2002-2003: The Brain Scythe’s activities can be traced taking a path through China, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, and Turkey. Victims of particular note include various leaders of these countries and their associates, regardless of political stance. Bulgaria prepares an armed border in expectation of the Brain Scythe, but Bulgaria is left on its toes until the late Fall.

November 12th, 2003: The first known date of the Brain Scythe’s activities in Africa. Due to conflicting records and the immense political and military activity within the country, it is impossible to determine exactly what the Brain Scythe may or may not have done in the area; read ‘The Sudanese Occupation’ for further speculation.

December 25th, 2004: Fox News Headquarters receives a third tape. The contents depict the South African Christchurch All Male Choir speaking in monotone unison in front of St. George’s Cathedral, which has been defaced with Satanic imagery. The Choir claims that the Brain Scythe will be returning to North America to ‘tie up loose ends’ with the country. The choir then drew knives, and committed suicide in the middle of a pentagram.

December 26th, 2004: President Gabriel Kade orders all US airports and docks closed to restructure passenger entry into the country. Borders with Canada and Mexico are tightly restricted, conflicting with the 1994 NAFTA agreement, but both the Canadian and Mexican governments agree to cooperate with border security. The Brain Scythe was never found through this increase in security.

Strangely enough, the Wise Men meeting seemed pretty comparable to a PTA meeting. At least, Anna assumed so; she never went to those willingly, she let Zi handle them when her best friend wasn’t busy.

After the initial assembly, everyone gathered around to create a circle of chairs and round-robin some ideas of what to do, but instead of discussing the curriculum they’d like to see for their children or changes to school procedure, they were talking about how to better interrupt psychic gatherings and show their displeasure towards pro-psionics—particularly through the use of guns.

Then there was the pizza party. Bought ahead of time and warmed up in the compound’s kitchen, piles upon piles of pizza, bottles of soda, and plenty of beer were enjoyed as they stood around and talked through mouthfuls of party food about how much better the world would be without psionics.

There was even arts and crafts, but instead of making school decorations, it was all protesting signs, with a handful of them prominently featuring the F-word as big as the sign-maker’s idea allowed.

She didn’t join in on any of the sign-making under the excuse that she’d just gotten her nails done and hands exfoliated, but she did observe, and chat.

“Well, no, I haven’t had a psychic do anything to me personally.” One woman explained in the group Anna was standing around in, a cup of store-brand not-Pepsi in her hand. “But I went to Devin’s bar with my husband about a month ago, and he and Devin were chatting about the Wise Men. I would normally never join in something as heated as this, but something about listening in on them lit a fire under my buns.”

“Me too.” Another woman bobbed her head in response. “I’d stopped in to get some water and overheard a few men talking about it. The idea got stuck in my head for what felt like a week; I couldn’t stand the idea of rolling over and letting those bigheads take over the lives of us innocent Americans.”

Anna sipped her drink and listened.

It seemed like a whole lot of them were convinced just by overhearing conversations about it, or being talked to for a little bit.

“He is quite charismatic.” Anna noted, tossing a look over Devin’s way. He was with a group of other men, chatting away, and Anna guessed it was either about the group’s future plans… or her, considering they all quietly glanced at her with little grins and amorous snickering. Anna hid the impulse to shiver. “He talked me into coming here after I told him all about my husband.”

“It just burns me up!” Another woman huffed and chuffed and stomped her feet. “Jenny, you are a lovely woman; the idea of some homo stealing your husband from you…”

Anna looked away from her, a well-practiced gesture of pain. “Believe me, it still hurts.” She mumbled.

“You are such a brave woman for keeping on like this, especially with a daughter.” Another woman rubbed her shoulder.

“Thank you.” Anna gave her a smile. “I appreciate the kind words. But, honestly, I’m looking forward to finally getting back at them all. I’ve spent long enough stewing in my own depression.”

There were multiple nods and murmurs of agreement, with another woman sharing a story about how sure she was she’d had a telepathic student who would steal answers from other students for their test with a faulty privacy band.

What people feared most about the domination discipline was that it could be maliciously subtle; Anna knew this fact better than just about any other human being alive. It could be blunt, even blatant by an untrained user; mind control without suppressing the personality effectively, forcing somebody to act in a way and say things uncharacteristic to them. It had been the go-to excuse for unexpected acts of homicide, theft, and unfaithfulness for nearly a full two decades, eventually culminating in the discovery that divination could read unusual brain waves.

But, where domination shined was its ability to convince. A suggestion or an idea, one maybe initially disregarded or despised, but once implanted, the human mind would unceasingly think about it, logic out the positives, ignore the negatives…

Anna sipped her drink as she listened to the women around her gossip.

Say you wanted a woman to murder her husband. A dominator could float the idea of how he was a bad husband, maybe even abusive; the woman might initially dismiss the idea, but the idea was planted, and forcibly so. Every negative thought would be agitated by the implanted impulse, and the ability for her to forgive and forget would be smothered as her husband’s annoying ticks wore on her mind.

