Three Foundation personnel sat at a table. Two of them had their eyes fixated on a small pencil drawing the third one was working on, the air growing heavier by the second.
After a few more intense moments, the one working on the little art project, Agent Cobalt, sat up straight. Slowly, she placed the pencil down and held up the piece of paper. The rabbit sketched onto the paper blinked. The other two's eyes widened. The little thing then hopped around on the surface, and started to break away from its prison. In mere seconds, it reached out of the two dimensional space it was occupying. In another second, its structure shattered and the previously animated bunny collapsed into a small pile of dust.
After a long, awkward silence, Agent Cobalt finally spoke: "I think it expired."
"I'm sorry, Alex," Agent Green said, chewing on his unlit cigarette. "But this is just pathetic."
"Well, I mean," Agent Cobalt rolled her eyes. "That PoI Legler guy congratulated me on successfully reaching 'the Flow', and then mocked me for five straight minutes on how it was the most terrible access to Flow he's ever seen. So yeah, I know."
Meanwhile, Dr. Samuels, the other person to witness this little endeavor, poked the fine carbon powder with his pen. "Actually, this is very interesting."
Both agents turned to look at him.
Dr. Samuels adjusted his glasses. "If what the Person of Interest said in his 'lecture' stands correct, it means that most anomalous art pieces were not made by Type Blues or Type Greens. They are the product of this other system that we had previously overlooked."
"So we have to deal with the chances of every normal artist pursuing an anomalous career?" Agent Green huffed. "Sure sounds interesting, doc."
"No, look at it this way." Samuels tapped the table. "This new understanding doesn't change the reality of the anart community; it just means that the circle is composed of more ordinary humans than we previously thought. And that actually means that the chances of an artist turning into an anartist on their own are pretty slim. However, that could well be how the group originally started."
"But if they're taught, it's easier to get it?" Green contemplated.
"Should we go ahead and shut down the studio then?" Agent Cobalt suggested. "They are both normal people, so it should be easy to just ambush them when they're away from their artwork and resources."
"No, agent," Samuels shared a brief look with Green, then returning his gaze to Cobalt. "We need you to finish the lessons. And if possible, establish stable connections with the two PoIs."
"What?"
"He's right," Green added. "If this is what we're dealing with now, we need to know more, not less. You'll have to keep up the undercover work."
"But—"
"If you're worried about getting to create anart on your own through non-standard means, we will get the paperwork ready."
"I just," Cobalt sighed. "Actually, nevermind."
"You're dismissed, agent," Green said. "Put that art degree of yours to good use."
Cobalt nodded and exited the room. As the door sealed up again, Green turned to the doctor. "So?"
Samuels tossed him a folder. "Remember this?"
Agent Green picked up the document and flipped it open.
Incident Report 03042013-ART-0042
Overview: On 28/03/2013, Martha Jenerous (PoI-4986, Anartist Individual), produced a total of 30 pamphlets, 27 of which were distributed to the public. 12 pamphlets were recovered afterwards.
In the following week, all the individuals who received the pamphlets proceeded to read through their content, and subsequently developed an obsession to create artwork in various forms. The individuals affected by the items showed only limited or no control over this process. About 61% of created artwork was anomalous in nature, and often harmful to human life. Neither the affected individuals nor PoI-4986 were able to cease or affect the anomalous properties of these created objects.
A total of 63 casualties were accounted for, see attached reports for details. PoI-4986 was apprehended and brought in for questioning.
"Shit," Agent Green cursed as he glanced over the overview. "This is the same thing?"
Dr. Samuels flipped the files to another page, and pointed at the archive picture. "The title of the pamphlet is called 'Flow 2.0'. Not exactly subtle."
"So where's this person?"
"Given a Class-A. Doesn't remember a thing now."
"Okay, I think I remember it now," Agent Green rubbed his nose bridge. "That Martha, she cried a ton when we brought her in, right?"
Dr. Samuels turned the files over to his side, and flipped a few more pages. "You remember it well. Here, she cried, said that she didn't mean it, and begged us to get it out of her head."
"And so we did."
"Yes."
"So, we came across this already, someone already attempted to spread this," Agent Green frowned, "And there was some potential danger to this."
"That, and the fact that she was roommates with our assistant professor of the studio when the incident occurred."
"What?" Green was shocked. "How come she wasn't brought in?"
"Says here we raided their place, and only found perfectly normal paintings in this Yang's quarters. The only thing strange was a bunch of empty frames on the wall, and apparently," Samuels took a closer look. "A weird stray cat in the apartment."
Green let out the deep sigh. "Let me guess, the cat was anomalous right."
"We monitored her recent activities, and yes. The cat is made of paint."
Agent Green just furiously chewed on his cigarette.
Finally, he spoke again. "I trust that Cobalt is not going to get into dangerous shit like this."
"We both read the transcript of the lecture. They took the time to warn their class, and I don't think recklessness would do them any good either."
"Trusting their moralities seem like a terrible idea," Agent Green sighed. "But I guess at least I can trust Alex's ability."
"We cannot exactly miss this chance either. If we just take actions to stop this, more will appear eventually."
"And they will be way more cautious."
"Exactly. Who knows if we'll be able to get our men in next time."
"What exactly is in it for us, aside from creating better undercover agents?" Green scratched his head. "I mean, agents who can produce anomalous things without aid, easier for us, but higher-ups aren't gonna be too happy about this."
"Amnestics to long term memories should solve the problem. Miss Jenerous hasn't done anything remotely anomalous since," Saumels shrugged. "Besides, judging from what we learn, this isn't really like reality-bending or magic. It takes way more time, and gives less of what you want, hence easier to contain or control."
"You seem to be thinking a lot about this, doc." Green said, eyeing Samuels.
Samuels leaned in, his hand placed on the document. "Martha here wrote essentially a manual of sorts, of how to access 'the Flow.' If that is possible, there is no way we can't do it ourselves. With agents trained in this and test subjects, we can map it out and figure out the basic rules of this thing."
"And?"
"Eventually, we can maybe find a way to shut it down or block it." A hint of enthusiasm showed in his voice.
"That sounds almost terrible." Agent Green said, standing up. "If you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go out for a smoke."
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