Things stay the same for the next few days. She comes to talk with me nearly all day long. Firstly, she brings me a change of clothes. The set of shirt and long pant she brought are made from good material which is nice but it"s highly adorned with some kind of "artistic" golden embroidery which appear unnatural considering where I"m right now. Therefore I only take and wear the shirt because I was shirtless ever since coming here.
From then on she brings various kind of delicacies. Apparently, after I told her about the variety of the food we have back on Earth, she has been trying to get me impressed with the best cuisine of this world. I wonder whether if I told her about various wonderful places on Earth she would take me out from here and let me see the many places outside.
I get closely acquainted with her along the way. In the last two days, she opened up a little to me. She shared with me many of her stories. She told me about the royal family, especially about her elder sisters. Thus, I learn that she is really close with her sisters, in fact, she really admires them. She told me about how the third elder sister is a tomboy and spoiled her the most. She told me about how both her second and first elder sisters are a kind and n.o.ble-hearted person, a person of truly down-to-earth character despite their royal status. Lastly, although they are all from different mothers, they still have a really close relationship, probably closer than what a normal sibling usually be.
I feel relieved that this little princess has such a good people to rely on. Even if they are currently away from her, it"s not like they are gone, they should still be able to meet each other from time to time.
Also thanks to getting well-acquainted with her, I tasted many kind of foods and drinks, there was a mango-shaped fruit that taste like watermelon but with a texture of a durian, a cake made from the extract of herbs which taste like high grade alcohols, and even a hot drink that has a mint touch in it. She said that that hot mint is called "Pallanua" and is a popular drink in this world. They all taste very exotic to my tongue.
It"s all one-sided. She is the one that always brings the cuisine of her world to me while I can"t let her taste any kind of food or drinks from earth.
I really hope that I can let her taste something that we have back on earth. She was very proud when she presented that hot mint, I bet she is equally curious to how does the popular drink in my world taste like. I wonder how she will react if she ever taste a cola or any other carbonated drinks.
Maybe I should try to make one in this world later on, how do they make carbonated drinks anyway?
Thinking about food, I remember Boss Ben"s pizza. It has been 8 nights since I arrive in this world. He must be mad that I suddenly disappear. I hope his stroke doesn"t act up. The business should be running just fine, Jimmy and Ron are still there to help him run the store and do the delivery after all.
Boss Ben"s pizza, it taste just average but it has that one thing that, although isn"t exactly the tastiest one I"ve ever eaten, I can"t stop eating it. It"s a kind of homemade feeling, warm and cozy, and the toppings are plenty. Because we at Papa Ben"s Pizzeria can"t afford to use many expensive stuffs, so Boss Ben just went with "Then we should just use more ingredients to compensate that! Let"s just use the much cheaper ingredients but with higher quant.i.ty!", as always, his way of thinking was really straight-forward.
Boss Ben, I"m sorry for leaving without a word. He helped me a lot when I first settle-up in Brooklyn some years ago and even gave me shelter and jobs too.
While lying down on the prison bed, I"m reminiscing such old memories. The time I met Boss Ben, and even the time from way back, all the way to my dark complicated past.
"Boss Ben"s pizza... I still want to at least taste it one last time..."
I"m still thinking about that. Maybe it"s like the holy bread for me.
*Dziiing*
Huh?
*Vroaaam*
What the?! What"s this? A door-like hole just opened mid-air. The surface is a sparkling but also looks glossy as if it"s wet. it"s spinning around like a slow vortex of galaxy, quite enchanting, I must say. But still, what the h.e.l.l is this? Why did it suddenly appear?
I wait for a few seconds and it"s still here, nothing else is happening except the inside of the hole is still spinning and making low s.p.a.ce-like sound effect. The front and behind is the same, void and spinning.
I decide to touch it.
*Psuu*
What"s with this s.p.a.ce like sound? I touched it and it feels like thick water yet my finger doesn"t feel wet. It probably more accurate to say that it"s like going through a soap bubble, a very thick soap bubble, almost like a pool of mercury. That"s what it feels when I put my fingers through it.
I continue further put my hand inside. This sensation, it kinda tickles but also electrifying to the skin. I"ve got to say, it does feel quite nice. I might become addicted to this. I wonder, what exactly is this thing.
