My eyes couldn't believe that Deus Ex was standing in front of me. It's been four years since I last saw him and now he randomly sends two officers to break into me and my mom's house. He stood with a stoic posture, upright with his hands behind his back while glaring down at me.
"Apologies for the sudden arrival." Deus said with a cold monotone voice.
"Arriving here isn't the problem, it's the fact that these two broke into my house!" I said.
"I actually lock picked the door." The female said with confidence.
"It doesn't matter how you got in here. You don't belong here." I said.
"I understand your frustration." Deus said with no warmth or sympathy in his voice.
"I don't believe you do." I snapped back. "You haven't called since dad ruined things but you've been busy fixing everything he wrecked for the Minuses of the world. You can say you're suffering but don't say you understand what I'm going through!"
Deus lowered his head and closed his eyes. "You're frustrated."
"Of course I'm frustrated!" I said. "Tell me who wouldn't be! I've come home everyday for four years to a life you supplied to me and mom. It's not the life I wanted but I don't get to have a choice." Tears formed in my eyes and a lump began to choke at my throat.
"I'm sorry." Deus said. "I believe I understand the situation of suffering these past four years but I am ignorant of the experience of being a teenager whose father is an evil man."
There was a sliver of human warmth in his tone but not much. Perhaps Deus was trying to be genuine and these years of him fighting politics and leading Minuses through a storm of hate in the public eyes has started to turn his heart into steel.
I wiped the tears from my eyes. "What do you want, Deus?"
"I need to have a conversation." He said. "Specifically I need to talk to you."
"Me?" I said with confusion.
"I understand this is sudden and inconvenient but I promise that if I had any other paths that didn't involve you or your mother I would have traveled those routes first." Deus said.
I took a deep breath. "Shouldn't we wait for mom?"
"She won't be home till around midnight." Deus said with a cold tone.
"You say that like you know for a fact." I said.
"Because I do." Deus confirms. "With her being the sheriff of this town she has obligations to help its people no matter what time. So if helpless people start calling her then she'll be quite busy tonight."
He hasn't changed one bit.
The reason Deus Ex is the representative of the Minus community is because he will do anything to ensure proper progression. When dad was finally killed after going mad Deus knew that humans would fear him and the rest of the United Minus. So without a second thought he disbanded the team as the new leader. The United Minus had saved millions of lives all across the world but just one bad day soiled their image to the people. Deus knew and made the choice to sacrifice the hard work he, my grandfather, and the other members did. Because that was the logical thing to do. He is a machine of logic and reason.
Even though he is a hologram of his actual self Deus begins walking around the living room like he's here with me. "Perhaps we start off with something familiar." Deus said as he pointed his finger at my dining room table and emited a black and white chess board.
"You gotta be kidding me." I said.
"It's fine if you're out of practice." Deus said. "All you have for practice is that Winston fellow and I'm sure he's entertaining from what I've heard. Unless… you're scared you'll lose." His eyes look down at me until he sits down in a hologram made chair at the end of the table with his hands together, waiting.
Somehow he's kept his pride and sense of humor intact. I knew he wasn't going to leave so hopefully one game would be enough for him to tell me what he wanted.
"Fine." I said.
"Wonderful! Mr. And Mrs. Andrew, would you please excuse us while we converse." Deus said while waving the man and woman off.
"Yes sir." They said.
As they walked past Deus I looked at the man holding the popcorn. "Is that my mom's popcorn?"
"Uh…" Mr. Andrew was hesitant.
"Give me that!" I said while snatching it from him.
"Sorry!" Mr. Andrew said with a nervous tone before heading outside with Mrs. Andrew.
I rolled over to the table and mentally prepared myself for the match and the conversation that was about to unfold. Deus and I spent the first few minutes in silence, setting up our pawns.
"How is your mother?" Deus asked.
"Better." I said while taking one of his pawns.
"And what about you?" He asks while taking one of my pawns.
"I'm… managing." I said.
"You and your mother have different perspectives on your current circumstances. She's older, set in her work, and found a purpose in you. Whereas you are young, graduating, and searching for what's next."
"Your point being?" I asked while shifting by bishop to a tactical angle.
"It's easy to adapt to change when you have a foundation of purpose. For your mother, that's you. She couldn't be weak because you needed her to be strong. For you, it could be your mother but parents often plan for their children to succeed them but you don't have a plan, do you Alic?"
