I have therapy today as I do every Tuesday. It's required for every agent, but the company always seemed extra eager to have me in every week.
I pulled on my work jacket, a snow-white cargo jacket with the Foundation District emblem on the breast. The logo featured a hammer stitched in dark pink.
The job of the Foundation district, in short, is to kill mutants. Tortured mammals infected with a fungus that has an insatiable hunger for anything warm-blooded.
I walked out of my room. Sashi, my squad leader was sitting at the island in the kitchen, hungover as usual. She threw a quick wave my way before yelling for pancakes.
"Pogi, if you don't make me another pancake, I'm docking your pay," She said seriously. She was yelling at Pogi, the 3rd member of our squad who was currently standing at the stove, wincing at Sashi's hollering. A great cook which is unfortunate because he despises cooking vehemently.
Pogi shouted back at Sashi, throwing the large apron he was forced to wear at her head. Sashi jumped over the table acrobatically to brawl with Pogi. A fight she would no doubt win.
Soon after pinning Pogi to the ground with his hands behind his back, she paused her assault on our teammate to look at me seriously. Her blonde hair was swept across her face.
"You have therapy today. Don't be late," she said, eyes cutting at me briefly before returning to beating Pogi. I nodded to her before grabbing my bag and walking out the door.
The Foundation district was constantly loud. If it was ever quiet, then something had gone horribly wrong, and everyone had died. Today was no different, cars driven down the street each blaring a different and conflicting news station to combine into a dissonance that would've driven Pogi mad if he had to be out here for too long.
In the driveway, under our van was Goma, the final member of our team. A small girl with short black hair who was great with technology and engineering. She slid out from under the van to smile at me. She waved excitedly with her screwdriver in hand.
"Hi Kaelus! Traffic's pretty bad today. I'd walk," She said briefly before rolling back under the vehicle. I started walking.
The Foundation district wasn't a small place. It housed all of the country's agents. Fighting mutants was a heavy task. Even if agents are especially strong, it's uncommon to see a mutant being taken down by one person alone. The Foundation district is a sector of a large country named Eziel, a region that spans, I'd say, roughly 2 million square kilometers of land around the area where the US used to be. I say roughly because it's hard to decide where Eziel 'ends'. Even on our declared borders, you'll be able to find settlements far past them that still claim citizenship as Ezielites.
As I walked, I received stares from the other residents of the Foundation district. Friendly smiles from the people I worked with and uncomfortable cringes from the regular civilians.
Eventually, I reached the psychiatric building, a brutalist concrete block that seemed to swallow the sun as I stood before it.
My psychiatrist was already standing outside, Navin. A tan man with grey hair and a constant worried expression on his face, who covered it with a big, strained smile. Irritation almost immediately set in when he spotted me, a flash of annoyance behind his eyes that he still thought he could hide from me.
"Kaelus! You're Late, I Thought You'd Forgotten Your Appointment." He said. Bullshit, he knew I didn't forget, I can see it when he talks. His insistence on lying made my skin itch. He already started walking to his office, not looking back to check if I was following.
I took my usual seat on the far edge of this leather couch he had that always felt sticky and the seats would collapse in and make you sink into the couch if you sat in the center, a sensory nightmare, which is why Sashi insisted on standing during her sessions.
My eyes were trained on a retro picture Navin had hung up on his wall that changed when you looked at it from a different place. I shifted my body back and forth, only stopping when Navin passed in front of me to sit at his desk.
He took quick glances at a clipboard while typing on his computer. "How's Work?" He asked robotically.
"Fine. I'm booked for missions all week." I responded, my eyes lazed looking at nowhere in particular.
He asked question after question, all of which I'd already prepared for from the countless other sessions I've had.
"Only A Couple More. Over The Last Couple Of Weeks Have You Had Any Desire To Hurt Your-"
"No," I responded. Damnit, too fast. The extra words messed up my timing. I glanced up at him, hoping he didn't notice.
He stopped typing mid-stroke. A quick breath out of his nose showed his evident irritation. He clicked his pen a couple of times before slowly looking up at me, his eyes lacked the lie he usually kept in them. It was unsettling.
"Have you had any hallucinations in the past month?" He spoke, that wasn't a question he usually asked. It took me a couple of seconds to utter a quiet rejection.
He gripped his clipboard tightly.
"Any unusual dreams? Visions? With your sight profile, I wouldn't rule it out." He pressed, his stare not any less intense.
I didn't notice my breathing had become tense like something was constricting my lungs. Sweat beaded down the back of my neck. My hands were latched onto the arms of his couch, and it's only now that I wish I'd sat in the center so I could sink myself inside.
"Do you feel the urge to kill me? Any malice at all?" He asked. His eyes were not on the clipboard or the screen but trained on me with a look that exuded calm but made my hair stand on end.
The feeling of impending doom left a hole in my chest that made my muscles clench. I hadn't noticed I now sat in a primed position as if I were going to hurt him. I stared at him as a mouse stares at a cat, an indescribable fear etched on my stoic face.
Navin opened his mouth to speak again, and before I could cringe in fear, I felt my body lean forward. I knew I could end him before he could process it.
My heel scraped the floor faster than I could feel, while my weight shifted forward. Simultaneously my hand reached for my knife.
Suddenly, a knock rapped at the door. Both of our heads snapped towards it as it opened. It was Sashi, still hungover. She briefly held her cigarette to speak.
"Kaelus. We have a mission. Sorry to barge in, Navin, but we gotta handle this. The van's outside."
Navin wiped sweat away from his brow, his jaw clenched. No doubt he noticed my movement, or more concerningly, my lack of hesitation.
"Of course. Kaelus, I'll see you next week." He declared, not taking his eyes off me.
I shakily stood to leave, my eyes able to glance one last time at the changing poster in the back of his room.