Wilfred - The time for questions are over

Things were going forward, there were still a lot to do to fulfill Wilfred’s plans but things were going in the right direction. Kaylin was still not able to teleport something as big as a human but she was able to bring bigger and bigger objects with her through the wormhole. Edgar kept an eye at the society and the sleeper agents still living there. They had started to be even stricter on using code words and code names since some agents had been captured. But overall did they have sleeper agents infiltrating all the factions. Several rebels had left the society and Cameron had together with the cell leader Coen built a rebel town among the old temple ruins of the old forgotten Confessus sanctuary. Beside the temple was an old small abandoned tourist village which the rebels could inhabit. Wilfred had been there once to grant them welcome and proclaimed that they could do whatever they wanted with the old sanctuary.
“This is a temple made to praise the made-up gods.” he had preached. “Let’s turn it into a temple to praise the true gods of this world, us!” the shifters had directly started to smash statues and to build new ones. A marble shifter created a huge Jackal statue in the middle of the sanctuary to portray Wilfred’s speech. The rebels called the town “Black town” and they had started to address themselves as the black faction. Cameron thought they were ridiculous names but Wilfred assured her that it was important for the spirit of the revolution that the rebels got to decide the names for themselves. Cameron was now, together with Coen, planning how they should make the town secure from the society. They had several escape tunnels planned out and a big wall surrounding the town to keep out intruders.

Back at their own headquarter was Wilfred trying to question Gravity by exchanging questions for answers. Wilfred had decided to keep their own headquarter at the cornflake factory a secret place from the rest of the rebels. Only a few very trusted members of the rebel faction were allowed here. Wilfred spent at least half an hour every day questioning Gravity.

The old badger had become more and more difficult since they started their question game. He answered a lot fewer questions and he was set on trying to convince Wilfred he wasn’t who he thought he was. He always called him Ludwig, something that irritated Wilfred greatly. Gravity probably used the method: If you keep telling a lie, sooner or later people will start to believe in it.  Wilfred would never fall for that kind of rhetoric though.

Now Wilfred was starting to get sick of the old man. He always talked in such a calm self-assured way. Like he was playing Wilfred. Either was Gravity not afraid of anything, had a plan or he was underestimating Wilfred. He should teach that badger a lesson. The fact that Gravity always changed topic every time Wilfred asked if he could contain a black hole in a gravity field bothered him the most. It was the most important question. It was the reason to why they had kidnapped him.

Dangerous plans started to swirl in Wilfred’s head. They came from nowhere and suddenly it seemed so obvious to him. Of course, why had he never thought of this before? If the old man refused to answer, let's test him. If he fails the test he's useless to them anyway. Wilfred smiled pleased. It was a good plan, was bullet proof, it would succeed. The time for questions was over. The time for action had come. Let’s see if the old man really wasn't so afraid of death like he said.

He went into the other barn at the other side of the property. It was here Edgar kept his robots. The light in there were dim and a lot of the giant robots in there were covered. The mechanical beasts in there were huge, large as demons. All of them stood like statues, un-living and dead. A drilling noise echoed from the other side of the huge barn. Wilfred followed the sound, he found Edgar high up on a platform doing something to a big two legged transportation robot.

“Edgar, I need your help.” Wilfred shouted to get heard. The mechanic stopped whatever he was doing, removed his goggles and looked down at Wilfred.
“What? You can't expect me to hear anything while I'm working.”
“I'd like to get your help.” Wilfred repeated nicely. Edgar transformed into his polecat form and climbed quickly down the ladder.
“Of course. What do you need me to do?” he shifted back into his human form, took up a piece of fabric from one of his many pockets and whipped his oil drenched fingers with it.
“Make one of the harvest robots fill the prisoner silo with wheat.” Wilfred said.
“Why?”
“I need something to feed a black hole with.” he explained. Edgar stared at him like he hadn't quite understood what Wilfred told him. “I'm going to test Gravity, see if he can contain a black hole within a gravity field.”
“And if he fails?” Edgar asked concerned.
“He’ll die.” Wilfred shrugged.
“Wilfred! It sounds crazy! You went through a lot of trouble to get him here and now you want to kill him?” Edgar objected.
“If he can't handle the test he's worthless to us.”
“And what if the takes the opportunity to shift into one of his war forms to escape?”
“The silo is too small to contain a demon or a titan, the walls of the silo is powered with anti-shifter tech and he will be busy with the black hole. If he lets go of it he will die.”
“HE WILL DIE!” Edgar exclaimed upset.
“Well if he does he wasn’t able to sustain a black hole and in that case we would need to kill him anyway.”

Edgar blinked, frowned and rubbed his temple. He seemed to lose his balance for a short second.
“What was I thinking…?” he mumbled confused. He had to hold on to the robot's foot to support himself.
“Are you with me?” Wilfred asked. Edgar let go of the robot and seemed to regain his balance.
“Yes of course. It’s a good idea.” Edgar answered surprisingly convinced. Wilfred hadn’t expected him to change his mind that easily. Edgar stared straight forward and seemed strangely absent. 

They went to Cameron as well in the dwelling. Edgar was quiet during the whole way there. Edgar wasn’t the talkative type but Wilfred thought he was a bit unusually quiet. He behaved a bit strange almost like he had turned into one of his own robots. They went into the dwelling where Cameron was.
“Cameron? We could use your help.” Wilfred said as they entered.
“Of course.” Cameron said, she stood in the hallway like she had been waiting for them. She looked straight at them without blinking. “Let’s get to it.” she said monotone. Wilfred explained his plan to the two of them. They listened without objecting or interrupting him. When he asked for their opinion they both said it was a good, none of them had any questions.

