Oddity Specialist: Manifestor

by James Courneya

  Quinn feels a certain quiet settle over his heart. “She wouldn’t ever say that lightly.”

  “So, the likely hood is high enough, that we should operate under that assumption?”

  “Yes, that would be the correct course of action.”

  “Understood. If that’s the case, if they really know about oddities, then there is a worst-case scenario we have to avoid.”

  “That is?”

  “If they come to understand this town is a hot spot. They could use that to their advantage, in such a way that they could cause real damage.”

  “That does seem like the worst-case scenario. It also is what has most likely already happened.”

  “Yeah, I know. We have to stop the Red Woman and we have to stop this...”

  Quinn stops, unsure on what to call them.

  “Manifestor.”

  “Huh?”

  “People who know of oddities and purposefully try to use that knowledge to create them, for their own gain, are called Manifestors.”

  “I see. You read that from one of the books in here?”

  “Yeah.”

  She says with a soft smile.

  “Alright, let’s start going over our opponent, form their own perspective. What do we know about them?”

  “That they are using their information on oddities, to selectively convince people that a dangerous-slash-mysterious creature lives in the town.”

  “Correct. They are doing this to cultivate a powerful oddity for their own use.”

  “That seems like the most likely option. From what you’ve said, they are using actual viral marketing tactics to do this.”

  “And they are smart enough to match my wits and convince people of it.”

  “Which means they are smart enough to cause massive harm.”

  “And that means, that we must stop them, at all costs.”

  Quinn nods his head. Neri sits down at her computer.

  “I’ll use anti-viral campaigns to point of inconsistencies within this story. If I can convince people this is all a setup down by some company, the hype will rapidly die off.”

  “I shall start doing the exact opposite of that.”

  “Oh, do tell?”

  “I’m going to pretend to believe it, while being as dumb about it as possible, to turn people off of the concept in general. Maybe, even make two accounts that just sling mud at each...”

  Quinn pauses.

  “Go on, this sounds interesting.”

  “I figured it out.”

  “What?”

  “I can set up several bots that can send messages for us. We can overwhelm the enemy.”

  “Yeah, that could work for us!”

  “I could even take the sight down.”

  “Hold up their bucko!”

  “Huh?”

  “If we do that, people will be left to think about it with their own perspective. That’s a massive risk. If it was more popular, it could work in our favor, but clearly the people who are interested at this level, would be the hardcore fans. We need to keep discussion going and make sure it’s healthy. That way, we can have a control over the public perception.”

  “Yeah, okay, that’s a really good point. I’ll get to work on the bots then.”

  “Good, because the Manifestor has started up again and I really need to focus on this.”

  “Got it.”

  The two begin their counter attack. They work relentlessly on it.

  “It’s working.”

  Neri decides for herself.

  “It is?”

  “Yes, if Manifestor just held up, we could easily break through public perception. They can’t defend against all we are sending their way.”

  Neri looks up at Quinn and gives him a big smile.

  “Great job.”

  “y-Yeah, thanks.”

  Quinn is clearly happy about the praise on the outside, but on the inside, he is absolutely giddy. “I helped! I helped so much that she smiled like that! Good job me, you actually did something really great!”

  “Now, we just have to figure out, how to simultaneously deal with the Red Woman and the Manifestor.”

  “Isn’t that obvious?”

  Quinn asks.

  “How so?”

  “I mean, you duel the Manifestor again, while I distract and counter the Red Woman.”

  “...But you can’t just... Wait, you’ve not slept today either.”

  “I’m fine.”

  “You might be fine to stay awake for a bit longer, but we have no idea how strong the Red Woman will be. Her power might even fluctuate all around, mid-fight.”

  “I understand that, but I can do it.”

  He says with clear eyes.

  “...Okay, if you’re sure, I’ll trust you.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Though, I’m going to be there, just in case.”

  “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

  The time comes, for yet another confrontation. The Red Woman appears inside a park. Theirs a central circular stone path that Quinn steps into. Neri takes a seat at a park table and starts typing, somewhat keeping her eyes on the start of the fight. The two have a quite calmness between them. Then, like an eruption, red shoots out of the woman’s nonexistent eye socket. More then any time before. Within the red energy, one could potentially make out something that resembles a demons gaze. The Red Woman attacks. She brings the cane down at Quinn. The boy centers his breathing and thinks to himself. “Stay calm. Start the executable and-”

  With as little movement as possible, he avoids the hit. “Dodge.”

  Swings continue to come at him and he continues to avoid each one. Neri does a double take, by this unexpected performance.

  “He’s dodging like...”

  It clicks in her head.

  “A calculated machine.”

  “Yes.”

  Lucifer replies.

  “Wait, when you said to watch closely, you weren’t talking about yourself?”

  “No – and he knew that.”

