Episode 3: Remember Me
Part 1
“Nick.”
“Justin.”
“Nick… Justin…”
“Guys, come on! Project Scythe has to be in here somewhere!” Pearl cried ahead of them, weapons in hand. A leather toolkit swung around her waist, adorned with what she would need to deactivate the very weapon they sought.
Justin ran next to Nick through the dark halls, the power disabled thanks to their scientist partner for the mission. Jay ran further ahead of the trio of friends, fighting terrorist members left and right. He had provided the initial distraction while they had shut the power down. The two young agents glanced at Pearl as she stared at a small handheld device that beeped shrilly as they grew closer to their goal.
“Left hall…”
“Yo, how long you think we got before these dawgs try ta make Swiss cheese outta us?” Justin glanced between them, then focused on Nick’s “Pearl-personalized” automatic, ready in his hands.
“Twenty minutes tops, Drums,” Nick replied as they sprinted down the left corridor. “They mean business. They need to get laid.”
“Is everything about sex?” Pearl chuckled. “And you wonder why I say ‘Mambo No. 5’ fits you…”
At the sound of footsteps pounding behind them, they crouched as their hands instinctively aimed their weapons at the shadowy figure. Relief washed over them when the mysterious figure revealed his friendly face.
Jay tilted down the night vision sunglasses he wore and scanned them. “Are we close?”
As they weaved through the murky depths of the building, Pearl checked her handheld again. Nick and Justin donned their night vision sunglasses to counteract the cold, dank place.
“Pretty close; the signal is getting stronger,” Pearl answered. “Once we’re in the room with it, I can lock it down.”
“Let’s move it then…” A smirk appeared on their superior’s face as he rubbed his goatee thoughtfully. “If we can make it back to the States by tomorrow, I might get in a quickie with Emerald before she’s off on her mission.”
“Boys… lord.” Pearl groaned.
The snickers around Pearl ceased when her device began chirping as it vibrated sporadically in her hands; she nearly dropped it. At the end of the hallway, they entered a small and dim room filled with large steel tables and rickety beds. Its shelves lined with dusty beakers, Petri dishes, test tubes, and microscopes hinted at its medical origins. The horrifying and mysterious machines that sat on the sleek countertops pointed at its current use: a terrorist plot that could put the world in peril beyond anyone’s imagination. Once Pearl silenced the chirping, the only sound came from the rusty pipes on the ceiling dripping idly as a putrid smell began to float faintly in the air.
“Man, what died?! NICK!” Justin stood beneath the pipes, snickering.
Nick rolled his eyes as he kept his gun trained. “Not me.”
Pearl crouched down near a floor vent as she fiddled with the handheld.
Jay knelt beside her, then turned back to the younger 00s. “You two, eyes sharp for anyone else. Once we get it done, I’ll set the time bomb, then we bolt like bats outta hell.”
They nodded in reply as they stood still in the shadows. “Yes, sir.”
“Alright, once I lock the signal down on it, I can release that sonic charge at it and fry the system. I know it’s down there, but it’s flightier than a bimbo in committing to its signal location. I can’t blast it till I know ’cause this baby’s only got enough juice for the one shot.”
“We don’t have much time; we need this done fast.”
“Speaking of commitment, guess who I had fun tryin’ ta tame last night?” Justin tapped his ear and whispered into his Communi-com device with a smirk. “Your favorite agent… Diamond Divine.”
Nick rolled his eyes but decided not to respond. Justin was his friend and had been since the beginning when they’d joined Himitsu Takana at the same time. They had bonded over basic training and had been friends ever since. Sometimes, however, Nick felt Justin always wanted what he had, and it secretly infuriated him. Still, Justin was almost like a brother, as close as you could get to family inside Himitsu Takana, anyway.
But the rage remained. Sure, he knew Diamond wasn’t his; their relationship was purely casual sex and flirting. Yet it felt like Justin only did it because Diamond had a liking for Nick in particular. Sometimes, as good a friend as 009 was, Nick wanted nothing else but to see Drums gone.