Without realizing Deus had trapped me between my own pieces. Checkmate.
"Again." I said.
"Do you Alic?" Deus repeats.
"What plan could I possibly make?" I asked without expecting an answer. "My father is Dan Viser! Maximum Minus! The first negative. The first true villain of this world. Humans hate him and Minus hate him. I can't hide forever Deus!" I take my first move.
Deus looks at me with the same serious expression before taking his first move. "Of course you can't hide forever." He said. "That was never my plan when I sent you out here. I just needed to keep you safe until the right time."
"And when would that time be?" I asked while finishing up my move.
"Sooner than I expected." Deus said. "Have you been watching the news?"
"Anytime it has something important to say." I said.
Deus was hesitant with his current move after he noticed my strategy and adjusted accordingly. "You remember the lunar project that I started over a decade ago?"
"Yes." I said.
"The base and its team was put there to find and track any signals of astral radiation similar to Apollo." Deus said while moving his queen to an ending position. "Well they have."
I jolt from my concentration at the phrase. Even though I lost again I didn't care after hearing what Deus said. "Wh-What?"
"Something is sleeping within the dark side of the moon." Deus said. "It's a weak signal but it's growing stronger, day by day."
"Why didn't you mention this to Cadence at that hearing today? That would have convinced them to enlist the aid of you and the Minuses." I said.
"Or cause another mass panic." Deus said. "When Apollo arrived it changed the course of history in more than one way. Religions changed, governments changed, and most of all people changed. I don't know if human's or or minuses are prepared for another Apollo incident."
"What are you expecting then?" I asked. "Just let it arrive and wing it."
Deus waved his hand over the chess board and transformed the holographic pixels into diagrams, charts, and screens with pictures of earth's moon.
"I expect an opportunity." Deus says. "Cadence has built his presidency on the back of your father's acts and the fall of Minuses in the public eye. He has made us the enemy but there have been many times in history when two opposing forces must unite to face more daunting threats."
Deus waved his hand to move the pictures and files around and reveal a live feed of the lunar entity. A figure of voided black space floating in the center of a crater. Its anatomy was similar to Apollos but instead of being blindingly bright like the sun this was dark and hollow, like something was missing out of time and space itself. Tendrils of energy wisped off it to touch anything nearby and anything it touched seemed to be consumed in black.
"Artemis is what I've named her." Deus said.
"Her?" I questioned.
"Of course I don't know it's biology but the name seems fitting." Deus said.
"You need to show this to the president, not some high schooler like me." I said.
Deus swipes away the video. "I promise you I plan on doing so but now I'm going to show you what you have to do with this." He swipes his hand to remove all unnecessary files from view until only one file remains.
Project Mastermind
"Do you want to know what happened to your father?" Deus asked.
The blood in my veins ran cold as I heard Deus speak. "What do you mean by that?"
"I know that you probably search your thoughts for answers and fail to find reasons for why Dan attacked you. But I know why." Deus said.
"What the hell is wrong with you!" I said with a strained voice. "You knew! All this time you knew and you made me and my mom wonder for four years!"
"I wouldn't have mattered if I told you four years ago." Deus said.
"Bullshit!" I screamed. "Do you know how many nights I woke up from nightmares and found my mom crying in that kitchen? Do you have any idea what it's like to wish that your father would have killed you instead of crippling you! It would have mattered!"
Hysteria pulsed through my body with hot fury. Everyday for the past four years I would spend some time thinking about why my father did what he did. It started out as hours of thoughts throughout the day, then it became just an hour, and eventually it became a few minutes within the past year. I did my best to manage it by telling myself that there was no reason other than my dad was a bad person. Now Deus has taken that excuse from me.
"Your father told me that he would do anything to make the world safer for his family. Even risk his own life." Deus said. "Your grandfather and I never wanted him to risk his life but unfortunately that was the exact cost of Project Mastermind."
My fist was tight, my nails dug into my palms, and my jaw was clenched so hard I thought my teeth would shatter. I didn't want anything else to do with this conversation or Deus but I slowly calmed myself.
This may be the only chance I have at peace. I don't know if I can trust Deus but I have to have some answers. I can't go back to my life knowing that there's a reason why dad did what he did. Even though this is exactly what Deus wants, I'll play along.
"Tell me what happened!" I said.