  Neri looks back out at the spectacle. A small smirk slowly starts to encroach onto her face, out of disbelief and perhaps also, a hint of excitement. Though, she quickly focuses back in on her own battle. While typing, Neri visualizes herself standing in an open black space. Soon, detail starts to fill the area in. The vibe of the dedicated website to the urban legend, begins to inform the environment. The floor she is standing on, shifts a few times. From a keyboard, to shooting stars made of light. Then the stars began to float up around her, with a glass platform forming below herself. Extending out is the empty abyss and across it is a shadowy figure on the same type of platform. Neri looks at the star points and shifts hers to purple, to play against the enemy’s red ones. She opens her eyes.

  “Let’s start.”

  Lucifer watches the girl, as she begins engaging with the Manifestor. “I’m not sure how she did it, but she’s someone how standing on the edge of the zone, without entering it. Is she just hyper aware of it, or is this some sort of absurd control over her own mind? Either way, clearly the only way she could be any stronger right now, would be to cross that line.”

  The engagement begins to rev up, accelerating towards a direct hitting match. Neither side is backing down. Each shot levied, causes another star point to launch across striking the others glass platform. Though, Lucifer notices a distinct commonality of each exchange.

  “You’re losing.”

  Neri’s expression doesn’t change.

  “...Seriously, do you have a plan to come back? Because you are just continuing to lose more ground.”

  Lucifer’s focus shifts from the girl’s screen, to her person. He gives her a perplexed look. The back and forth race forward, with no break insight, until hitting an unexpected wall. A moment of respite. Right as it seems like the opponent may have been stumped, the shadow figure representing it opens its mouth and roars out.

  “Since you’re so passionate about the Red Woman, t
hat means you believe in it, right?”

  A shot that dictates the flow of combat. Neri replies back.

  “It’s less that I believe in it, just more so I would like to see how deep this goes?”

  “How deep what goes?”

  “This charade, clearly. To have such a vast amount of information about this brand-new urban legend, sure is surprising. Almost like you had ample time to plan this out.”

  Lucifer reads this and says.

  “Ah, that’s a good point.”

  “It’s a fake point.”

  “Ho?”

  “They clearly are flying by the seat of their pants.”

  “...So you’re making them look better than they are?”

  “Sure.”

  “Oh, so you can pull the rug out from under them, by pointing out that it’s clearly one person controlling these accounts.”

  “Of course not.”

  “Hm?”

  He expresses in an annoyed voice.

  “They know I am also running multiple accounts. If people started asking for verification, or there’s a crack down on having multiple accounts or botting, then we’ve lost.”

  “Wouldn’t that be mutual destruction?”

  “We would be back to simply having the public come to their own conclusions and since the Red Woman currently doesn’t have an exploitable weakness, that means we would be at a loss.”

  “Hmm, I see.”

  Neri holds this conversation, while maintaining eye contact, without stopping, or even slowing her rapid typing at all.

  “That still doesn’t explain, how you justify how badly you are losing currently.”

  The flow of the conversation has shifted. People clearly are in support of the Manifestor, even if the person is by their self-admitted perspective, a person making everything up for a performance. Because to them, it’s entertaining. This general public shift, is not left unnoticed by the Manifestor, who continues to apply pressure to Neri.

  “You can at least admit, that there may be, even just the slightest possibility that something is going on? Even if it’s a person, who is terrorizing the streets, clearly something must be going on?”

  “Well, if you put it that way, I would have to agree that something is going.”

  “You just don’t think it’s supernatural.”

  The shadowy figure cracks a smile.

  “No I know it’s supernatural. To be honest, I was the one who posted on my other account about seeing it burn in the daylight and avoiding light.”

  As a new bolt slams into its glass platform, that smile turns into a panicked frown.

  “Wait, what do you mean? Are you-”

  Neri doesn’t let up, posting faster then the enemy could respond.

  “I was really freaked out at first. I didn’t really want to say straight out I saw it, since I still am not sure about the whole thing, but since we’re here. It obviously was something. I still think it could be human, or at most a ghost. Perhaps an albino? That could explain the skin and avoidance of the sun. It didn’t seem all that superhuman like you are describing, but it did freak me out. Whatever it is, it isn’t perfectly normal.”

  “Then, even you, the biggest doubter of it, are saying that it is in fact real?!”

  “Yes.”

  There’s a quiet from the confusion.

  “You just went and sunk your own argument.”

  Lucifer is rubbing his temples.

  “You’re right, I lost the battle on if the Red Woman exists, but I won the war against the Manifestor.”

  “What?”

  “I didn’t have to beat them, I just had to convince the audience to doubt the story.”

  Lucifer gives a confused look, then turns towards Quinn.

  “She’s weaker than ever.”

  “Make the biggest spectacle, get the most eyeballs, then make a statement that sways public opinion. All rather basic, if you think about it.”

  “Huh.”

  “Also, even you missed the biggest piece of information.”

  “That is?”