Pearl’s voice caught their attention for a moment. “Finally! Got the little squirming bastard — must be sewers below shifting it around. Didn’t figure that for a random abandoned building in the middle east… heh.”
“Don’t assume,” Jay replied.
An almost inaudible piercing high note filled their ears, followed by a heavy feeling in the air as they felt the electricity travel around them. Pearl had set off the sonic charge towards Project Scythe.
Electricity hovered behind Justin, and Nick steadied his pistol as a spark surged against his fingers. Anything or nothing could be back there. This wasn’t the time to focus on Justin. They had to be ready to run and ready to fight anyone who tried to stop them.
“We hookin’ up again once we back in da States… seems like she can’t get enough,” Justin added smugly. “I think we might really have somethin’. Who knows?”
Was he serious? Nick felt a frown form. He knew Diamond wasn’t his but couldn’t take the idea of her settling for Drums either.
“Yes! That baby is fried. Set the bomb, Jay. We’re ready to blow.”
“Done, we have fifteen minutes to get our asses out of-”
BANG!
Nick fired, and his wrist recoiled from the shot, knocking his night vision glasses to the ground beside him. Unable to see clearly in the dark, he focused on the chaotic sounds around him. For the briefest moment, a sound like footsteps faded into darkness, quickly drowned out by agonizing, piercing screams. Nick ducked, feeling for his glasses along the murky ground and listening for the hard tap of metal. Once he heard it, he slid them on his face, catching a horrifying worst-case scenario. The pipes that had only dripped moments earlier burst, spewing a fiery red liquid from a tiny bullet hole. Nick threw his gun to the ground and tossed both arms over his face. A guttural yelp forced its way from his throat as the intense burning attacked his upper right shoulder without mercy. His cries of pain blended with Justin’s own as the chemicals splashed against his very face.
“Shit, that’s Phoenix Suicide! Guys, get down!” Pearl screamed out, not caring who heard them now. Phoenix Suicide was a chemical created for biological warfare technology. Not much was known about it yet, except for its deadly nature.
“Pearl! Don’t go near them, or you’ll get hit too,” Jay growled at her, pulling her back by her arm, forcing her to watch her two friends. Thankfully, Nick finally regained his senses and pulled Justin along behind him, away from the broken pipes. Agent Jay just nodded. “We’ll take care of it outside; we have little time!”
They ran through the halls as shots flew like scattering birds around them. Jay shot without feeling or remorse, it seemed to Nick, as his arm throbbed to the beat of its own drum. He had been lucky; not much had hit him compared to Justin, who barely hung on as Nick dragged him. When he had shot that bullet, he hadn’t meant for this. Oh god… what had he done to him!?
They raced out of the building, in need of air to breathe. As they finally paused to catch their breath behind some rundown homes a ways away, the place they had just escaped from exploded, consumed by greedy flames. Nick watched it burn as stars twinkled above them, almost mocking the idea of them having a night that was anything but peaceful. Yet they accomplished their mission.
His hand covered the arm that tortured him now. Always, there was a price.
A gasp escaped the scientist, and Nick’s eyes met Justin’s, but not for long.
“My god… Ju… your head!” she cried as he shrieked in immense agony. His head had begun to swell at a frightening pace. His blond curls were drenched red, looking as if they had been dunked in fruit punch. But in the much crueler reality, they’d been soaked by the Phoenix Suicide. His right eye began to bulge as the pressure from the swelling head continued. Pearl and Jay were frantically looking for a toxin in her kit to try and slow it down.
“My god… JuJu… Jay, we need to contact Red right now. We have nothing here to slow it down. She needs to help us until we get back to HimTak!”
“We’ll contact The Rok and see if he can get a jet sent our way since we don’t have ours yet. We’ll get back as soon as we can.”
“Fuck, dawgs, mah eye!” Only Nick saw the gruesome event that happened next. Justin’s right eye, getting squeezed ever so painfully, began to fill with the redness of his own blood, accompanied by howls that resembled a wild animal’s when caught in a steel trap.