Experimenting with it for another minute and not feeling anything bad is happening to my hand, I become convinced that it"s not a dangerous thing. I decide to see through it, in other words, put my face inside.
Although convinced, I"m still being very cautious. First I make a temporary rope from twisting the bed sheet and tying it to the cell bar.
Now I"m ready, it won"t be like when I fall from the rooftop. My right dominant hand is firmly holding the twisted bed sheet which I"ve even tied to my wrist.
I put my left hand in, then slowly and steadily I further put my left arm inside. The inside feels breezy but not wet. I can feel wind blowing on my arm.
First I try to touch or grab anything around my inserted arm. There is nothing. Okay, that"s not a bad sign. I tried to touch the floor if there is any.
I can feel a hard surface.... and quite flat but rough. The texture is like the surface of a stone and it feels kinda hot too, like a stone that has been exposed to sunlight for some time.
All clear, seems like the inside has air and a floor, it should not be an empty void. I take a deep breath.
*Huuuuft*
And I exhale it.
*Pheeew*
I take another deep breath and this time I hold it in. I position my inserted left hand on eye level to cover my face when it goes inside. I slowly put my face inside.
"..."
It"s blinding bright. After I"ve adjusted in a few moment. I can see the scenery around. It"s day time in here. When I say day time, I don"t mean there is a sun inside the void hole, the place I"m seeing right now is actually the place I"ve seen numerous times. It"s a small area behind Boss Ben"s store which is used as a temporary garage.
I look at the sky, it"s half cloudy. Although I said blinding bright before, that"s only because I came from a dim-lighted dungeon, and the current me is seeing a day time outside. The contrast between these two places are too huge thus my eyes need to adjust for a few seconds.
I confirm that this is not an illusion or dreams by pinching and even slapping myself a few times.
"..." I"m a little bit stunned at the moment of realization.
"No way... h.e.l.l yeah! I"m back?! I can go back? Just like that??!" I immediately let go of the twisted bed sheet on my right hand and go straight to the hole.
"Ah, huh?" Oops, I forgot that I tied it onto my wrist. I untie it and immediately throw my entire body into the hole.
"Hahahahaha! I don"t know how it happened, but I"m free. Man, what a miracle! Again!" I have a huge grinning smile on my face right now.
While rejoicing on my unexpected freedom, I take a look at the door-like hole behind me. It"s still there, hovering in mid-air.
A thought just crossed my mind. If this hole can stay for long enough, then there will be a chance to bring the little princess some of Earth"s culinary. The first to cross my mind is to present her Boss Ben"s pizza. I"m definitely being objective here, it"s not because I"m a fan of it, but because I should start with the less tasty one and build up impression as the taste escalate to a much tastier one. Yeah, definitely because of such reason.
Although I plan to do that, I save it for later. For now I should be checking the condition around. Whether it has been over a week too on Earth and the current situation since I went missing.
I go into the store to look for papa Ben. I wonder what should I say to him as an excuse, I haven"t thought of that. But who cares, showing that I"m okay and well is my first priority. For now, I should be focusing on meeting him.
I look around, there doesn"t seem to be anyone in the store. That"s weird, the store opens everyday and it"s still day time, it shouldn"t be closed yet.
But indeed, looking around, I feel like something strange is going on. There is nothing prepared at the kitchen. If the store is just temporary closed because either boss Ben, Jim, or Ron is away, there should be at least a trace of dough prepped at the kitchen, and yet, there is absolutely nothing at all.
n.o.body, nothing. In fact the store seems to be desolate, as if abandoned. Some spiderwebs are building on various corners of the store and dusts are piling up to visible level. There is no ingredients or supplies at the usual place. There isn"t even any kitchen equipment to be found, they are all gone. It appears to look like the store has been abandoned for a few days already.
I don"t understand. What"s going on?
I decided to leave the store and ask the people around. I leave through the window by the front door since the door is locked and I can"t find the key at the usual place.
"Really, why is the store being abandoned." I ponder around after exiting the store.
Could it be, they were looking for me? After all, I suddenly disappeared just like that. Seeing how boss Ben"s nature, it"s very likely that they are still searching for me until now. There is another possibility that come to my mind in case I disappear like that, but it"s very unlikely, those people wouldn"t dare. They wouldn"t, or so I convince myself.
Not far from the store, just around the corner, I see a familiar face.
