Delmar's storyline part 48 - You all think I'm mad

The rebels had really left their mark on the district. There was an uncanny silence on the streets. Nobody talked happily nor greeted each other. A lot of rebels had been captured and even more rebels had left the city. The security was higher and patrols of chemical shifters and electrical shifters searched the streets and homes for remaining rebels.  There was a paranoid feeling among the citizens and a fear of being accused for being a rebel as well. The streets were cluttered with a symbol on the walls, left there since the riot. It was two rings, one smaller inside the bigger and a line drawn horizontally across them, beside stood text cluttered on the walls.

Freedom for the shifters 

The gods are a hoax!

Wilfred for president 

Delmar and Reed headed for the chemical faction complex. They went to the same room as the investigation team meetings were held in. Now there were only ten chairs around the oval table. It looked like this was the standard setup. In each chair sat an energy shifter, except for two chairs. Nuclear sat on the table in front of his chair and Gravity’s chair was completely empty. Behind Radiation stood a very old man, he had a long thin beard and he emitted an aura of light around him. Delmar guessed that it had to be Askr, her second in command. Neutron stood in front of the table talking. He was telling his part of the story. Gravity seemed to have been shot with a silver gun while Neutron had been threatened to his life.

Delmar pulled up his hood while Neutron was talking. It felt like a protective shield against their staring eyes. Nine all powerful energy shifters, all blaming him for the kidnapping of Gravity. Once again he got the feeling that he shouldn’t be there, he should have been out in the forest living as a wolf. Why did he ever agree to this? 

When Neutron was done he sat down in Gravity’s empty chair. As he was Gravity’s second in command was it his duty to act in his place when he was gone.

After what felt like an eternity Delmar heard someone say his name. It was a stern female voice, not Radiation’s.
“Will you please tell us what happened?”
His hands started shaking by nervousness. He grabbed his robe in a firm grip to make them stop. The ice around him had unconsciously formed a large pair of wings. His whole body was ready to shift into a stronger form, to escape and fly away from the nine all powerful beings. Delmar tried to take some deep breaths to ignore his instincts.
“Reed will you remove his hood so we can see his face?” he heard Chemicals deep voice say. A hand from behind dragged down his hood. He felt extremely vulnerable, this was even worse than the riot.
He turned and glanced up at Reed who stood behind him. Reed looked serious, he looked straight forward, glancing over the table. He looked like the military officer he actually was.
“So?” the female voice said again. It was Magnetic who had spoken. He had to clear his throat a couple of times before his voice bared the words he was trying to say.

Delmar started telling his story from when they got up from the training halls into the riot. How they parted with Radiation and how they hid themselves from the black shifters. He told them about the part of the conversation between Wilfred and Gravity he had heard and about how calm Gravity had seemed to be.  

Suddenly Delmar got interrupted. Through the wall, like a ghost, Edgar slid into the meeting room. He fell silent and just stared at Edgar’s soul light like he couldn't believe his eyes. Edgar was familiar with the room, he had been here before, a dozen times. He stopped and looked surprised at Delmar who stared back at him, or rather straight through him since there was nothing to look at.  

“Please continue.”  Electrical urged. Delmar almost couldn't hear her. Edgar was surprised Delmar was here, at first he seemed like he was going to turn around and head out again but then he changed his mind.
It’s just you who can see me. He thought calmly. Edgar felt pleased. As long as he stayed hidden he was safe. He looked at Delmar a little while, studying the pesky little ice shifter who constantly crossed his path. It felt like Edgar observed them from another world, a world only he possessed the key to.
“Delmar, will you please continue.” Someone around the table said.
What is this? You’re all alone with the whole council? Edgar thought. It looks like some kind of interrogation. You look nervous, have you misbehaved again? Are your masters displeased with you? Would they even believe you if you told them I was here? Well go on. Don’t mind me.

Edgar walked calmly over to the table, he leaned over Chemical to glance at the papers lying on the table in front of him.
Interesting… Edgar thought mockingly.
Delmar rushed forward to gather up the papers to hide them from Edgar.