He had done this to him, all because of one moment of emotional stupidity. It was his fault… all his fault…
Nick shook his head, wanting to forget the memory of how it happened. His first mission back, and he had to face what he had done to a man whom he had once almost called a brother. Jealousy was so petty. Justin’s life had been ruined beyond compare.
Now he stood before him with metal robotics replacing the part that the chemical had damaged. Their last mission together felt like years ago, when really, it had only been months.
“Fancy meeting you here, Drums.”
“008… and mah inadequate replacement… heh, Diamond Divine, da vixen of HimTak. Or should I say slut?”
“Normally, I wouldn’t beat up a man who slept with me… and was actually good… But I’ll make an exception for you.” When Diamond aimed her gun, Nick lightly held her back by the arm.
“You gonna fight me? Me? Yo, dawgs, I was yo’ bro once. You gonna diss me like dat and try ta knock me down?” Justin had always reverted to ghetto imitation slang when he was excited or about to get some action on a mission. It was his trademark. But a fire of hatred burned within his steely blue eye in a way Nick had never seen in Justin before; that made it clear it wasn’t the latter.
Nick took a sharp breath. “What do you know about FANS, Justin?”
“FANS? Yo, dey da ones who didn’t try ta ruin me. We ‘bout ta bring down those standing against us, 008. I got a whole new life now, dawg. They saw da wicked skills you didn’t.”
Nick had the gun in his hand aimed at the one before him, his finger pulling the trigger. A sharp kick knocked it out and went for his throat next. He did a backflip, his hand reaching for the gun he’d lost on the floor. Diamond kept Justin distracted by ramming him with her hip, then driving her heel into his upper thigh.
Nick stood as he wiped his brow, aiming his gun. A bullet rang out across the room, missing his old friend by an inch alone, hitting the wall next to the sound equipment. He heard voices in the distance, growing closer with every step his ears could catch in the air.
Justin smirked smugly as he reached for an abnormally hefty sandbag tied to a rope next to the curtains, hanging from the catwalk. When he grabbed the rope, it shouldn’t have done anything, yet it began to mysteriously rise into the air. And Justin simply aimed a finger gun at them, like he expected the miraculous exit. “Been fun! You’ll remember dis as da time when J to da Timbalake beat yo asses!” he called out and then vanished into the shadows as if he had never been there.
For a moment, Nick stared into the darkness, gritting his teeth. The abrupt arrival of curious onlookers momentarily yanked him from his stunned nightmare, but Diamond covered for them with a story she made up as she went along. She was always good like that. And at least now, they had a lead. Even with DC dead, Justin wasn’t working alone.
Nick’s thoughts went back to the one who had once often been his partner, the one who had been 009 before Diamond. Why was he here? Where had he been hiding?
One thing was true: the hatred against him was evident. And the saddest thing for Nick was that he couldn’t blame him after what he had done to a man he’d once called friend.
***
Their eyes locked on the image of the two agents and the shadowy figure that appeared on the screen in front of them.
Jay watched the man step out of the darkness and nod to acknowledge Nick and Diamond, who lowered their guns. When they spoke, the same words poured from Jay’s lips.
“Justin.”
A sharp silence settled over Pearl’s laboratory. From the corner of his eye, Jay caught Pearl’s utter shock. Her hand covered her mouth as her eyes examined every inch of the screen, trying to absorb the image. He could understand how she felt; heck, he felt just the same, he was sure. A pang of deep guilt washed over his body inch by inch; he could feel it so solidly, that inevitable feeling of regret capturing his soul. It had taken him quite a while to overcome that very familiar sentiment. He’d never been able to erase it fully, just learned to live with it.
And now, only a blurry sight of their former agent on the screen brought back every single memory he had experienced that awful night. He could watch every scene he had witnessed on the night of the accident, he could still hear Justin’s heart-breaking shriek, and he could never fully get rid of that moment where his eye had just popped out. Despite his calm nature, Jay was not quite capable of handling such distress. He wanted to move or say something, but his body was numb, and his lips felt parched. However, he knew he had to get himself together and think wisely, which was his usual escape when his emotions took over.