It could take weeks, maybe even months, or perhaps only days until the woman was fully convinced her husband was a worthless man and partner… and then the impulse could change. She could be convinced divorce was too messy, that nobody would believe her accusations, that she would be left abandoned and alone by her friends and family if she divorced… that it was better to be the pitied widow than the lonesome divorcee.

And from there… the dominator could leave the murderous spouse to her consequences, no hint that there was any outside influence.

At least, that’s how it was back during the heyday of the Brain Scythe’s activities. Divination was, thankfully, advanced to a point where these things could be tested, though it did require somebody to float the idea and spend the budget to bring a diviner in.

Why it took until 2016 for the FBI to start regularly hiring diviners was beyond Anna, even if the thought of having them around reading minds and auras made her skin crawl.

Brain Scythe – the organization, not the criminal – was involved here somehow. Not just in giving supplies and targets, but Anna could picture a dominator sitting in the bar, weaving Devin’s words into a little thought tumor in whomever he was sweet-talking, and nobody being any the wiser.

But this was all speculation and guesswork. Anna had schmoozed her way into earning the organization’s tentative trust… and potentially more solid evidence later.

“Pardon me ladies.” The gaggle of gossiping women turned to face Devin, more than a few of the girls giving him some semi-lecherous looks, but his eyes fell on Anna and Anna alone. “Jenny, are you gonna make a sign?”

Anna gave a short, humble chuckle. “Unfortunately I’m not the creative type; I’ll leave that to everyone else.” That, at least, was true.

Devin gave a quick laugh. It had hardly been a joke, but the man seemed… eager to be amused by her. “Well that’s alright! Wanna come join me and some of the fellas then? I think you’ll be interested in hearing what we gotta say.”

Anna raised an eyebrow, and with a curious nod, said her goodbyes to the giggling women and followed Devin over to where he, Nate, and a handful of other men – likely higher ranking than the rest – stood around in a circle.

One of the men instantly gave Anna a suspicious look. “Whoa whoa, Devin, are we sure we want to let a new person in on this? We hardly know her.” He grunted, though his expression lightened up the slightest bit when Anna gave him a pretty smile. He was a big dude, bigger than Devin, a towering piece of man that must have worked some good labor with all the muscle and calluses he was packing. He was a sour looking guy, though; Anna couldn’t picture a smile on his face.

“Don’t you worry, Trev,” Devin said with all confidence and assuredness, “Jenny’s on the level, right Jenny?”

Anna gave a quick nod. “Right. What’s going on?”

“We’re talking about our next move.” Nate answered her, handing her a laminated piece of paper… the school map of Phoenix Academy. Anna stiffened just the slightest bit; it had a few red marks on it, mainly around the ESP security building, and entry points.

“We’re attacking Phoenix Academy?” Anna asked in as calm a voice as she could muster, having to bite back the bellows in her chest.

“In a few months time.” Nate answered with a nod. “Some shitty up-and-coming band’ll be playing there in May, and it’s going to draw a buncha students out of the Academy, possibly some teachers, too.”

Devin started in with a fire in his voice, one arm around Anna’s shoulders as he pointed at the map. “That place is an all-exclusive breeding ground for these bigheads. There was a study that showed that lots of these students come out creating more of those scion-types in the world; the stronger psycho-freaks.”

Trev – or Trevor, Anna assumed – gave a quick, sharp nod of his blocky head, almost stifling the growl in his voice. “And they think they’re damn safe because they’re all psychics and ‘cuz the rest of the world has interests there. Well ain’t nothin’ prepared for some real patriots with real weapons to storm the campus.”

Anna glanced up at Trevor sharply. He almost flinched, but he didn’t quite catch the glimmer of danger in her eyes as she met his gaze. “Now I am all for stripping PA of its unrestricted, unreviewed teachers and curriculum, but I’ll have to protest this plan if it involves hurting kids.”

Trev’s eyes narrowed angrily, and taller and broader than Anna, he strode towards her with his lips peeled back. “These ain’t human kids, Jen. Get that through your head!” He raised a finger and pressed it to her collarbone, but his intimidating presence flickered for a moment as the only reaction he got from her was her cool and steely stare.

“Trev, back the fuck off.” Devin ordered sternly.

Trev looked up at Devin, the two men giving one another an intimidating stare-down until Trev backed up a step, taking his finger off of Anna. “If she ain’t ready to do whatever is necessary—”

“Don’t be an idiot.” Anna suddenly spat, drawing his ire, as well as Devin’s curious, if uncertain stare. “I am a mother, may I remind you, and if I saw on my television a bunch of armed men threatening and holding children or teenagers hostage, no matter what they might be, who they might belong to, I would immediately call my governor to tell them to protect those kids.” She almost hissed, and Trev’s nostrils flared for a moment.

“I have to agree with Jen.” Nate said, more level-headed, getting a quick look from the other two men. “We have to think about what the media’ll say, how we’ll look. We aren’t the Taliban, fellas, we have legitimate grievances. Threatening kids doesn’t look good.”