It"s Crazy Joe, an old homeless veteran with mental disorder. It"s not like he"s fully r.e.t.a.r.ded, you can still make conversation with him, it"s just sometimes the context of the conversation goes way out of logic. In the middle of the conversation, he often change topic to weird stuffs like non-existent things, supernatural beings, conspiracy theories, and other common c.r.a.ps. But the baseline is, he stays in the same spot for most of the time, so he should know what"s going on with the store for the last few days.
I walk closer to him, thinking that asking him some simple questions is still feasible.
"Yo, Crazy Mad Dog Joe!"
I try to talk with a friendly street style tone. People usually do this, and he likes it too.
He looks at me while grinning.
"Yo man, whad up? Say, you know what"s been going on around? Especially on Boss Ben"s pizza store?"
He doesn"t immediately reply. His gaze is focused on my "artistically" golden embroidered shirt.
"Nice shirt." That"s what he says. This old fart, his homeless soul is burning up.
"Oh, this shirt? You like it? I"ll give it to you, but you"ve got to tell me about what"s been going on alright?" I take off my shirt and hand it to him. I don"t really need it anyway, although it looks expensive, it"s not to my taste at all. He grabs it and take a closer look at it, he looks like a little kid that just found an imaginary treasure chest but more on the eccentric way with bulging eyeb.a.l.l.s and huge grin.
"Now, then, the information please."
"Oooh, ya ya, information. I know know what"s on." He has this wide grin on his face while saying that. I hope his mad sense is not revving up at the moment because I"m really in need for correct information.
"Benjamin been busy lately."
Oh, okay. I keep a firm gaze at him, listening carefully.
"He was sad at first. You know, sad like, really sad."
"..."
"When I asked him, about uh... about why was he sad, he said that he lost a son again. Boy, I been here for a looong time, but I didn"t naw he had a son. Uhum."
... Something is amiss.
"So yeah, the very next day, some scary-looking people in black suit came and took him away. I tell you this, they are bad, really bad. They dragged poor Benjamin to a car.. ah uh was it a truck? No wait, uh... what was it again?"
"It doesn"t matter what car! Do you know where they took him? Or at least, which direction?" I get impatient. This is likely true and is a serious matter. As I said previously, I had thought of such possibility, it"s just that this is unlikely to happen only because I disappear for a few days.
Startled, Crazy Joe continue his story. "Well, uh, um, I don"t know where they took him."
This is bad. I should immediately try to find him.
Thinking like that, the following story from Crazy Joe is like pouring cold water to my uneasy feeling.
"But I do know that he came back yesterday. Brought back with the same people that took him. Poor Ben looked like even worst, tell you what, he did not appear to look hurt outside, but I know, ooh, it can"t escape ma sharp sense, deep inside he is hurting real bad. Like, uh, really really bad."
I feel relieved when I hear that the boss is still okay. Although CJ says that Boss Ben might be hurt, at least he"s already back in one piece, that"s a worst-scenario evaded. Those people that took him away, they dare. I"m gonna need to pull a few strings again now.
Ah this is bad, my dark side is surging up. I need to suppress it for now. Let"s hear what Crazy Joe has to tell till the end.
"So, I heard that today he"s going to the cemetery to visit his son"s grave or something like that. He was wearing all-black clothing and all. Hehe, even though he"s already black. Hehe ha haha hehehe."
CJ throw a stupid joke at the end. n.o.body would laugh at that even in normal situation. This guy is crazy indeed.
Boss Ben is going to the cemetery? This son of his, I have a really bad hunch about this, his family is not buried here in Brooklyn. I don"t want to think of it. Let"s just confirm it myself.
I left CJ as he is and run straight to the cemetery.
For some reason, the city seems a little empty. There are less people and cars on the road. Is it because it"s getting darker from the rain cloud that"s been gathering up above? It"s logical for pedestrian to seek shelter when rain is coming soon, but cars shouldn"t find it as a problem right?
After nearly 15 minutes of running non-stop, I arrive at the cemetery. I feel somewhat tired and hot along the way. That"s very unusual, I"m not the type to get tired over running for 15 minutes like this. It"s already beginning to rain half-way along the way but somehow I started feeling a surge of heat raising little by little on my skin. I"m currently shirtless and is just wearing the usual pizza delivery pant that"s already drenched from the rain.
