The hivemind is conquering for me?

”I’m scared.” A child’s voice spoke out as she walked through the streets. She looked up expecting to see stars, but all that was there was an inky black void.

As her gaze came back down to street view her eyes lingered on a group of scary men. They were brandishing weapons. They weren’t even looking at her, but she felt the urge to find safety behind the hand she was holding.

”Oi! Skid marks! you scared the girl, apologise for looking like creeps.”

”Keyla!” Ashley cried out, squatting down to hide behind the smaller figure.

The group of tough looking men suddenly jumped off the railings they were sitting on and walked over.

Ashley could feel her heart in her throat as the leader, a very large man with a beer belly bent down, resting his hands on his knees.

”Sorry sweetheart. We are supposed to look tough because we are guarding the area, but don’t you worry your little socks off, you are completely safe here.”

Keyla then looked at Ashley who was shocked by what just happened. She then turned back to the skid marks.

”Alright, back to your jobs or no fix. Understood?”

No words were said back, they just ran back to their railing.

The duo continued their walk a short distance before Ashley found the courage to speak. ”You... They were-”

”Ashy, What have I told you the past few months about our big secret? Repeat it back to me.” Keyla interrupted the youths confused mumbling.

Ashley took a deep breath, calming herself. ”You are a part of a group that is going to change the galaxy massively.”

”Yes. And?”

”And that all you want to do is help people...”

”That’s right. So why would those little skid marks want to make you scared huh? They are a part of our little group... Well, they are on the wait list for the official spots, but they are very loyal to the group.”

”Hehe, you called them skid marks.” Ashley giggled, making Keyla roll her eyes.

”Well, I can’t have you getting all mopey on me every time I do a swear can I? Now hurry, we are nearly there.”

”I’m fine going faster Keyla, it’s you who is walking slowly.” Ashley commented and Keyla let the dig on her height slide.

After walking a bit further, the duo arrived at a large building crawling with men and women inside and out. It looked like a giant fortress. Ashley could see guns and needlers in abundance, she gulped.

”That is a lot of weapons.”

Feeling the girl’s trepidation, Keyla went in for the kill.

”Ash, look at me. I know this is scary. I was scared too at first before I joined, but I am telling you, this will be the best thing to ever happen to you. Think about it. No more being paraded around. No more responsibilities. No more looking over your shoulder for bad kidnappers who just want to use you for their own agenda.

This will be a brand new start for you. For us. Together.”

Keyla then paused, feigning compassion and understanding.

”Though if you want, we can leave. Go back to the surface, to your parents and forget this ever happened, though it would mean we could never see each other again.”

”It- It what? Why?” Ashley asked, shocked and upset.

”Think about it. You are a noble. Even if your parents treat you as a novelty, you said it yourself, they only care about reputation. The fact you have been missing this long... They will call our plan to leave an abduction. If we show back up together. They will kill me and ask questions later... I-I don’t wanna die Ashley, I want to be with you. You are my friend...”

Keyla began to softly sob before pretending to catch her emotions. ”Sorry. I don’t mean to get emotional, but despite our age difference I truly see you as my friend and I don’t want to part...”

Ashley’s chin began to quiver seeing her friend cry, but she kept herself together. ”I don’t want to go back. I want to join your group. To help people.”

”*Sniff* Really?” Keyla asked and Ashley nodded.

”Yes. You are right. My parents... They don’t love me. They never have. They just use me and my powers... I don’t want to spend the rest of my life being a puppet for them to pull at. I want to be with you and your friends. I want to be like you.”

Keyla smiled at Ashley after she said that.

’Mmh, eating her now would be so delicious... After all the manipulation and tricks... To bathe in her blood and- Bad Keyla! Don’t listen to the voices! We need to think about Apollo’s future. Psionic children help his future! No eating! Bad!’

”I’m so happy to hear you say that. Come on, let’s go meet Samantha, she is in there. She is very excited to meet you.”

...

Meanwhile:

Oric all-inclusive Resort:

Guests and staff of the resort had been questioned multiple times all day. The guests all complained, being entitled, rich. Demanded to speak to lawyers, attempted bribery to get off the resort to safe face.

But nothing worked. Two detectives had arrived not long ago and took over the local investigation. There was not much about them that stood out, except for whenever they began asking questions, the surroundings lost all colour save for black and white.

A noble of ’well repute’ attempted to give them a very generous ’gift’ for all their hard work in taking over the case and asked for a favour to leave... He did not get to leave and now had a broken nose and two broken hands.

”Right... Thank you for your cooperation Miss. Please go about your business.” Thorne said and watched the bikini clad noble leave the room.

The moment she did Malone took a deep breath. ”Why do the most imbecilic of individuals get to be that rich? It baffles the mind. There was absolutely zero thought going on behind those eyes.”

Thorne shook his head, not listening to his partner’s comment. ”What are we doing here Dean? We have a more pressing matter to address.”

Malone sighed. ”Not this again... Sterling look. I get it. The butcher- That thing. Is still out there. But you know as well as I do. The trail went cold. We looked over that video hundreds of times and nothing. So until we have more to go on, we need to work. Be grateful the Athena’s are paying us privately for this one and maybe get that stick out of your ass? Besides, I think some normal work might actually do us some good. Reset the brain from alien threats.”

Thorne reached into his pocket and retrieved a cigarette which he hastily lit. After dragging the entire stick he exhaled and spoke. ”We work this case for two days. Two days and then we pass it on to the locals again. I don’t- I can’t stop Dean... Not again.”

Malone was about to reply before the door opened without permission.

Thorne was about to admonish the intruder, but it was the resort manager, a stern looking woman in her early fifties. She Sunkissed and had slightly damaged skin from all the years working outside that cheap rejuvenation treatments just couldn’t hide entirely.

”Sorry to disturb you detectives, but we had our camera records pulled from the last few months. Ashley is one of the few children regular at the resort, so it wasn’t hard finding isolated recordings of her. They are all on this data pad.”

”Thanks Doll. Leave it on the desk.” Malone said kindly before sharing a lingering glance with her for a moment before she left.

Once the woman was gone, Malone slid the data pad over to Thorn. ”All you buddy.”

Thorne scrolled through the data pads screen for a moment looking at the hundreds of hours of isolated recordings for Ashley. He scrolled for a while, but decided to give it to the techies later.

As he put the tablet down, his finger tagged the edge of a recording and it began to play without him realising.

”See the ass on that broad? What I wouldn’t do to sleep between those cheeks.” Malone said, lecherously, prompting Thorne to frown as he went over the testimonies of the witnesses.

”Dean, we are on a case, be professional.”

”Jeez. I’m only human, Sterling. A man has needs. It’s been months and I don’t want to weird you out, but any longer without laying pipe and you are going to have to watch out if we share another room together. You are starting to do it for me...”

Thorne turned to Malone and watched as his partner proceeded to wink at him and wiggle his eyebrows flirtily.

”Heh~” Thorne laughed and Malone raised his hands in the air.

”Ha ha! The robot has its humour back! Today is a good day!” He cheered before catching out of the corner of his eye.

”Oh, Thorne, you left the doodad on.” He said, pointing to the data pad.

Thorne turned to the pad. ”Oh, my bad.” He said and went to go turn it off, but as his finger hovered over the power button, he froze, eyes widening.

Hastily he snatched up the pad, rewinding the video, pausing, playing, watching again.

”What? What is it?”

Malone looked over at the screen, his eyes went wide in shock at what he was seeing. There was Ashley walking along holding hands with a short individual. An individual he recognised.

”Is that-” He was about to say something, but Thorne cut him off, his eyes burning with rage.

”The Butcher...”