Finally, he found the composure to form words.
“We need to inform K about the situation.” With that, he slowly removed his hands from the stainless steel desk. When he darted his eyes away from the screen, he caught a glimpse of Pearl, who nodded. She stared at the screen in shock though she was already snapping back to reality.
He took a deep breath the second he left Pearl’s lab, leaning on the wall. He rested his head against it, rubbing his forehead with his thumb and index finger.
“What a fucking sick déjà vu this is,” he muttered under his breath. Glancing down the hallway, he noticed he was all alone, and he realized he was fighting hard against the ultimate urge of screaming at the top of his lungs. I need to get this done anyhow, he thought. Is this some kind of a sick joke?
Only a few months ago, he had headed upstairs with the same feelings storming inside him and the same statement he had to make to his superior.
Agent Jay fidgeted in his seat across the table from Agent K, who was talking on the phone to get the updated news about something. Something that Jay couldn’t focus on. Words played in his mind, unable to form a reasonable sentence, or at least as reasonable as it could be in such a situation.
He had no idea how they had kept it from him that long, especially since K was always the first to be informed, usually at the moment of the accident. But to his astonishment, they had kept it undercover until Agent 009 was safe in Red Jewel’s office.
But now, here he was, facing his superior and trying to find a way to explain what had happened. A couple of seconds later, K hung up the phone and looked at him questioningly, his thick brows furrowed.
“So, what’s the emergency?” K spoke up, trying to read his agent’s face. He could easily guess that the news was terrible, but he tried to remain calm.
“We had an accident,” Jay slowly replied. Noticing his superior’s frown deepen, he added quickly, “No one’s dead, though.”
Relieved, K shifted in his seat. The stiffness he had been feeling in his back since that morning softened. Truthfully, he feared that he would hear the name of a certain 00-Agent. After chiding himself for favoritism, he simply asked, “Who is injured?”
Knowing he couldn’t avoid it any longer, Jay nodded. “009.”
“Justin?” Worry settled on K’s face, despite his initial relief that Jay hadn’t said 008. Rising from his seat, K hurried to the door, Jay on his tail.
“There we go,” Jay muttered, silently cursing how the hell this accident had happened to one of their most talented agents. In his heart, he knew nothing would be the same again.
“Jay? Are you alright?”
The stern voice brought Jay back to reality. He had ended up in K’s office, though he could barely remember how he’d made it all the way up there — he didn’t even remember if he had knocked on the door or not. Apparently, he hadn’t; one glance at his superior’s face showed that he’d been disturbed.
“May I?” he asked, motioning to the seat across from K’s desk, and carefully positioned himself there with his nod.
“I suppose you have pretty urgent information since I cannot think of any other logical reason for your sudden burst into my office…” K pointed to the blueprints of various buildings laid on his desk. “… when I was busy.”
Playing with the eccentric rings he had on each of his fingers, Jay cleared his throat, getting ready to spill out the news. Sucks to be at a higher rank in the chain of command, he thought glumly. Why did he always have to be the one to break the bad news?
“Well, I regret to inform you that there’s been a snag in the Global Idol operation…” he trailed off, noticing that familiar frown appearing on his superior’s face.
“What do you mean a snag?” K asked with irritation. “Don’t tell me that 008 and 009 blew their cover…”
“No, it’s not that. Their disguises were perfect. They managed to gain entry to later rounds and track their target…” Jay took a deep breath. “But they missed him.”
“Do we have a clear facial image? Maybe Pearl can trace it through the system–”
“We already know who he is,” Jay interrupted, as the same annoying feeling of déjà vu captured him instantly. “The target our agents were following was Justin.”
I know this expression, he thought when he saw K’s eyes grow large with surprise.
“Justin?!” Determined to see the image with his own eyes before actually believing what he had just heard, K rose from his seat. However, a knock on the door interrupted his leap into action.
“Guess it’ll have to wait,” Jay muttered. “What a fucking sick feeling of déjà vu this is.”
***