You've lost your sense from the emptiness
You do as the headlines compel you
Become whole again and let the war begin
Destroy the veneer that surrounds you
There's no defense for your recklessness
You stare as the proof lies before you
Why can't you see, are you afraid to be
Exposed to the demons around you?
The moment was getting closer by each swooshing breath he took. For some reason the meds had decided they will not work the usual wonders this night and Nate was getting more desperate by each passing second. Not even minute anymore. His lungs were weak because the treatment time was basically long overdue. A week precisely. While week he spent lurking in the corners and shadows of the street and other places his insight was needed as well as the while planning. That was the truth. And while that time felt fine with him he knew that the percentage was bearing critical. But there was nothing he could do beside the usual meds and nebulizer. He had no funds for anything else. Yes, he'd tried jobs before, it wasn't like he was some kind of weasel slinking off his lazy ass. Completely opposite.
Nate liked working. He enjoyed being employed but somehow his past and illness made a ring for trouble and nobody really wanted to have an employee with terminal illness or criminal record or whatever it was in his mysterious file.
Sure he'd done quite a massive research into his digital data and roamed many federation systems to see what they had on him. Even whatever was classified. The thing was that nothing made sense nor was easy accessed. All was coded and scribbled in a way only authorized person would be able to read all the shitload of the mess that was his documented life.
Even that would probably be classified to another level.
Nate hated that with passion. Ever since he got to his data it was mostly stats that were accumulated by hospitals.
Well, the first scribble of data was from the fateful day that changed their lives forever.
He'd been in a coma for a very long time in which they did so many tests and there the genetics showed the flaws. He'd never noticed that he had decreased lung capacity therefore kept living his life until the incident happened and the medical tests revealed this major flaw. And when they reached really deep into their research it was all said to be genetic, just as pretty much everything that turned out to be wrong with Nate's health. Except the new injuries from the electro trauma and being thrown against some part of the next building's higher wall or something like that.
Eventually they came to conclusion that his diagnosis is pretty much terminal at that point and since he still was partly deemed illegal and unregistered as a proper citizen there was no way that he'll get any crumb of the usual government support.
Which technically meant he could survive some but it would be long process and fucking expensive. Or, he'll die anyway, because being part genetic experiment on one planet that has literally been destroyed and part criminal in the one that became a colony for refugees and survivors of that destroyed planet would never be a good enough reason for the almighty to spare a coin for.
Even the medical facility couldn't do more beyond patching him up and giving standard meds.
Here was the point where jealousy over Noel sparked.
That guy got it lucky because first- critical patient due to his godknowshowmany feet high fall and fact his blood was already all over the tarmac by the time first responders jumped to action. Second- he was more visible since he just flopped down smack dab in the middle of a busy sidewalk on a mild pause in feet traffic. Also it was still daylight and whoever was in the building suffered power outage due to explosion and rushed outside to check out the situation.
And third- the guy had incredible fleet credit already from his small time at the pilot console once upon a hiccup in space which led him not really jump planets yet as his ride was delayed. For some reason Noel wasn't named actually a criminal right away so he was given a second to settle before shit really hit the fan. Besides his injuries at that second of evaluation got noted as very critical and it took a couple days in the OR before he was given a break before next round of surgeries.
Nate was less lucky as he suffered less open wounds on the outside so they had a second more to do actual poking and then occupying another OR for just a day at a time.
Or it was how he gathered the general image of it all. Obviously he was already been called out on a plaque or seven as the DB already beeped it's fearful shrill.
Luckily for the staff Nate was deeply unconscious through all that crap so they decided to be a bit fair in that situation and didn't chain him.
They did later though, when he'd gathered enough of his senses to tell the difference between doorframe and toilet seat and could actually stand for about two whole seconds instead of faceplanting himself the second his feet touched the floor.
So basically that's how he came to conclusion that he needed to be free to live a life he wants. Or at least one that's close or even just survive.
Open your eyes
Open your eyes
Open your eyes
See through the disguise
Won't you open your eyes?
So after his stats improved enough and most of his daze lessened Nate picked that damn lock and fled the hospital before hacking through their systems and deleting all his data from whenever they could've stored them, mentally, almost costing him his newly gained freedom.
Luckily somebody in the hall got the arriving officers stall because it seemed there was some security issue. That was his window so he slipped into shadows and faded away.
Turned out it was a lucky call of his conscience to run that very moment. There was a whole squad after him to do a preliminary confession. They really wanted to squeeze him so he'd admit all the alleged crimes and make this arrest. Maybe they also hoped for some fame as allegedly Nate had done some spectacular damage to some high enough people and while he's never been about bragging some believed if he'd said a word in the wind there'd be some equally spectacular uppings in his further jobs.
