Camilla

"That's why this is so personal to me," Senior continued. "And I know that makes this seem like my quest for revenge, but it isn't. Admittedly, I was furious with her for what she had done to me. But eventually I realized that it was my fault for allowing her to do that in the first place. She had told me that her experiment would increase the strength of my abilities, and I had been naive enough to believe her. And as much as I regret my actions, I would be even more mad at myself if I let her continue to destroy other people's lives, especially when they don't have a say in it like I did.

"And even though I know now that everything she told me was a lie, none of us know for sure what exactly she was after. It's possible that her goal has been the same all this time, and finding out what drives her could play a key part in determining what her next move might be and how we can take her down."

Belatedly, Camilla noted that her words were a perfect segue to talk about what Hester was up to at Farallon. Unfortunately, she didn't come to that realization until Senior's gaze turned to her, leading the way for every other pair of eyes in the room.

"Captain Wyatt," Senior began, her professional tone softening into one that resembled compassion. "Would you be able to give us more details on what Hester was after at Farallon?"

Honestly, that was the last thing Camilla wanted to do at the moment. But that's what she was there for, and it was too late for her to go back on her word.

Instinctively, Camilla leaned towards Elsie. She hadn't even realized she had done so until she felt Elsie's stability holding Camilla upright. The gesture gave Camilla a sudden sense of determination, and she steeled herself to focus on the task at hand, her mission. With Elsie by her side, with her friends at her back, she was strong.

"Honestly, there's not much I can tell you," Camilla began. Immediately, she realized how small her voice sounded in the silent room, and she forced herself to continue with more volume and determination. "I only have my experience to go off of, and... well, most of it was a blur. As I mentioned to Captain Lee before, you may get better information from AJ or some of the Exodos members that were being held captive. From what Hester and Stein implied, there were plenty of other metas there before me."

"Thank you for that suggestion," Senior replied automatically. "We'll keep that in mind, but we'd like to start with what you can tell us."

Whether the Alliance took her advice or not was on them, and Camilla left it at that. As much as she thought they were acting like stubborn children, she couldn't put off sharing her information any longer, not without making it seem like she was stalling. And stalling made her seem weaker than she already was.

"She never specifically said what her goal was, but from what I could gather, Hester was trying to brainwash me," Camilla began, surprised by how calm and nonchalant she sounded. "She wanted me to forget all of my memories, even my own name. She wanted to control me and make me obedient to her every command; she even put a device in my head to do so."

Senior nodded. "I heard it's called a Seed—I'm not surprised she would choose such a name. We have people looking into the ones recovered by Exodos, but we're having trouble understanding how it works, if it even does at all."

"It does," Camilla said almost too quickly. But she couldn't help it, not when her body remembered being completely powerless to stop herself from stabbing her own leg. "Hester could've probably made me do anything with that thing in my head, even if I tried to resist. And she would've used it to erase the rest of my memories too, if my friends and Exodos hadn't shown up then."

"We believe Stein may have helped develop that device, given his background in psychology and how metas' minds control their abilities," Senior said, smoothly ignoring Camilla's obvious plug vouching for Exodos. "Could you share what you remember about him?"

"He wanted to see how my abilities worked, and to what extent." By forcing me to kill people for my own survival.

Camilla was hesitant to go into details on that subject, and thankfully, Senior didn't ask. Instead, she merely raised her eyebrows with slight surprise.

"Was there anything else?" Senior asked. "From what I'm told, Stein attacked you shortly before you left Farallon. A few witnesses saw him talking to you, but no one heard exactly what he said. Do you remember that?"

She did; she also remembered how she almost burned herself alive.

"He said it was a drug meant to amplify my abilities, but it was meant only for my genetics," Camilla answered. "He implied that he had been working on it for a while, but he could only finish it once I got there and he got more information. That could be why Hester was after me."

And, as much as Camilla wanted to keep her dad out of it, she continued. "Stein said his formula was based on my dad's research. My dad was a genetics researcher for Zenipro, and he had supposedly developed a drug to suppress meta-abilities, but it would only work for me. Stein said they had worked together, and my dad had entrusted him to get that drug to me." Camilla shrugged. "My dad must've figured Hester would go after my abilities, and he wanted to protect me. I have no idea how he knew though—he died when I was six."

Surprisingly, Senior didn't seem surprised by this information at all. In fact, she nodded knowingly, then turned back to the rest of the Alliance.

