"There's no need for you to threaten me, Lady Kycilia," I said, staring down the barrel of a slide-action handgun. My face did not react in the slightest, because I knew that I wasn't in any danger.
I knew the gun wasn't ready to fire, but I had no idea how I knew that. Was there something about the gun that I was subconsciously picking up, or was it Kycilia herself that tipped me off? Based on my previous experiences, I suspected that my Newtype abilities were particularly good at sensing violent intent from other people. It had taken me so long to accept that I was a Newtype because I hadn't experienced most of the powers typically associated with that particular mutation. As a Newtype, I was supposed to be particularly sensitive and empathetic to other people's emotions, but I only felt that empathic response when people wanted to kill me. I was definitely on the weaker end of the Newtype spectrum.
Continuing my earlier sentence, I said, "I'm already loyal to you. Even before Degwin's death, I knew you were the only Zabi smart and ruthless enough to win this war."
My non-reaction had clearly put Kycilia off-balance. She had been expecting me to flinch in fear or beg for my life. Kycilia was a logical political operative and master of subterfuge, but she was also a sadist. Her desire to hold power over others could push her in illogical directions occasionally. I had always liked women who knew what they wanted, but this was a bit much.
With concealed disappointment in her eyes, Kycilia returned the gun to its holster and said, "When Commander Felix Roth gave you the nickname 'Oracle,' it was a joke at your expense, but it's starting to seem like less of a jest every day. You have a bad habit of knowing things you shouldn't, Captain Dogwood. You knew of the fault in Island Iffish, you knew exactly when the Federation fleet would appear, you knew about Project J, and you knew that Amuro Ray was a person of interest. Can you explain all of this?"
I had already given excuses to each of those events individually, but there was no single excuse I could give regarding all of them together. With that in mind, I decided to smile and play it cool. "What do you think? I'm sure you've done enough research on me to know I'm not a spy."
Kycilia glared at me before saying, "It's clearly not your technological skill that allowed you to gain all of this information. The Munzo State Security Agency has followed your digital footprint back two months, and everything they've found has been the work of an amateur."
"I am pretty amateurish," I said with a smile.
"One of my subordinates came to me with a strange hypothesis," Kycilia said. "Our founder, Zeon Zum Deikun, spoke of a new type of human, an evolutionary next step in our species."
"The Newtypes?" I asked, playing dumb. "Didn't the Supreme Commander say that the people of Munzo were the Newtypes of humanity?"
A cruel smirk appeared on Kycilia's expression as she said, "Gihren and my father had no qualms with bastardizing Deikun's philosophy, and I personally find Zeonism idiotic, but the dead fool might be right in a few places. Deikun said that true Newtypes, not the pointless racial category created by my brother, would be born with profound sensitivity and natural insight into the workings of the universe. It would not be impossible for one of Gihren's ubermensch to make the leaps of logic you have made."
I paused for a moment before responding. I really did not want to end up in the Flanagan Institute. After a few seconds, I said, "Newtypes are supposed to be empathetic, right? I don't want to let you down, ma'am, but I'm a cold-blooded killer. When I kill, I feel no empathic response whatsoever. If I'm the next step in humanity's evolution, our species is doomed."
Kycilia began laughing loudly and cruelly. She pointed a finger at my face, almost doubling over with laughter. Once she regained control of herself, she said, "You're right, Captain. The ubermensch would never make such a pitiful expression!"
"That's what I've been saying," I said, and I barely managed to force a smile. "Can we move on to the real reason for our meeting? Is there something you want from me, Lady Kycilia?"
The conversation became much less tense after that. I realized quickly that one of Kycilia's secondary objectives during this conversation was to make me suffer, and the expression I had made for a brief moment had satiated her. God, the Zabis were so weird.
"There are two things I need from you," Kycilia said in a relatively pleasant tone of voice. "You will come with me to a meeting with Gihren Zabi after my father's funeral, and you will spy on my brother, Garma, for me."
"Easily done," I said with a shrug. That meant I would have to integrate into the Earth Attack Force, but I had intended on doing that anyway. If I couldn't stop Zeon from launching a ground invasion of the Earth, the only hope of a successful invasion would be if I went myself.
"In return, there are two - well, three - things I want from you, Lady Kycilia," I said with a smile.
"Don't get cocky," Kycilia snapped. "In return for your total loyalty, I will allow you to continue having a career."
"My career means very little to me," I said. "When your life is in danger every day, everything else seems much less important. Anyway, my requests should be easy for you to carry out. I just want your support for my plan to standardize mobile suit production, and I want you to imprison Amuro and Tem Ray for the rest of the war."
"Consider it done," Kycilia said with very little hesitation. "In return for your complete and total subservience to me, this is an acceptable price."
I got everything I wanted out of the conversation, but I still felt uncomfortable shaking Kycilia's hand. Gihren's evil was loud and bombastic, but Kycilia's evil was much more subtle and personally dangerous.
Minutes later, I stepped out into the light of Zum City's artificial sun with the strong sensation that I had just sold my soul to the devil.