  She taps her screen. Lucifer reads the sentence she is talking about. Neri pulls something out her bag as he does.

  “...You didn’t mention them being scared of regular light before...”

  “Nope, but I did here and people questing themselves, sure does add to the mysterious confusion.”

  Neri finishes placing the florescent lights into place.

  “Hey, Quinn! It’s a good thing you kept these.”

  “I wasn’t going to just throw them away...”

  Quinn is able to easily talk while avoiding the weakened Red Woman. He leads the woman over to the lights and Neri switches them on. In that moment, the oddity is blown away. Quinn let’s out the biggest sigh of his life.

  “Finally...”

  “So, is it gone for good?”

  “Yep! Ah, I’m glad it didn’t last a second longer. Every muscle hurts.”

  “Oh, I love that feeling. It just feels so good.”

  “You’re just built different.”

  “Yes I am.”

  The two walk back over to Lucifer. When they see him their jovialness stops. He has an astonished expression.

  “What is it?”

  Simply, he just raises his finger at the screen. Neri walks over to it and reads what’s written. She is frozen in place, but yet, feels like her very soul just flinched back.

  “What’s going on guys?”

  Quinn asks, nervous.

  “...”

  Neri slowly shuts the laptop.

  “It um, it’s fine, we won. Let’s focus on that, at least for now.”

  “Okay, I can do that, but I am going to be absolutely terrified the whole time.”

  “The Manifestor just simply posted one last message. Right after the oddity was destroyed.”

  “Okay? Swearing vengeance? Did they like, say our names? What type of dastardly thing did they do?!”

  Neri looks at Quinn and simply says.

  “...They made a really good counter argument.”

  Quinn gives a bewildered look, then slowly starts to realize what that means.

  “Oh... How close where we from the oddity getting its strength back.”

  “Not that close, since people would have had to read and then believe the post. We could have had, maybe five minutes to spare.”

  “Okay...”

  Even with successfully having solved another case, there is still a sense of incompleteness hanging in the air. Though, this does allow them to get some much-needed rest. As Neri lies awake in bed, just one stays enters her mind.

  “...I would have had to enter the zone, in order to counter them...”

  Quinn on the other hand, is sitting in his room, silently. He is holding a pencil by the eraser, moving it at high speeds. Then he stops.

  “...”

  Quinn gets up to leave.

  “You haven’t slept in sixty-four hours. What are you doing?”

  Lucifer asks.

  “Taking care of something. Besides, I’m still not to the point where I am that tired.”

  “And that doesn’t worry you.”

  “Actually, this is by far the coolest, most convenient power I have developed.”

  “Lies and slander.”

  “You don’t know, have you ever had to sleep?”

  “...Not for fun?”

  “No.”

  “Then no.”

  The two enter into the agency. Quinn looks at the key Neri gave him. “I feel somewhat bad for using it... At least, under these circumstances.”

  Quinn looks over some of there sorted documentation, looking for a piece of information, that was very vital. Quinn begins writing a letter, following each step very carefully. He then folds the paper into a crane and places it inside of a bamboo tube. Sealing the tube, he places it down onto Neri’s desk and stares at it. After about ten minutes, he picks it back up and looks inside.

  “...Nothing.”
>
  He puts everything back, exactly to the closest atom of where he found it.

  “She’ll figure out I was in here, probably even what I did. Still, just maybe, this might throw her off a bit.”

  “Why not tell her?”

  “...I um – I will. I just want her to be able to rest, at least for right now.”

  “...You’re not lying, but that doesn’t mean you aren’t being stupid.”

  “You would tell her.”

  “Hell no, but I would get away with it.”

  “Heh, I guess, that makes a difference.”

  The next day, Quinn wakes up, with a message on his phone. It simply reads.

  “Dealt with.”

  After reading this, Quinn has a true fear surge through his body. His stomach gets nauseated.

  “No, no. This doesn’t have to mean that...”

  “It does.”

  “w-What?”

  “You sent an Oddity Specialist a message about one of their worst enemies. What did you think would happen?”

  “Not this, like maybe... Did I kill someone?”

  “Indirectly.”

  “Why didn’t you stop me.”

  Quinn says in a quiet, subdued voice.

  “Why didn’t you ask me?”

  The two sit there is silence. Honestly, even I lost count of how long these two where in silence. Lucifer realizes that they are done for now and walks off. Quinn sits alone. Slowly a feeling building up inside of him. He closes his eyes and begins to cry.

  “Heyo~!”

  The next weekend they meet up at the agency. They met at school, but Quinn was putting off really dealing with anything, which Neri certainly noticed. Though, when he is greeted by the bright girl, he gives a small smile back, for the first time in days.

  “Hey.”

  They start to head towards the office from the back stairs, as they usually do. Quinn stops halfway up.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “What?”

  “I made a decision without you.”

  “...Okay.”

  “I decided to contact a specialist about the Manifestor.”

  “I see.”