Chapter 2 - Forbidden: Love

The brown-haired man looked up from his state-issued Sinner's I.D. card to the large TV screen on the wall of his cell, where a large stuffed bear was telling him that he'd have to begin basic military training very soon. Apparently, his knowledge and skills were properties of the state, and he'd just squandered them by losing his memory. As punishment, he was sentenced to one million years of penal servitude to the panopticon. He looked down to the I.D., again. There was a picture of him.

"Epsilon 'Leech' Epitaph," it said in large letters near the top corner.

"Accessory Unit: Carla."

He glanced at what he'd thought was a young woman, standing just inside the cell door (lurking quite creepily, in his opinion). Apparently, she had been damaged heavily during his last mission and had been returned to him refurbished and wearing the standard-issue Accessory's coat. The stuffy coat, along with her hair, facial features and demeanor made her look strikingly like a grown-up Wednesday from the Addams Family.

"I wonder if she can do anything more than lurk by the door like a weirdo?" He said to himself.

He stood up. He needed to think. He began pacing back and forth, trying to remember anything of how he ended up here. Nothing came, until a robotic voice spoke sternly.

"It is a crime to pace more than five steps while confined. Your sentence has been extended by ten years."

His jaw dropped. A crime to walk around his own cell? The room was barely big enough to spit across! He went back to the bunk on the wall. It didn't look comfortable, but he lay down on it, anyway. Why was nothing coming to him?

"It is a crime to recline during confinement," the robot piped up, again. "Sentence extended by five years."

"Come on!" Epsilon exclaimed, incredulous. How could such menial actions be against the law? In a flash, he was standing beside the robot, fist drawn back and ready to ruin her makeup.

"How many years for damaging state property?" he growled.

"Please refer to the Window On Liberty to purchase entitlements for freedoms," the robot replied, nonchalant.

He turned his head to the giant monitor on the wall and dropped his fist. With no reaction from the robot and little else to do, he checked the board. Just about everything was against the law, unless one paid for the privilege to perform activities. Pacing, reclining, leaving the cell, even talking to women, any and every freedom had to be purchased with these Entitlement Points. How on earth did one earn entitlement points?

"Complete operations for the greater good to earn entitlement points and begin your contribution to the panopticon," the robot responded, as if reading his mind. Everything about it was beginning to creep him out. Much to his dismay, he would soon learn that this thing was to be his constant companion, to honor and cherish, 'til death did them part. He did learn that he could change her apparel and gear for a negligible fee, which he did as soon as he was able; Red combat boots with shin reinforcement, red leggings leaving a small segment of her thighs bare, red mini skirt, bare midriff, red turtleneck covered by a yellow field jacket, a pair of anti-glare spectacles, and finally, a red beret topping her shoulder-length, coffee-colored hair. He inspected the preview image one last time.

"Not bad," he nodded. While he was taking his refresher course in military operations, the crew of Citizens who maintained Accessory units would take her away to make the necessary modifications.

So, it was off to basic training, for him. Call it skill, muscle memory, luck, or whatever you like, but he passed with flying colors. After that, he was reunited with his old crew. There was one new person that nobody had met before, though that didn't really matter to Epsilon, because he didn't very well recognize any of them, anyway.

"You got punched in the face by an abductor? That's some heavy shaz!" the newcomer, a young man called Mattias exclaimed.

"After he got hit in the face by ME," Nina added. She rubbed her elbow where she had hit a building when she got thrown at Eppy.

"That's what they tell me," Epsilon replied, cracking a grin, "Though I have no recollection of it."

He hadn't forgotten his trademark smirk, though it quickly faded when an angry-looking woman in a long, red jacket came into view.

"Who's that?" Epsilon whispered to Matthias with a suspicious glance.

"No, that's Woo - Natalia "9" Woo, the OPS agent assigned to our platoon," Matthias answered.

"Woo hoo, she's quite a looker," Epsilon remarked.

Nina and Carlos stared at him, mouths hanging open in surprise, while Uwe only closed his eyes and sighed.

"Here we go again," he muttered.

Matthias wasn't sure how to respond. "I hear she's pretty rough, too; Ready to dish out additional years to our sentences for even the slightest infraction. Better not step out of line!"

She was upon them, now.

"Listen up, worms! There's an assignment for you."

Too busy taking in the view to hear the words that were being spoken, Epsilon was eying the blue necktie that curiously ran into the neck of the woman's jacket and out through an oddly-placed zipper below her neck. As her arm tensed due to her fist clenching, his gaze wandered to what was barely visible through the partly opened zipper, then traced a single lock of emerald hair to the top of her head, where a tiny field cap sat, slightly askew. There must have been bobby pins holding it in place, otherwise it would surely have fallen off. His eyes continued their visual reconnoiter down her other cheek, noticing a mouth full of gritted teeth and bypassing a delicate nose on their way up to find a pair of spectacles with red frames supporting the lenses. Behind the lenses -

"You have pretty eyes," Epsilon interrupted, clearly having not listened to a single word she'd said.

His companions minds promptly overloaded. After their brains rebooted a minute later, they picked their jaws up off the floor.

The agent's eyes were hazel (more or less coincidentally, the same color as his Accessory's) and were glaring at him with a hatred unrivaled by anyone he'd ever known... and then, he realized that, due to his amnesia, he actually didn't remember anyone at all ever having been angry with him. He knew that was probably working in his favor, right now, and tried to suppress a grin.

She continued her speech once his eyes met hers and he kept staring into her eyes as she spoke, as if he was trying to read her very soul.

"I heard that a head trauma during your last operation gave you amnesia. I wanted to do that myself years ago, but the People's Charter discourages all acts that detract from the glory and prosperity of our wonderful panopticon. Anyway, the folks in charge are glad you survived and are benevolently offering you a second chance to prove you're more than just a drain on society. There are some operations available for CODE 1 sinners like yourself, so go sign up and contribute to the greater good. Dismissed!"

