Two Lives - Origins (Episode XIV)

"Yes, you will. I believe you."

The voice whispered in my ears and the hand was still holding my gun's trigger. It wasn't possible and I didn't want to believe it. I turned my head and saw him looking down at me, still smiling. All my pain was gone and it was replaced by a newfound fear. I heard my heart beat out of my chest. My vision faded in and out a little. Everything lost focus except for him. It was like looking at a vintage portrait. Only this was a nightmare.

I moved away from him. "You... How? That's not possible." I did see him sitting on the bench till the last second. It was at least 20 feet from the bench and where I was standing. Maybe 25. How could someone cover so much distance in the blink of an eye?

"Relax. I'm here to help. Not to fight you. Even if I did, it wouldn't be much of a fair fight. For you. So, if you could just put aside the fact that my assistant..." She was glaring at him with hands at her hips. "Ah, my comrade, no, my apprentice", he looked at her again. She just mumbled like whatever and walked away.

"Yeah. As my friend so delicately showed you, you are, to put it mildly, not fit for this." His words really felt sympathetic but I couldn't digest the fact that twenty one of us were put down by this woman and by his 'putting it mildly'. I glared at him the best I could.

"Come on. Don't be that way. If only you had asked nicely..."

"Maybe I should've shot you first and then cuffed you. You just took down the entire guard patrol and you want me to be nice? Go to hell!" I shouted at him.

"I wasn't the one who raised the gun, Commissioner." I was raging inside but he was right. As I lay down there, the ground patrol came charging in. I heard footsteps along the stairs and the surveillance team had grabbed a gun each. "Put your hands in the air. Step away from the Commissioner."

He heaved a big sigh. "I hate it when they do that." He whispered in my ears again and turned towards the ground patrol. "Hello, boys!"

He stood up. It was obvious to me that he was superior to the woman, even though they seemed close. If she could do that, I couldn't even imagine what he can do.

"Stand down. Do not engage him." They looked around the Hall and noticed the other guards lying on the floor. They still had their weapons trained on him. I could sense their twitchy fingers. "I said stand down, dammit!" I shouted again.

He turned to my side and said, "You know what's wrong with your armor? It doesn't cover their legs." The moment he said it, the guards started shooting at him. He was moving his hands but I couldn't see what he did. He was poised like a boxer covering his face from incoming blows. I didn't think he was trying to catch the bullets because that would be ridiculous. It didn't feel like he was blocking the bullets either. But a moment later, the shooting died.

I looked at him and he didn't have any bullets in his hands. Good to know. I turned towards the stairs and saw both the groups rolling on the floor in pain. They were all holding their legs. If what I'm thinking had really happened, holy shit. I looked at his hands. A slight bluish glow radiated over his coat sleeve, it almost looked like he was wearing a gauntlet.

"What are you?" I hesitated a moment. "Who are you?"

And he just smiled at me.

Two Lives - Origins (Episode XIII)

"Get on your knees and put your hands in the air."

They didn't even blink. The tall man was still smiling.

"I'm getting a little bored. Do you wanna takeover?" He asked the woman.

She looked around at all the guards. "No probs."

"Do you need any help?"

"Just sit back already, will you?" She pressed a small button on her tiara while the other guy walked casually over to the bench on the side and sat down comfortably. When I looked back at her, it was no longer a tiara. Instead, it had expanded to cover her entire temple from both sides leaving about a couple inches gap in between.

"Stand down or we will shoot." One of the guard shouted at her but she didn't seem to care. I turned off the safety in my gun and it began to charge. I signaled the men to cuff her but deep down, I knew it'll get ugly and that she was preparing for a fight. I have a bad feeling about the way the tall one reacted to my threat. When two of the men reached her, she was holding her hands behind her back. Both men had a pair of cuffs in their hands.

She was so fast that before I could process what she did, she had thrown the cuffs at two of the groups covering the North and the South entrance with so much velocity, that it knocked down two men, causing confusion in their ranks. The two men who tried to cuff her were rolling in pain on the floor. When I looked up, she was running towards me. The patrol from the East entrance held their fire to avoid hitting me. I shot at her and she dodged it so easily I may have not fired at all. I tried again and she dodged that too. The Eastern patrol had to deal with the shots. In just three long steps she was close to me. I raised my gun to her face but she was already at my side holding my hand by my wrist and elbow. She was going to flip me down.

