Minnesota State Maximum Security Prison #88

May 27, 2550

Housing nearly four thousand and counting inmates, the eighty eighth Maximum Security prison on the Great Lakes area of the United Republic of North America sat twenty miles west of the outskirts in the Twin Cities Metropolitan area, an urban sprawl had once been on the east side of the state of Minnesota, but now had vastly expanded north and west to touch Lake Superior. It was the seventh most populous city in the American zone.

A driver would deviate off an always busy highway that circled the city that would again go on a road seemingly off a beaten path. They would eventually run through multiple checkpoints before passing through two gates and being scanned before being allowed to proceed.

Although the prison wasn't as sophisticated as the rumored Closet on a distant subzero moon, it still suited its job of keeping the hind end of society's felons, master criminals and psychopaths.

One individual incarcerated inside however, stood out among the rest. His age put him at seventeen and having been already put inside such a high risk facility meant that he had done something rather atrocious in order to land himself in sharing a roof with killers and those convicted of sexual assault. Multiple times for both.

He stood just under six feet tall with light blue eyes and a rather slim build. His hair was short, but locks of it overlapped his ears and tickled his forehead in bangs.

Either way, the young boy was perplexed at why the guards had taken him out of his cell just after a regular meal of stone hard bread and water to march him over to a social area, where three armed guards stood watch over the inmates playing cards and talking in the corners. There was a lot of thick tension in the air and he knew that he was not welcomed here, by either side. Many times, he was cast dark looks by fellow inmates and he only really had felt safe under the presence of the guards, despite their treatment of him not being much better.

Sitting at one of the tables was a man he had never seen before and while he had a bit of an evil aura surrounding him, it was more sinister rather than the just distasteful expression the less than friendly people that patrolled his new home of two weeks.

The guards all wore light body armor, built to shrug off physical attacks while providing a bit of a punch to their offensive capabilities. Instead of guns, they carried humbler stun devices, nasty electric batons that were enough to incapacitate even a heavyweight wrestling champion. Their faces were obscured by visors and their general attitude showed every bit of ego and arrogance in everything they did. Not once had any inmate ever seen a guard without one, as to dissuade in identifying who was who on what shift. Without their unique facial features being easily seen, they were as uniform as the black and white stormtroopers from Star Wars.

This man looked up at him from sleek black shades and he wore a simple gray shirt over khakis and had a guest badge pinned on his lapel by the prison, for all visitors.

"Mister Ethan Hunter Chancellor." The man spoke in a rather deep voice, but it reminded him more of a slimy snake, full of deception, with a regarding look that seemed to betray his true intentions. He then noticed a small patch on the man's left breast that depicted a triangle with a hollow circle in the center.

The man saw what had caught the kid's attention and pulled a folded piece of paper out of his pocket pushing it across the table, "Ah you like the symbol. I don't have to explain what it is then."

Chancellor unfolded the paper, examining it with question and looking back at the man.

"You're an ONI Agent?" He finally spoke, his voice half irritated and nervous at the same time.

"That's correct I work for the Office of Naval Intelligence as a field operative. You know Mister Chancellor, I find it quite intriguing that you've had such an complicated childhood. Parents don't give a shit about you and you're constantly trying to keep your little brother safe from your two older ones and your sister. That's what I call a fighter in you. Then I get word of a student that forcefully hacked his way into a secure high school database and stole the answers for two final tests, selling them to failing students. That my friend is a piece of work, especially for someone your age. I suppose I just had to see for myself, what it was about."

"Is that why I'm here? Is that why you're here?"

The ONI agent gave him a piercing look that could be felt even behind the glasses, "Then, the last straw was when one of your older brothers sent little Keith to the hospital, requiring stiches in his cheek. Three days later, your house infests itself with carbon monoxide due to a leak in the electronic valves. Now I don't have to look far to see what had incidentally caused such a thing to happen. Both you and I know what really happened. It's why you're sitting here in this concrete dump."

He took a sip of the ONI brand coffee, a brew that is rumored to stir paranoia, but it was still a taste he enjoyed nonetheless. "Listen, I'm here to give you a one-time offer for a second chance. I work for a highly classified division of the Office of Naval Intelligence who has been monitoring you. Aside from the cheaters and gassing up your own home to try and get back at your brothers and sister, you have a potential to be an invaluable asset to society, even when your parents neglected you. You have a brilliant mind which your teachers had all claimed had never been done before for years. Even the dumb AI creation you had used to bypass the servers containing the test answers is commendable. Your intellect is something they have never seen before and right now, they're probably wishing that your behavior was on the same level as you'd be bound to be the next multimillionaire."

Chancellor looked over at him, his gaze changing from boredom to listening. Behind his mask, the ONI Agent smiled, he had stirred his interest.

"You have two options right now." He continued, "In about an hour, you are going to be dragged in a courtroom where you will be charged with attempted murder on your older siblings. Your defense in this aspect is going to get chewed to pieces regardless of what statements they might have. Needless to say, you are going to spend the rest of your life here. Now your options are; you can remain here and continue to blame big brothers and sister for every issue that plagues you like a spoiled little boy. Or I can recruit you into the Office of Naval Intelligence and mold you into a man."

"What about the charges?"

"I can't do anything about that, but if people want to pry into the personal life of a Section Three ONI Agent, they best be watching their backs."

Even the stony faces judges of courts were wary, especially when a case involved an ONI Agent. In human society, the fear of ONI dispatching assassins and striking fear into the population hung over like darkened clouds. One lawyer actually won in a case against one and was found burned alive a week later. Which turned out to be no coincidence.

"Have you ever killed someone?" He asked out of the blue.

For a moment, Chancellor swore the agent stiffened, before his snake gaze returned, "Yes. Many."

The silence was unnerving. "Coming with me is going to be a very difficult decision. There will be a great deal of hardship on the road ahead and times where you will want me as your best friend and times where you'd want me in a body bag. However, I'll say this; you agree and nobody will ever fuck with you again. Those that do will know the true meaning of regret."

The agent could see a fire of vengeance burning behind the kid's eyes, invigorated by his words. One of the greatest assets an agent of ONI had was his or her mouth. Training had taught them that the use of words was enough to change a person's entire life. Often times, a complete lie told by one could pass as believable. They were that good. Just as important was the tone the user was speaking, as the subtle detail could be of equal importance as what was being said.

The ONI agent checked his gold watch, "I'm leaving in five seconds and was optimistic you'd be more eager to come along. However, your lack of a response bores me and it seems that my scouting has been a waste of time. I hope you make a decision quickly because once I leave out that door, your opportunity will leave with me."

Chancellor stared back at him, even as he got up to drain his coffee. He turned and walked out the door.

"Wait." Just as he passed the threshold, he barely heard the kid stop him. His mid six foot frame towered over him and he had done his best not to recoil from the poisonous stare. "What can ONI do for me?"

The agent raised an eyebrow and chuckled darkly, "Kid, it's more of the other way around. What can you do for ONI?"

Hello everyone and welcome to the 5th volume of the Blades' adventure.

This first scene was inspired by Marvel's Agents of SHIELD in one of my favorite scenes in the entire show. So I took a part of its playbook in order to perhaps help in events that are going to happen later on in the story that I can't give away just yet. Despite the rather cold feel of this chapter, the first part I find might be a take on the funnier side.

More of what's going on with my writing is that this and one more Blades story will conclude Season 2 of its trilogy and the prospect of a Season 3 is uncertain, but is possible. However, I am in the midst of planning something a little different.

Thanks for reading and reviewing. You give my writing purpose.