She turned to leave.

"Wait a minute. You look like you could use a break - would you like to do dinner, sometime? I know this place," Epsilon trailed off, pointing a thumb over his shoulder in the general direction of the Fueling Station.

Natalia didn't even break her stride, though her empty fist clenched once more and she twitched, though she tried not to let it show.

"Come back when you can stay awhile! I bet you've got a pretty smile and I'd really like to see it sometime," Epsilon called after her.

Nina couldn't take it.

"EPSILON!"

She regained control of her hands just in time to pull them away from the amnesiac's throat without strangling him. "You hated her before, and now you're hitting on her? Are you TRYING to get our sentences extended again?"

"They say the eyes are a window to the soul," Epsilon argued. "Those are not hard eyes. They're eyes that have seen a lot, but they're soft eyes, eyes that yearn for more. They yearn for freedom. They yearn for friendship. Those eyes yearn... for love."

"The worst part," Uwe put in, "Is that I'm not convinced you aren't serious. That abductor really did a number on you."

"Natalia once told you that if it weren't for the paperwork she'd have to fill out, she'd hope you returned from a field operation in a box, and a small one, at that. She also said that if you were ever abducted by a rival 'Con, she wouldn't send a party to reclaim you. Then, she said she bet they'd return you within a week, but that she'd consider that a declaration of war," Carlos informed him.

"So, I could be absolved of my sentence, just by being a big enough pain in the neck?" The troublemaker chuckled.

"Something like that," Uwe responded, "Or get yourself executed. The world has no use for those who won't help maintain it."

Epsilon was undeterred. There was something about the OPS agent that he couldn't explain, but he liked it. There had to be something more behind that steel exterior... or maybe there wasn't. Either way, his curiosity was piqued and he wanted to find out.

"I don't know, she just seems awfully put out about this place. There's a lot on her mind. She's probably overworked, underpaid, and just needs a little time to relax," he replied. "Besides, she's cute when she's angry."

Nina snorted. "She's gonna be really cute for a long time, then, 'cuz she's always angry."

Mattias shook his head. "You must have a death wish, man. I'd stay far, far away from her, if I were you."

"I enjoy a challenge," Epsilon shrugged, giving his famous smirk that made people want to punch him.

"Well, you're in for a treat," Uwe glowered, "Because you have a better chance of becoming a citizen On High than you do of getting into Natalia '9' Woo's good graces."

"It's almost like even her name, itself is trying to discourage someone from pursuing her," Carlos added, ""Nein' is German for 'No', and to attempt to win someone's heart is to woo them..."

"So, Natalia '9' Woo is almost literally, Natalia Forbidden: Love," Nina paraphrased.

"Now, hold on. Chasing a woman is little different from hunting an abductor," Epsilon shook an index finger in protest. "A woman's heart, an abductor's pod, it's all the same. You've just got to find what works and keep plugging away until it opens. After that, the prize is free for the taking. It's the thrill of the hunt. The rarer the reward or the more dangerous the trophy, the more fun it is to pursue - and the better it feels when it's finally in your grasp. Forbidden fruit is the sweetest, they say."

Epsilon raised a hand and slowly closed it into a fist as he spoke, eyes half closed. If they hadn't realized it before, the others now knew he was in earnest. How, they couldn't understand. Epsilon was Epsilon; The things he did, only he understood, and they doubted if even he himself knew why he did what he did, half the time. They kind of wished he'd figure it out.

Carlos had one final word of caution before the group made their way to take on the mission the OPS had issued.

"Remember that when she begins shooting at you."

Within the solitude of her personal quarters, Natalia took a deep breath and inhaled the scent from a bottle of bath soap she kept on a ledge in her bathtub. Strawberry, her favorite. She reclined into the bubble bath, recounting the events of the day. She had worked long and hard to get to the station in life she currently enjoyed, which included her own personal lavatory and bathing facility instead of the public showers used by sinners. Water was rationed, of course, so she had to be sparing with the full baths, opting for sink rub-downs the majority of the time and an occasional shower. When she really needed to relax, though, nothing beat a nice, warm bubble bath. It didn't matter to her that she had to get the bath soap from the black market through a citizen who had contact with a sinner who knew a guy that made the stuff. Its contents were anybody's guess, she probably didn't even want to think about that, but it smelled good and it got the job done.

Her thoughts currently revolved around one particular part of the day. Epsilon "Leech" Epitaph; What was he playing at, now? Not once, during her career as an OPS agent, had a sinner seriously flattered or complimented her - at least not since she'd put her foot down and demanded the respect due her rank She'd learned to do that a long time ago as a Sinner, herself. Before his accident, Epsilon had made obviously sarcastic comments, but never before had he hit on her or actually asked her out. That was a little forward, even for Epsilon. He couldn't be serious, could he? Him, a lowly sinner, and that practically a novice once again, with a brand new million-year sentence hanging over his head. Her, an OPS agent, the creme de la creme of the panopticon and only one step down from the population On High (albeit a big step). What was he thinking? Even if he did have an interest in her, a relationship would be scandalous. She'd have to be extra hard on him to avoid looking like she was showing favoritism. Yes, maybe that's what she needed to do? Hopefully, it would discourage him from making any frivolous and foolish advances in the future. Natalia closed her eyes, the eyes that seemed to have held the amnesiac so enthralled, and tried to turn her thoughts elsewhere. Maybe, if he cleared his sentence and became a respectable and productive member of society, maybe then she might think about considering... Confound it, he was supposed to be invading rival 'Cons, why did he keep invading her thoughts?