Could I be anymore wrong? She didn't flip me down but instead swung me from behind and I didn't have a choice but spin to her whim. While I was getting my bearings, she had reached the Western patrol and had already put down two of them. She had the remaining three lined up towards us thus covering herself from our guns. The Eastern patrol ran up to me while the others held their positions.

She did some sort of spinning kick which seemed like she was floating and twisting her body, just like that. Ever seen the blades of the blender at work? Not that fast but still fast enough for a human. Each of the three staggered in a different direction. Damn, she was good. She ran towards the Southern patrol, the staggering guard covering her from me and the Northern patrol. She jumped to the wall when fired at by the Southern patrol and made a 360 spinning kick, her knee and foot taking out two of them.

I heard a thud. I turned and saw the staggering guards fall at the same time. The next moment she was running straight towards us. The men had started panicking and there were some crap shots fired. With all the momentum she has collected, she punched me in my stomach and I felt like someone put a bullet in me. I knelt down feeling choked. I should've put on my armor when I first came here.

I had trouble breathing and to top it off, it felt nauseating. That never ends well. I scrawled up with difficulty and turned to look behind me, only to witness that she had decimated the Eastern patrol that stood with me. She sent another guard flying towards the Northern patrol. Their guns riddled the guard before he hit the floor. I hoped the armor took the worst of it.

Gathering all my strength, I raised myself but I just couldn't. I stayed at a half kneeling position. In all of this, I still had my gun in my hand. 'Great work, Commissioner. I can already see commendations lining up.' As I pulled my gun up, pointing at her, she had already taken down the Northern patrol as well. She saw me with the gun but didn't move. I noticed the man was still sitting on the bench. With my gun still pointed at her, I warned her.

"Get down on your knees or I will shoot."

A hand covered my gun's trigger and a voice whispered in my ear. "Yes, you will. I believe you."

Two Lives - Origins (Episode XII)

They resembled the character from John's memory.

My heart started racing faster. The tall one turned his head towards the camera, raised his hand and gestured me to come down. What the hell?! How did he know I was looking at him? I started moving down the stairs, still looking down at my communicator. It could've been a common gesture to get the attention of whoever's watching the security cams. How could he possibly know that I was looking at him? Maybe I am just being ridiculous. Or maybe he did know. The thought sent chills down my spine. I skipped a step and lost my balance. My right hand instinctively reached out to the wall and stopped myself from falling. I turned off the live feed and started down the stairs again.

I gave out orders to the security and the surveillance teams. I asked the ground floor security to form a perimeter around the building while the surveillance team kept their eyes on target. I called all other security personnel to gather at all exits. If needed, I told them to be ready to go weapons hot. All civilians and non-security personnel were escorted away discreetly.

I called John but I couldn't reach him. I tried a couple more times but he was out of network it seemed, which was not ordinary at all. I left him an audio note, so that he'll know what's happening the moment he hears it.

'Where the hell are you, John? I think he's here. Or someone that looks exactly like what you described. Worse. There are two of them. I tried to call you but I'm not able to reach you. I'm going to bring them in. Come to the Hall, the moment you hear this.'

When I came down, they were still standing at the same spot with the same smile on their faces. At least the tall one was. I walked steadily towards them, my fists clenched, ready to throw a punch when needed. As I got closer, I could see more clearly and the tall one was a guy and the short one was a woman. The man was well built, about six foot, had black hair, almond skin and brown eyes. They were both wearing a tiara like accessory on their head. I figured they were communication devices. The equipment was 'T-shaped', one flange towards the temple and the other towards the chin. Both of them had a communicator.

"Nice job getting everyone clear. We didn't even notice. I'm impressed." The tall guy's tone wasn't sarcastic but his words were. I wanted to knock his teeth out. Since he was unarmed and not threatening anything, I had to hold myself.

"Who are you? Are you the one who abducted her?" The words came out of my mouth like red hot lava. I was too angry and that anger manifested through my words.

"You can call me 'Shield' and this is... Uhm... What's your name again?" He tilted his head and asked her.

"Seriously?!" She asked him and turned to me. "I'm Vixen. Nice to meet you, Commissioner."

The woman was about five foot three and had a pleasant voice. She had shoulder length auburn hair and fixating green eyes.

"You still haven't answered my other question."

"What question? Oh... The other question. Wait. She was abducted?!" He had a surprise reaction on his face but I'm sure he faked it.

"I will ask you again. What are your real names? Did you have anything to do with the abduction? Tell me or I'll..." The woman yawned loudly.