Since I don"t come via transportation, I don"t need to go in via the gate. I go inside the cemetery area by climbing over the nearest cemetery wall.
Inside the cemetery, I plan to look from higher ground, it should be easier to spot boss Ben that way.
The cemetery is not exactly a large one, the edge where I"m right now still has a number of trees, looking like an edge of a forest from the center of the cemetery. There are several small hills, many statues and even house-like tombstone, making the visibility rather small, especially in a rainy day like right now.
I spotted number of people some place away from here near the center of the cemetery. I decided to lay low and watch from some distance first.
I go to one of the small hill by the edge that has some trees so I can hide behind one of it.
Arriving on the top of the hill, although the visibility is bad because of the rain and the distance, I still have a clear view over the various sized tombstones and statues in the cemetery.
I can see several people in black suit gathering in front of a certain tombstone. When I look closely, boss Ben is among those people, he"s currently standing right in front of a grave and the other people are around 5 meters behind him, giving him some private s.p.a.ce. With several agent-like people being here, it only further suggest my bad hunch. I don"t like this.
As far as I know, Boss Ben has no relative being buried here. For those people to come accompanying Boss Ben here in this time period can only mean one thing.
.
.
That so called son of his, that must have been me inside that tomb. Laying dead, cold, and probably deformed. Those people wouldn"t have come if there is even a slightest possibility of it being a fake or a body double.
"..." I"m in lost for words. So I really did die back then... If so, then what am I? The one standing here, behind a tree by the edge of the cemetery, watching over his own tomb.
What am I? A ghost? A spirit? No, I talked with Crazy Joe not long ago, I can communicate with him, I can even give him my shirt, I should be a living being.
Then what would you call me? A living-dead? A monster?
Standing here alone, drenched in rain, I feel that my heart is empty and my mind confused. I don"t know what to do. Should I come over and show Boss Ben that I"m actually alive and well? I can feel the heat and fatigue I"m feeling from before is intensifying.
I died, but somehow is alive while being summoned to another world. Is that what I"m supposed to tell him?
Boss Ben knew a bit of my dark past, my dark b.l.o.o.d.y past. Many of my deeds which have taken a lot of life.
He lost his eyesight, his home, his family. He lost everything back then in that tragic event. The very tragedy where I was involved in. Indirectly, I was responsible for the death of his family and many others. He knew about it and still gave me a helping hand, truly a big-hearted man, that"s one of the reason why I really respect him.
.
.
.
I just stare at him from afar. Then my body suddenly begin to feel heavy and blazing I unconsciously let out a scream.
My body still feels like burning despite the heavy rain, and my head begin to feel really dizzy. I can see steams and black smokes coming from my skins, like water being poured to burning coal. On further inspection, I can see lines of red glowing cracks on my skin under the smoke.
My body feels sluggish and weak. What"s happening?
In just a minute, the burning intensifies as the smoke getting thicker. Sizzling sound can be heard now and the glowing cracks widen and spread from my chest to all over my body.
I begin to feel pain like my skin being scratched off while being burned. The glow intensifies so much that the people behind Boss Ben notice my present.
The smokes are thick, although it"s being blown by the wind, it still almost envelope me wholly. I was taken by surprise, the pain escalate so suddenly that I let out and agonizing roar.
I feel like I"m beginning to lose consciousness. Am I dying again? Even worse than before, I feel intense pain and doesn"t even know what"s killing me this time.
That"s it, the pain subside and I fainted.
.
.
.
When I woke up I find myself atop the usual bed in the dungeon cell.
It takes me a few seconds to gather my thought and realize what just happened.
Dammit, all that hype and it was only a nightmare. I hold my head after taking a sitting position on the bedside. My head still feels a little bit dizzy from that agonizing nightmare. Man, I never had one that bad and realistic before. That was so freaking realistic that I"m sweating like crazy.
*Pheeew*
I exhale a lot. That was one h.e.l.l of crazy dream. Since my mind is currently in a mess, it"s only later on that I realized that I"m once again, shirtless. The little princess is surprised when she came again, she called me a pervert nudist this time... Even though I"m only topless and she has seen me like this before. Then again, I wonder where my shirt"s gone to, was that dream...
* * * * * * * * * * *
Around the same time at a certain military base somewhere in USA.