"Doctor Kenichi Tanoue was part of the Zenipro research team that developed the meta test, and he worked closely with both Stein and Hester," Senior explained. "You may recognize his name from one of your first year textbooks at the Academy. He died shortly after he published that book, after he completed his work on the meta test, and we believe that Hester and possibly Stein had something to do with his death."

Camilla felt her body freeze, but she couldn't stop her voice from working.

"Wait, what?" Camilla exclaimed, louder than she expected.

Since she was a child, Camilla figured her dad's death had just been an unfortunate tragedy and the normal course of life. Never in her wildest imaginations had she thought her dad had been murdered, much less that Hester and Stein had something to do with it. Not even after Stein had mentioned that he worked with her dad did Camilla suspect foul play was involved. But now that the option was up in the air, it seemed obvious.

Ken made me promise that I would somehow get those drugs to you if something should happen to him, Stein had told her.

Had her dad known as well?

It took a moment for Camilla to realize that all of the attention had returned to her again, and she quickly regained her bearings. At the front of the room, Senior raised an eyebrow curiously.

"I take it you didn't know about this?" Senior asked, much too calmly given the topic at hand.

As much as Camilla wanted to return her composure with a snarky comment, all Camilla could manage was a short "no."

In response, Senior merely stared at her blankly for a moment, then turned back to the rest of the room.

"While we're not sure exactly what Tanoue was working on at the time of his death, we believe Hester may have been after it," Senior continued. "And if what Stein told Captain Wyatt is true, it's likely that this research involved suppressing and amplifying meta-abilities."

A vice captain in the audience raised a hand, and Senior nodded at them to continue.

"Based on what Captain Wyatt said, it seems clear that Hester and Stein are trying to gather and control strong metas," the vice captain summarized. "And if the Org is really backing them, then what's their goal? What's the point of going through all this trouble to brainwash metas that already work for this country as guardians?"

"Hester's crazy," Chief Ali said. "The Org probably just wants her to find out more information on metas in general, and they're willing to turn a blind eye to her antics in the process."

"Look, we all know that the Org is corrupt," a captain spoke up. "But saying they're allowing Hester to potentially kill guardians is a little much, isn't it? It's too cruel, even for them."

"Plus, it's a waste of talent," another vice captain added, garnering a round of muttered assent from their colleagues.

Senior sighed, then turned to Camilla.

"Captain Wyatt, did Hester or Stein ever mention anything about the Org while you were there?"

"They wanted a perfect soldier," Elsie suddenly muttered from Camilla's side.

Camilla spun around to look at Elsie in surprise, and apparently she wasn't the only one. Everyone in the room went silent at Elsie's unexpected addition to the conversation, and even Elsie seemed surprised that she spoke up.

"I'm sorry, Miss Bates, what did you say?" Senior asked, sounding genuinely interested.

"Oh, nothing," Elsie quickly backtracked, obviously flustered. "It was just something AJ had mentioned to me once."

"And what was it?" Camilla asked, also curious. AJ had never mentioned anything like that to her, and, like the other guardians, Camilla just figured Hester wanted brainwashed metas for her own nefarious schemes.

Elsie hesitated, but after looking at Camilla's gaze for a moment, she continued.

"AJ had told me that they wanted Camilla to do whatever they wanted, without question," she said tentatively. "They didn't want someone with emotions or morals; they wanted a perfect soldier."

"And not just that," Hitomi added while everyone else pondered Elsie's words in silence. "It appears that your Org does not want just one perfect soldier; they want an army of them."

"An army?" one vice captain repeated nervously.

Hitomi raised her eyebrows at them, as if they were naive. "Yes, an army. How else would a country fight a war?"

As much as Camilla had a feeling her cousin was right, she understood the vice captain's disbelief. While she figured the Org allowed Hester to do whatever she wanted, Camilla never thought that Hester was actually doing what the Org wanted.

But now that Elsie mentioned it, it seemed obvious. And even though all the former guardians figured that they knew about the corruption the Org was capable of, none of them imagined that the Org was willing to send so many of their own people to their deaths.

Without even realizing it, they were still being blinded by their loyalty to the Org. And even after the possible ugly truth was laid out plainly for them to see, they were still having trouble accepting that a major part of their lives had been a lie.

"I think this will be a good place to end for the day," Senior stepped in to break the uneasiness that had permeated throughout the room. "We'll reconvene in a few days—I'll send word on an exact time later. In the meantime, please discuss with your squads what we covered here today. I know that it may be a lot to take in, but now we know how crucial it is that we act as soon as possible. I'd like each squad to come to our next meeting prepared with ideas on our next course of actions. For now, you are all dismissed."

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