“We are revolutionaries.” Devin suddenly said, drawing the circle of mens’ attention. “Jenny and my uncle are right: we’re not exterminators, we’re here to show the world that America won’t be happy under a buncha psychos. If we start threatening kids, we ain’t much better than they are, but we have to show them we will fight for our freedoms, and the freedoms of natural human beings.”

Anna nodded, glancing between the various men. “You have to plant that doubt in the mind of the people. Minds and attitudes don’t change instantly, you have to make sure the world knows how dangerous these people are. We can’t be more dangerous than them.”

“Yeah! That’s good Jenny, real good.” Devin squeezed her shoulder with a grin. “We march into PA and tell ‘em what we think! Show ‘em what we know! They can’t hide from us!”

“And there’s plenty of us! They can’t arrest all of us, we can take a knee for as long as it takes!” Nate added eagerly.

Another man spoke up, the one who’d held the door open for Anna earlier. “And if they use their powers on us, it’ll only make us look better!” He said, nodding quickly.

“But what about the list?” Trev asked suddenly.

The circle went quiet, just long enough for Anna’s brow to crease in suspicion. “List?” She didn’t get an answer right away.

“Well,” Devin started, “we can worry about that in a bit, right now we need to—”

“Like a hit list?” Anna asked suspiciously. The looks and frowns she got didn’t so much as make her squirm in discomfort, but she still had to flinch before they got too suspicious of her. “It was just a guess…”

Devin took a deep breath, and gave her a meaningful look. “There are folk, adult folk, that are too mind controlled to convince. They’re entrenched at the top of the government, and we need people on our side up there.”

“We gave the people of Arizona too many opportunities to get them out democratically.” Nate said with a hard expression. “They’re cheating, or the people of this state are too stupid to do what’s right.”

“So we’ll have to make the decision for ‘em.” Devin said with a gruff nod.

Anna made a show of looking uncertain, even surprised by the revelation, but after a moment of silence, she swallowed thickly, and nodded.

“I don’t think taking hostages at PA is a good idea.”

“Nope.” Devin admitted. “But they have homes off-campus, we know where they all live. Just like the Brain Scythe—” Anna pushed down a wave of revulsion, “—we’ll step in, one by one, and get rid of ‘em where they don’t expect it. The governor and all them in Phoenix’ll be a different story, but PA has all of ‘em in one place. Get rid of their leaders and their experts, put real human beings with actual human minds in their place and PA’ll flip.”

Anna breathed slowly and easily to reduce the burning in her chest as she asked her next question. “Surely some of their leads live away from PJ, though.”

“Yup. One of them in particular is behind the security of that place.” Nate answered, and Anna made sure to breathe as he spoke. “But we have a plan on getting her, too.”

Easy… easier…

“She’s got a daughter attending PA.”

These people were going to die and Anna would laugh as they did.

“We put her in trouble and draw out the security chief. She disappears, and the ESP will be in disarray.”

Scratch that, Anna might sing with their screams.

“But her daughter won’t be harmed?” Anna asked, surprising herself with how well she managed to hold back the sheer fury threatening to boil out of her mouth.

“If she complies, her daughter’ll be just fine.” Nate nodded.

“But if she doesn’t?” Trev snorted. “Well, a finger or two—”

Cold.

A skin-crawling feeling suddenly filled the air; an aura of pure malice, a lethal killing intent.

The entire room’s activity slowed, and Trev, whatever he was trying to say, stopped. Anna didn’t so much as change her posture, but her eyes were settled on him and him alone. He looked bug-eyed at her. He seemed like he’d never been talked back to by a woman he couldn’t intimidate, but now he looked like he’d been cornered, and all Anna was doing was staring at him and very silently wishing a most cruel and unusual death on him.

“She’ll…” Nate spoke up, then cleared his throat as he gave Anna a worried look. “The daughter’ll be perfectly fine. No harm’ll come to her. I’m sure we can fake some fingers or somethin’…” He said.

The tension in the room eased somewhat, and Anna gave Nate a small nod. “That sounds better. Okay.”

She smiled. It was the most forced smile she’d ever had to wear. It hurt. She wasn’t sure if they’d even noticed it was fake as the group of men devolved into some nervous laughter.

“Jesus, Devin, where did you find this one?” One of the men asked. “I thought she was gonna kill Trevor with the look she gave ‘im!”

“You gotta appreciate a woman who loves any kid, amirite fellas? Gotta protect these kids.” Devin nodded, reassured. “We don’t gotta hurt ‘em, they can be neutered.”

“Yeah, that’s a lot better of a plan.” Nate chuckled.

“You’ll be great with us, Jenny.” Devin shook her shoulder with a grin. “Make sure we don’t do anything stupid.”

“Of course.” Anna said with a small nod, visions of blood and fire dancing in her head. “You know what?” Anna said, glancing over her shoulder at the gathering of sign-makers. “I’m going to get some more pizza. I’m hungry again all of a sudden.”

Devin gave a laugh, as did the other men, Trev half-heartedly at best. “Don’t let us hold you back, Jenny, you’ll get to work it all off soon enough.” He winked.

He let Anna go, and Anna turned, keeping an eased and relaxed posture as she walked down the hallway towards the kitchen.