In one of the meeting room inside, an old man, wearing a high-ranking commander attire, is sighing as he read the report in front of him. There are a couple dozen of people with an important-looking military attire who seat side by side in this meeting room and they all are looking at the old man, as if waiting for his reaction and command.
Among those people, one of the younger-looking guy looks like he does not understand the situation. He leans to his superior who brought him to this meeting and ask him about what"s actually going on, about why is the old man, the commander, is looking so distressed over the report.
This young man also hold a copy of the report in his hand, but he can"t find anything distressing in it since the written report basically only mention a certain person is sighted and is confirmed to be alive. He doesn"t know who the person mentioned in the report is so he can only vaguely make a guest that this individual is dangerous that just by being alive he can make the commander goes pale like that.
His superior turns his head and looks at this subordinate of him.
"You weren"t qualified to know about this information so you didn"t know, just wait, the commander will brief you and the others soon, just pay attention, this matter has importance above Regal Code."
The young man is shocked.
"Above the safety of the President? So we are facing a national threat?"
"That"s correct, and depending on the circ.u.mstances, probably even global threat."
"A global threat! we haven"t had one since the cold war and World War II!"
"No, we have, since 15 years ago. Just wait and listen to the briefing."
The young man is getting more tense after hearing how bad the situation is.
Just a minute after that the commander begin the briefing. All the people are tense, including the several men who are yet to know about the gravity of the situation.
"Gentlemen, thank you for coming in such a short notice."
Everyone can see how dire the situation is from the commander"s tone and how tense his expression is.
"Two hours ago, we received a report... A man, who we thought, no, confirmed to be dead, is possibly still alive."
Everybody has their eye focused on the commander.
"A man with enough power to make the entire western hemisphere crumble. He hold with him information, intelligence, secrets... of our nation, other super power nations, and even most of the underground organizations ever known."
The several new people who just heard of this gulped down their saliva. They didn"t know such a powerful man existed before.
"This man basically hold enough information to start world war three on his own."
"There is somebody like that?" One of the listener can"t help but to question the information due to how absurd it is.
"And such a man is our enemy? From where did he come from? Is he a remnant of the Exitialis Phantasma?" He asks again, mentioning the possibility of such person coming from one of the most ancient underground organization ever known.
"No." The commander"s expression darkened. He looks down as if remembering something awful. "He was one of us. To be precise, we created him."
"One of us? So he"s a rogue agent then."
"No, Hector, he"s more than a rogue agent. He was one of the subject under our previous experiment to create a highly efficient super agent. We found him from a very young age, barely ten years old, in a prison." The commander then pauses a bit, he looks away from the young subordinate.
"Wait, how can such a young child be in a prison. Our regulation doesn"t allow such a thing."
"For normal crime, yes, but not his. Our investigation back then found that the child"s parent were killed by local thugs near their home. Then just a couple of weeks after his parent"s death, he went missing for a few days. You guess what he did." The old commander ask the subordinate with his eyes sternly focused on him.
"Don"t tell me the kid killed those thugs alone." The young man raises his eyebrows as he thinks about the possibility of a ten years old kid killing a number of adults on his own.
"No he didn"t."
They young man let out a relieving sigh.
"He destroyed the entire group the thugs were in together with another group from nearby area. Killing 89 people in total, all by himself."
"!!!" The young subordinate and some other younger personnel make a very surprised face, their eyes almost bulge out after hearing that.
"That can"t be! How did he do that!?"
"That"s when we noticed his talent. He didn"t rely on brute force, what he did was pure brilliance, a feat that no ten years old kid should be able to figure, much less accomplish. He made use of false information, made the groups gather and fought each other in one building. While they were killing each other, he sealed the exits and burned the building down. He even prepared contingency plan to finish off any survivor of the fire. He was caught by the police when he tried to continue his vigilante streak on another group of thugs just a few days after the first incident. He was deemed mentally unstable and was placed in prison under special circ.u.mstances. He fitted our criteria for the project, thus we take him as one of the candidate."
"So he got our attention, got trained for that special project, came out as a highly efficient super agent, and later went rogue?"