"Sorry, please go ahead." The man still had the same smile on his face.

I took out my gun and the security forces from all the entrances came in, surrounding them from all directions. I smiled when I realized what he said.

"When I asked you if you had anything to do with her abduction, you knew who I was talking about. Interesting, since no one knows about it. I'm taking you in and you are answering my questions right now. Get on your knees and put your hands in the air."

Two Lives - Origins (Episode XI)

I was finishing up my breakfast when I received the call. It felt good to know that he's back on his feet. John is skilled when it comes to a manhunt. As the Commissioner, I have more resources than he does, but he has a knack for tiny details. I still remember how he helped me when my daughter was kidnapped.

What he said to me the other day, was still whirring in my head like a buzzsaw. Politics isn't my forte, I'll be honest. What's worse? World politics. His claim, if true, could cause more problems in our country's stability. It's already part hell. I just don't want it to get worse. I promised him that I'll look into it if he kept silent but I just couldn't bring myself to investigate that. Knowing him, he won't keep it to himself and so it didn't matter.

I turned on my car, pulled it out of the garage and set the destination. I switched to manual and started driving up, towards the highway. In another 40 minutes I'll be at the Memorial Hall. These cars are automated & don't need a driver. They have GPS, Early Threat Detection System, Infrared Image Processing, waterproof lining along the doors & a lot more of the good stuff. Being the Commissioner, I got some additional perks for safety and security as well. Yet, I couldn't bring myself to let go and lay back, while the V.I. did the driving. True. Accidents have reduced to less than a thousand a year in the state and almost 90% of them are due to human errors who didn't want the automated drive. But I just couldn't.

My daughter wanted me to buy one and that's the only reason why I bought it. She said someday it'll save my life. And it did. But in that moment, I wish it hadn't. I really wanted to crush this piece of metal to junk but my daughter wouldn't let me. So I drive this everyday, knowing that, it stopped me from acting. Suddenly the steering wheel vibrated violently.

'You're moving out to the oncoming', the voice-over told me in a soft voice. I hadn't noticed that I've driven slowly away from the lane and was heading into the oncoming traffic. I changed course instantly. I shook myself to come out and drove all the way with heavy music turned on.

After half an hour and seven rock scores, I reached the Memorial Hall. I switched to something light to soothe my ears and mind. Instead of pulling in to the parking, I stayed in the car for sometime. I simply closed my eyes and let the music wash over me. Beautiful memories started flowing in me and my body started to relax. Then there was an explosion. I heard a deep scream, only it was me. I woke up suddenly and noticed that I was still in the car. I checked the time and a few minutes had passed by. I parked my car and started walking to the door.

The place was buzzing as usual like nothing happened. I went to the control room. I checked the footages from the previous day. While on that, I noticed John prancing around, kicking down stuff in the medical wing. First thought to hit my mind: he's crazy. I heard a couple of guys from the surveillance team sniggering behind. Can't blame them, can I? I was glad that there was no real damage to his legs.

"Keep watch. Ping me if you find anything suspicious." I left for the medical wing on the fourth floor.

The room was empty when I got there. I checked the logs at the side screen and noticed that he left less than half an hour ago. I checked the name of the nurse that cared for him and something interesting came up. A doctor had taken care of him. That's not interesting but she wasn't a usual. She was a specialist in major burns and despite being certified for physio, this wasn't her turf. Anyway...

And my communicator beeped. The ping was from the surveillance team. They wanted me to check on some activity in the ground floor. I pulled out the live footage but didn't notice anything until I did. I saw two people standing right opposite to the front desk. The first one was tall, well built and the second one was a bit short and lean. As I noticed closely, they both were wearing the same attire. Black Tees with black pants, a long coat, gloves & shoes, the complete set. Something hit my head hard and I understood what it was, a moment later.

They resembled the character from John's memory.

Two Lives - Origins (Episode X)

W.I.S.A.C.

World Interaction and Security Applications Corporation.

This major corporation specializes in cutting edge technology for both military and civilians. They also provide private security. The communicator was their innovation. So was the bike I came in and as was the security car, which I didn't bring. They operate from several countries even though the company was founded in the United States around the late 2060's.