His head slammed down the table, too late he realized his mistake, he should have ignored the black shifter.
“What’s the meaning of this…?” Chemical said with an ice cold voice, it felt like Chemical was going to crush his skull against the table with the pressure of his hand. Delmar whimpered by the pain.
“Chemical! Let him go!” Radiation objected as she rushed up. Chemical lifted Delmar’s head again with a firm grip in his hair. He studied Delmar’s face. There was a lot of weird hatred, almost sorrow, going on in his head and Chemical’s glance flicked back and forth as he looked at him. Terrified Delmar wanted nothing else than to flee the room and the raging storm of hatred the demon of chemical energy emitted. But he was stuck in Chemical’s hard grip. He could almost hear Edgar laughing at him.
“Let him go!” Radiation commanded as she came running. Chemical dropped him down on the floor. Delmar wasn't ready so he lost his balance and hit the floor. Radiation helped him to sit up again.
“What are you doing?” she was mad at him as well. Everyone was mad at him, wondering what he was doing.
“I'm hiding the papers.” Delmar said in shock.
“Hiding the papers? From whom?” Radiation asked confused.
“Edgar. Dark matter. He’s in here!” Delmar looked quickly around in the room. Edgar had walked straight through the table, he was now reading from Electrical’s screen. Delmar got quickly back on feet again.
“Close the screen!” he shouted at Electrical who stared in disbelief at him. Radiation slapped him just as he was going to hurry over to the other side the table were Edgar was. The sudden pain surprised him.
“Pull yourself together. There’s no one in here.” she said annoyed.
Nobody believes a murderer or a liar. Edgar thought as he continued to read. Too bad I can't scroll down.
“You’re wrong! He's right there!” Delmar protested and pointed at what seemed like Electrical.
“Even if there was someone here there’s nothing of importance on my screen Mr. Delmar…” Electrical responded and closed down her tablet.
Too bad. Oh well, I guess I disrupted this meeting enough.

Edgar slid back through the wall, just as easily as he he'd entered.
Delmar rushed to the place Edgar had disappeared, he slammed his hands against the wall frustrated that he couldn’t follow.
“Fucking bastard!”
“That’s enough!” Chemical said and rose. He called for the chemical soldier guarding the door. “Take him out and keep an eye at him until Reed comes out. He has obviously no intention of telling us what we want to know.” 

As the chemical soldier lead him out, Delmar got the feeling he was being surrounded by enemies. He hid his head under the hood again in a try to escape the world. Nobody believed him… nobody even wanted to consider the possibility. After a short while came Reed out as well.
“Is it true?” he asked seriously. Delmar sat at a bench by the wall in the corridor. The soldier stood beside and guarded him.
“You all think I'm mad…” Delmar answered gloomy staring down on the floor.
“Look at me!” Reed urged. “Is it true? Was Edgar in there?!”
To Delmar’s surprise he realized that Reed wasn't mad at him. He was mad with the council and with Edgar for being able to just walk into their meeting like that, he was angry that he had been right about Edgar spying at their meetings and he was mad that there was no way they could prove he was there. Reed ordered the soldier to leave them alone, then he sat down at the bench beside Delmar.
“I tried to explain to them what happened during the riot and the way you sense dark matters soul. I'm not sure if they believe in that ability of yours though. And they definitely don't believe he was in there.” He pointed at the door to the meeting room. Delmar sighed and dragged the hood further down.
“Hey, I believe you. I've seen him disappear into nothing as well.” Reed crossed his arms and leaned back against the wall. “As long as he roams free in here we got no chance of winning. They will know our every move.” At least it felt a bit better that Reed still was on his side.
“There’s something you should know…” Delmar mumbled.
“What?” Reed asked curiously.
“Back at the riot, when we followed Edgar I encountered a very strange memory inside of his mind. It blurred out just as it contained information about his ‘former’ self.”
“His former self?” Reed asked confused.
“You know like Wilfred and Ludwig might be the same person. Edgar has probably a similar identity. But in all their memories they see themselves as they are now. In this memory Edgar was told why he was assigned to the Magnetic faction. But the information to why was gone, like it had been cut out.”  Delmar explained.
“What are you saying?”
“It was like his memory had been censored.”
Reed stared at him in upset disbelief.
“Why haven’t you said anything about it until now?!” he asked angrily.
“I never had a good opportunity…” Delmar started but Reed interrupted him.
“You had all the time in the world to tell us!!” great now was Reed upset with him as well. The day couldn't get any worse. The council was mad with him, Radiation was mad at him and now was Reed mad with him as well.
“Oh, gods dog! You’re unbelievable!” Reed complained loudly. He got up from the bench again. “You just got out from a meeting where you should have said all that stuff! It’s the people in there that should know this!”
“I never managed to get to that part before Edgar disrupted me!” Delmar objected.
“Do you remember how to write?” Reed asked with a surprisingly threatening tone.
“Well yes, I'm not stupid.” Delmar answered like he had been insulted.
“Good! Cause we're going to go to my office and then you're going to write a report of everything you saw in Edgar’s mind, every single little detail! Then you're going to hand it over to Radiation!”