"No, as I said, he was more than that. Even among the many candidates we trained, he was the finest. The boy, Ryan Maxwell, code name Axl, an ultra efficient and emotionless killing machine. There was one time, when one of the enhancement tools broke and electrocuted the subjects. Among the dozens of victims, he was the only survivor. Although barely living, he was indeed alive. The specialists who treated the aftermath back then called him to be as tenacious as a c.o.c.kroach, unyielding to die even in such situation."
*Gulp* At this point, the young man doesn"t dare to make anymore speculation and just listen obediently.
"From over a hundred candidates, he came out as one of the only five who managed to overcome the brutal training. He was only 14 years old by then but was already a perfect agent. He was a.s.signed to various special missions. We had high hopes for him, but it was over in less than a year. He broke free from our circle, somehow he managed to access a high-level criminal database that we have and went missing right after that. Our investigation found out that the thug groups he destroyed back when he was a kid was actually just one of the many branches of a much bigger organization. So he went on a criminal hunting frenzy outside our control, completing his revenge to a whole new level. We tried to subjugate him but all end in failures. The situation became much more dire when he reached the point where he learnt that those criminal organizations and our government are actually having give and take relationship. He learnt how us, as a government need a certain ent.i.ty to take care of the other face of the american dreams. As all of you know, most countries are the same, government and mafia are just two side of the same coin."
The commander"s gaze is unwavering, the seriousness when he talked about this is unquestionable.
"Since then, over the past decade, he took down countless criminal organizations and corrupt governments, gaining himself a ma.s.sive amount of highly sensitive information along the process, something that could be used as leverage or blackmail against many governments and organizations. We began to truly fear what he has on his disposal and tried to capture him and secure the ma.s.sive information he has. As always, none of our attempts worked, then one time he let himself out of hiding to warn us of an incoming terrorist attack and that we should take care of our airs.p.a.ce."
The commander then continue with a face like he has deep regrets.
"We paid no heed to his warning and focus on the rare chance to capture him. It resulted on the tragedy of 9/11, a huge regret we can never hope to atone. We had a chance to stop that tragedy, but we didn"t take it. While we failed to prevent it, he on the other hand, managed to stop the fifth plane."
The young man is utterly shocked after he heard such untold facts. He"d never dare to think such possibilities. "We had a chance to stop that tragedy, but we didn"t take it", that sentence keep on ringing in his mind. Then he realizes something.
"Fifth plane? There was only four airplanes that were being hi-jacked, sir."
The commander glances at this young man.
"That was what the public know. The truth was different, there was supposed to be a fifth airplane planned to be crashed onto the white house, but that man, former agent Axl, prevented it from being hijacked."
The young man trembles when he listen to that story. Even among the many listeners, everybody who has known the facts beforehand, including the commander himself still tremble when they remember and talk about it.
"From that day onward, we lessened our intervention on his activity and begin to stay as an observer, that"s the least we can do to show our grat.i.tude and if possible, our faith in him. A believe, that he didn"t have any ill intentions towards our nation"s interest."
The entire meeting room is silent, they are thinking about the story that"s told just now.
"Not only that, he also prevented North Korea from starting a nuclear war."
"!!!" All the young subordinate are even more shocked upon hearing the word "nuclear war".
Without further ado, the old commander continues his story, "That man personally stopped ballistic missiles with nuclear warhead from being launched by North Korea and hitting nearby countries. Although it was a success, there was a major collateral damage. The nuclear warheads still exploded, but away from the population, far and deep in the pacific ocean. It then triggered a seismic quake which broke the tectonic plate, causing the tsunami that swept over the Sendai area of j.a.pan a few years ago."
"To think such a thing happened behind that major natural disaster... Is such a thing even possible?" Another young subordinates shows his disbelief upon the outstanding story.
"Why do you think North Korea stayed silent when a film that mocks their so-called great leader was released? That film was sponsored by a j.a.panese company, it was one way to have a pa.s.sive revenge for them. There were many more of his incredible feats, therefore in just a decade, he became so powerful that he didn"t need to be hiding anymore, there was an unspoken treaty between his enemies not to offend him anymore out of fear that even if somebody managed to kill him, one of his accomplices would leak the critical information he has. After that he himself ceased his hunting activity and begun to start living openly."
The young man has his mouth gaped open. He was just mind-blown by that story. After he regain his composure, he begin asking again.
"What an incredible personage. But why is he becoming a threat to us now?"