Following the trail of light, I reached the backside of the building with a shelter coming out of the building supported by columns. I remember Catherine telling me the name of the structure once. Is it in my face or on my face, I'm not sure. I parked my bike over to the side and got off it. The moment I stepped on the ground, a huge glass door opened. It was black and opaque and as I walked past it, I realized it was only glass on the outside and the inside. About half a foot thick metal was layered between those inch thick glass. The first thing that came to my mind was, 'God, are they paranoid?'  The inside of the building was pristine. It was so clean that when I thought about my room... No, not now. I couldn't see far in spite of all the bright lights. The halfway looked like a cross and it was surrounded by walls on all sides. I couldn't see any doors except the one that I came in. After a few seconds, I was beginning to wonder if anybody worked here at all. The next moment, I heard a voice behind me.

"Welcome to W.I.S.A.C. My name is Sharon. Pleased to meet you, John. How can I assist you today?"

I turned around and saw that it was a hologram projected from the right side of the wall. "Forgive me if I'm rude but can I talk to someone? Someone real?"

"I am real, John. I handle the, to put it mildly, things that don't matter to our company but still find their way here."

"That's not mild. That's blunt. Can we at least talk in person?" I was offended at her reply but I needed information.

"I'm sorry if I offended you but I cannot suspend protocol and meet you in person, unless and otherwise given orders specifically or if the issue really does matter to us. Please state your problem." She maintained a neutral tone.

I bit my lip in anger but I told her anyway. "Alright. Three days ago, Mrs. Ramachandran was abducted from the Ramachandran Memorial Hall. The intruder was wearing a long coat, gloves and boots, all covered up. He was wearing a helmet..." I searched for the word, "Yeah, a ballistic mask." It hit me from my dream. "He used a cylindrical device which splits into a disc and a spire, which teleported him away. On his way out, he broke my gun into two." I held out my gun. I was half hoping to see guards running up to me shouting, 'Drop the weapon'. But nothing happened.

"And why do you think this concerns us?"

"You are the only one with access to various technologies that one can even dream of. I need to know if he used any of your inventions and I'd also appreciate if you could tell me how he got one."

"The Trans-Beacon is our invention. But they are used by various security organizations worldwide and more than that, I'm not at liberty to say." She didn't even skip a beat. She was really starting to irritate me.

"So the cylindrical device is like a teleporter tech. What about the bomb he set up in one of the hallways?"

"Describe it, please."

I didn't see it firsthand but the commissioner did. So I explained what he and the guards told me. "It was mounted on the wall and exploded at proximity. "

"A holographic projector. It projects real-time holographic images for active camouflage and can be programmed to detonate without leaving a trace." She kept her voice even. I wasn't really sure if she gave serious thought to why I'm here.

"You see, I fought over the rooftop of the Memorial Hall and he broke my gun into two, with his bare hands. Is that even possible? What's more weird, I found it intact this morning." I was still holding the gun in my hands. I turned on the gun and showed her that it was working perfectly.

"The model that you are holding is a two piece gun and it can be dismantled easily without any expert knowledge in fire arms. There is a pressure switch at the bottom of the charge hold. Press and hold it, then twist the top half upwards."

I followed as she said and yes, it worked. Now my gun was broken. I put it back the same way and it was good.

"There you go. Oh and one more thing. I think the Commissioner needs to talk with you urgently. I suggest you leave here and call him back." She said with the same smile on her holographic face.

"I didn't get any call..." I pulled up my communicator and there was no new call logs. Even if I did, how would she know about it? I looked up and she was gone. I knew I can't stay here longer when the door behind me opened.

As I stepped out of the building, the trail lit up again. I turned the bike on. It let out a mild roar which felt like it was disappointed in me. "Yeah, you talk to her." But it remained silent. "That's what I thought." I got on the bike and followed the trail. The gate opened like before; just enough for me. I turned my head and looked at the building one more time. This time, the huge alphabets seemed to mock me. With frustration, I passed the gate and the disc detached itself from the bike. I should've tried to see what happened to it. But it didn't matter.

The moment I crossed the door however, I received multiple pings. I stopped for a second and checked my communicator. I saw four calls from the Commissioner and an audio message a few minutes later. I played the audio.

'Where the hell are you, John? I think he's here. Or someone that looks exactly like what you described. Worse. There are two of them. I tried to call you but I'm not able to reach you. I'm going to bring them in. Come to the Hall, the moment you hear this.'

I sensed an urgency in his voice. I checked the call log and they were all while I was in there. I turned back but the gate was closed and it didn't open this time. I turned all my anger into the accelerator. There was only one thought running in my mind.

'He's here. And he's mine.'