Wilfred slammed up the door to the silo. The human crawled up against the wall and the badger regarded them curiously. Wilfred and Cameron went in. the time for talking was over and the time for action had come.

Cameron released the badger from the choker while Wilfred held his silver gun pointed at him. Gravity shifted to his human form. 
“Gravity, I got a gift for you.” Wilfred lowered the gun and held up the other hand with the palm upwards like he was holding something in the air above it. “You might want to take it in your hands.” Cameron quickly left the silo to escape from the supposed apocalypse.
Gravity's eyes widened when he realized what Wilfred was about to do. The hatch in the roof opened and an enormous amount of grains suddenly fell from the roof, they were all sucked into to the palm of Wilfred with a loud noise. Gravity quickly held up his hands around the black hole concentrating to counteract the massive amount of gravitational force. The grains started to bounce off the black hole like there was an invisible shield around the two shifter’s hands. Instead they fell down onto the floor. Soon they were standing with grains up to their kneecaps.
“You have two choices.” Wilfred said. “Either you let the grains feed the hole or you drown in seeds.”
“There’s always a third choice,” Gravity said. “I could let go and have the hole kill both of us.”
“Us and the rest of the world.” Wilfred smiled. “If we drown in grains that will happen as well.” Gravity looked angrily and a bit panicked at him. Wilfred intensified the force of the black hole while Gravity quickly found a way to open a small hole to the gravitational field where the seeds could feed the hole. The seeds started to suck into the hole again together with the air around them. The loud noise of the wind sucking into the hole was ear-piercing. Soon the grains were gone and Gravity closed the field quickly again.
“Why did you need to feed it anyway?” he growled. Wilfred smiled as he answered.
“To make it a bit more stable.” Wilfred removed his hands from the black hole leaving it in Gravity’s hands. “So I can leave you here and take some distance so I won't die with you if you fail to keep the hole at bay.”

Wilfred moved out, still concentrating at keeping the hole alive, holding one hand reached out. Cameron closed the door behind them. 
“Do you think he'll make it?” she asked a bit concerned.
“Maybe.” Wilfred answered smiling. He sat down at the ground a hundred meters away from the silo, still with his hand reached out. He folded out a science magazine in his knee and started to read unconcerned for the fate of the two in the silo.

Wilfred returned half an hour later. Gravity were still fighting the black hole, everything had worked according to plan. Wilfred let go of the sucking power and the hole vanished quickly.

Gravity fell down to the floor by exhaust. Wilfred looked at him almost like a mother watching her sleeping child. Then he pulled out his gun and shoot Gravity in the head. Gravity shrunk down back into his animal form.
“You’re… completely mad...” he whispered.
“Intellect can sometimes be mistaken for insanity.” Wilfred smiled. He looked around. The silo seemed empty except for the two of them. The grains on the floor was gone as well. “Where’s the human?” Wilfred asked.
“He’s dead, consumed by the black hole…” Gravity answered quietly.
Wilfred shrugged, it didn’t matter. He didn't need the professor anymore. Though it was good to know Gravity’s shield wasn't completely perfect. They would need a safety distance to make sure people were safe from the real thing when they would compress the whole planet. He attached the choker around Gravity’s neck again but it never activated. Wilfred took it off and regarded it. It seemed broken. He shot the badger ten times in the head knocking him out completely.
“Cameron, go get me a new choker.” he called for her. While waiting for her he guarded the unconscious energy shifter. The society taught that the energy shifters were all powerful beings. The badger didn't seem so all powerful where he lay knocked out, just like any other element shifter would have done.

Together with Cameron came Life as well. She seemed curious about what the fuzz was all about. Wilfred calmly placed the new choker around the badger’s neck, pleased to see the red light signal that the collar was activated again. Gravity woke up again with a silent grunt.

“Where’s the human?” Life asked surprised as she looked around in the empty silo.
“He’s dead.” Gravity answered with another exhausted grunt.
“You killed him!?” Life yelled angrily.
“Hey, I’m not the one who put a black hole in here.” Gravity whispered.
Life glared sourly first at Gravity, then at Wilfred.
“You said I could have him after this.” she hissed at Wilfred.
“You can just get another one.” Wilfred shrugged. “There are plenty of humans around.”
“I had already started on this one! I had plans!”
“Maybe he didn’t like your plans and that’s why he did it.” Gravity said quietly. Wilfred’s quick and precise kick sent the badger slamming into the wall of the silo. Life backed away terrifyingly staring at the badger at the floor for a second.
“Enough with the lies old man!” Wilfred snarled. Then he turned to Life who had no trace of the sudden fear left in her face. “Come, let's talk outside instead.”

Wilfred closed the door behind them.
“I'm sorry for your human. I didn't mean to kill him.” he said. Truth was that he was actually quite happy to get rid of the irritating voice telling him what worked and what not. “But can't you just start over? I mean you’ll only lost what? A month's time in working hours? I bet you made some mistakes along the way as well. See it as an opportunity to correct those mistakes instead.” Life only stared sourly at him. “Don’t look at me like that Life, this is a day of celebration!”