"As stated in the report, around a week ago the news that he died came to us, we who have been keeping distance immediately tried to confirm it. To our surprise, he really did die, and to surprise us even more, he died from a very unexpected accident! That shocked us and many other parties. Since he has been confirmed to be truly dead, we immediately went on a race to recover the device which hold all the information he has but we couldn"t find it. We searched the places he"s been to in recent years and the people he got acquainted to. We literally turned the entire Brooklyn upside down but still failed to find it. Suspicion that other parties may have acquired it begin to raise, for the last few days our government begin to suspect each other. Then suddenly the news that the man, Ryan Maxwell, is still alive came. This afternoon the security we a.s.signed on one of the people that we deemed to be highly related to him spotted his figure in the same city where he died. We even have a video recording of the event."
The commander gives a sign to a one of the man then the man starts a video on the briefing screen. The video contains a footage taken from the camera implanted in the personnel"s specially modified sungla.s.ses, giving a first person view of the event where a hand holding a pistol can be seen from the bottom-right side of the video.
The video is short, which only show the time when the sighting was. In it, a figure of a man in a distant who was being clouded in raging black smoke despite in a rain can be seen, the pistol being held by the man wearing the recording gla.s.ses is pointing at the smoking man. Although clouded, his face can still be seen and he is also shirtless, showing the body that"s decorated with numerous scars, further proving him to be the real person in question.
So far the face and scars match the known data of his recent appearance, but it doesn"t avert the fact that something bizarre is happening. His skin begins to show glowing red cracks. The glow soon spreads and intensifies, even his eyes begin to change into glowing red spot. In just a few more second the glow become dazzling flash that blinded the video recording. Then on the peak of the blinding moment, it abruptly stop, leaving nothing on the spot. No more flashes, no raging smoke, not even the man in concern, Ryan Maxwell, is there. Only trails of leftover smoke are left behind, being blown by the windy rain.
Everyone is astounded. Even the commander who has seen it already is still slightly astounded. The man he previously know as agent Axl has once again does something beyond human understanding.
"Men, watch it well, this is the man who has defied death for so many times. The fact that he died a week ago must have been a test to see his enemies" reaction in case he really died, and we all fell for it. I don"t know how, possibly a clone, but he managed to create a perfect replica of himself to fool us. Learn from this, he"s someone who would even kill himself just to gauge the reaction of his enemies. For him to reappear after faking his death must mean that he reached his objective and is up to something again. The fact that he lived openly before must have meant something too. From now on we are on full alert until his objectives are clear, I want a defensive measure to be prepared as soon as possible, raise our observation perimeter and do not, in any circ.u.mstances, engage the target if he appeared. Expect the unexpected, you have seen it yourself, this man"s capabilities are beyond common sense."
The commander conclude the briefing and gives his order. Everyone on the room begin to discuss strategies to raise their defenses and are on full alert.
.
.
.
Meanwhile, in a certain cell in a certain world, a certain man is laying sideways on a certain thin bed.
*tuuuu~t*
"Aah, that"s a good one."
*scratch-scratch*
The man that those top military personnel so afraid of is currently lazily spending the night without care and with a very unsophisticated behavior. If they ever see Ryan"s deed just know they would deliberately believe that they were hallucinating. Apparently there is a "slight" misunderstanding about the facts known about Ryan and his actual behavior. The man they think to be a monstrous individual is actually a very laid-back person. In a sense, this could be a bigger shock to them than knowing that he stopped a nuclear war by himself.
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*Author"s note:
The twist of several known facts in this story are all fictions. It"s all made simply for story material purposes because after all, conspiracy theory is always interesting. So please don"t take any offense on the mentioned stories. I don"t want no dictator launching ballistic missiles to my house.
The theories about nuclear war and the other actually came on the spot while I was writing this chapter, I only planned to write something amazing but hasn"t concretely thought about what it would be before. At first, I wrote more incredible feats about Axl, but since it looks too much, I limit the feats to only the current ones.
As promised, an extra spicy chapter. The next one, chapter 3, will need heavier editing because of "reasons", so it will probably not be uploaded today.
While I"m here, I want to ask, how do one set up a personal site? Is there something other than blogspot and wordpress that has nice interface and is free? Pls don"t forget the "free" part when you give recommendations
Shura"s Wrath has just been updated, gonna take a short break for now.a