the three he knew who had what he was searching for.

'This won't be a friendly visit, you guys have something I want and I will get it!'