***

“He’s obviously mad.” Chemical stated. “This is a waste of time.”
“Madness is a relative term and… What was I…? Sorry I completely lost what I was going to say.” Mechanical mumbled. “What I meant was that something must have triggered that reaction. He was obviously nervous.”
“Do you believe what he said? About the black shifter being here?” Sound asked troubled.
“They claim that Dark Matter is only visible to Delmar.” Radiation said.
“I doubt it.” Elastic answered. “Do you really think someone could be invisible to everyone but one person? It’s seems rather unbelievable to me.”
“If it's true we've got a huge security problem.” Electrical said displeased. “But that felt more like a desperate act of not having to tell his testimony. Nonetheless, we should be careful about bringing too much information with us, or discuss more than one specific thing during one meeting. ” the others agreed to this.
“So what should we do with the ice shifter?” Elastic asked.
“I think we should let Askr decide his punishment" Chemical said calmly. The old deer man looked surprised.
“Me?”
“Why him?” Radiation objected.
“Delmar belongs to the Radiation faction, so it's up to his faction to decide his punishment.” Chemical stated.
“But I am Radiation! Isn’t it up me punish my own agents?!” Radiation rose in rage.
“Askr runs the faction, and he's the oldest shifter here since Gravity’s gone.” Chemical explained. Askr seemed plainly uncomfortable. Radiation stared furiously back and forth between him and Chemical. Finally she slammed down her hands to the table.
“Delmar is mine to punish! It was I who sent him on the mission and he is my agent!”
“You’re going to let him go without punishment.” Chemical answered arrogant without looking at her.
“Like you did with Cain all the time you mean?!” Radiation hit a fist to the table.
“Cain wasn't a murderer!” Chemical snarled at her.
“Well, except that he had your old second in command killed just because he didn't like him!” she shouted back at him.
“What?” Chemical seemed to snap out of something. Radiation smiled triumphantly.
“He told me a lot, a lot he never told you.”
“If you please!” Magnetic tried to interrupt them but Radiation continued.
“Cain wasn't as innocent as you wanted to believe! If you can let your shifters go without punishment I can let mine do so as well if I want to.”
“Don’t you talk to me that way young girl.” Chemical growled with his deep voice, fire started to surround him and the wooden table started to grow wines and branches under his hands.
“You don't scare me.” she hissed.
“IF YOU PLEASE!” Magnetic slammed down a big bear paw to the table. “Gravity is kidnapped and you two are fighting about a person who died almost half a millennia ago?” she growled, “If you can't make up your mind, I'll decide his punishment! Delmar will interrogate the rebels we caught during the riot. To find out how they work together and communicate.”
“It seems fair.” Thermal said.
“Good suggestion.” Electrical added. “Make him do some boring paperwork if he can't handle field missions.” she looked at Radiation. “Does it sound good?”
“Yes, whatever.” Radiation threw herself back into the chair with her arms crossed sourly staring down on the table.
“Chemical?” Magnetic asked.
“I've would have removed a finger from his hand.” Chemical gnarled.
“Is that how you punish your allies? That’s a good way of turning allies into enemies!” Radiation burst into anger again.
“Will you stop?!” Sound snarled. “There’s no use in fighting like this!”
“What about Gravity?” Neutron interrupted quietly. “We must rescue him.”
“There will not a big rescue act for him. Just imagine what would happen if word got out that they've got the strongest of us.” Electrical said. Neutron just a glared at electrical like he couldn't believe a word she was saying.