He didn't however. And his meager income still relied on lower level jobs where majority of savings from several rounds went into his lung procedures.
In the end Nate was barely floating financially and struggled on most days. He barely had enough to get the specific meds on the black market since he wasn't on any legal list all the government stipends and support meant he was on his own. Sure he could fake some papers to get it through legal sources but it took time and very specific things that also cost a lot of money.
Not that black market was any cheaper. On contrary. Those folks loved to soak in money and asked twice the official price which in one way made sense but still made a huge dent in low class pocket.
Some may have given him small discounts due to his connections but that was rare.
Jumping planet also wasn't as easy since their one time slip. Now they upped the security on most liner class and even mid level class ships. Escaping hospital was like making a sandwich in comparison. And it often scared the thief to the level of considering his life's not worth such hustle.
But every time that thought crossed his mind he also got harsh reminder of why he still wanted his life.
Noel…
His sole reason for not giving up.
After his escape from that hospital he'd been in a very bad place for a while, roaming underground spots and hiding in castaway buildings, surviving on sole hope.
But one day he roamed into way more dangerous place and passed out. However he remained unnoticed and as it turned out he'd chose some cargo bay at far side of the city and more precisely a container that had its doors left open. So they'd just shut the door without checking the contents and he was left inside.
After some unknown period of time the container was loaded into a shuttle and transported to a base and further loaded into a cargo deck on one and only USS Jasmine, transporter ship that warped to some outpost in space near Space Station 451 in Hadar system.
And to his even greater surprise it was just that shuttle that Noel had been piloting before he took over the Jasmine co-pilot position as his secondary mission part. And he was the one that supervised offloading and registering all the contents in ship's log.
But by the time his container was to be scanned and logged some technical error happened and a new guy sidestepped full scan of the container. So Nate was allowed to have one nice long ride to Hadar system and the outpost and eventually station itself. To his immense luck Nate's box was destined to that very last docking and then it was Noel again tinkering about the cargo deck and just another lucky strike that one of the man's beeper thingy picked biological distress signal and Noel hurriedly started to check that out.
To the other man's big surprise the signal came from the one and only Nathaniel Holler, or as he was actually named Nathaniel James Caffrey. Or at least that was what he'd found on his only poor slip of Earth paper after the blowup. But to suit the runaway life he'd altered it some. And then created couple new identities.
His most used was Nathaniel Holler. Not a favorite though.
He actually had one favorite he only used in special occasions- Nolan Halstead. It was his most proud creation- a whole new personality. He used it few times before and so far that wasn't a burned one. Yet.
To avoid it all he used it only when truly necessary. There was even a legit file and all.
But here he was Holler. He'd burned one before Jaden Lee. But then made similar one for emergencies- Daniel Jaden Allistaire. Slightly high-end civilian with money and fancy life. Jaden Lee was league pilot. At least he was on the planet that was no longer.
He was elite class with all the good recommendations and glowing fame ignited career in many backgrounds. His favorite one as it made him feel free.
But he didn't last long. After that he reinvented Daniel but kept off crafts. It was more in business based and allowed a discovery of himself- he was indeed great stock broker and marketer in general. Somehow being a conman never occurred to him as an alternative way of living. Until he made that change of direction and it became some kind of a second nature.
Then he left the planet with Noel and it never crossed his mind again.
He became Holler. But now he assumed that one was burned too. And he was back to digging for another one that he will use after this night was over.
Back in the day when Narcho found him on that ship he'd never been himself. Only that dude knew the real Nate. One that spend days bunked together in that damned camp or whatever it was.
Sure finding his bestest of friends and closest of brothers and a blossoming romance all at once and still alive came as a shock. And a bunch of trouble he couldn't figure a way out of. Though not to be mistaken, Narcho held captivating but gruff personality that held automatic power and stance that was pretty much his natural shield. And Nate be damned if he didn't pull one hell of a con on the whole crew until Nate was capable of actually defend himself. That one was rather impressive. And then they jumped ships and went rouge for a while.
Until some shit happened and their paths separated once again. Nate has been aware of loosing some of the memories due to his meet with energy fields in the past and surely banging his head many times.
There happened to be spots he found lost and while it seemed little and wasn't causing trouble it still worried the young man some.
Especially if it's gonna be a con. Or job.
Because he needed to be alert and aware. It's what they were trained for and trained to able to do. But this time it felt as if he wouldn't anymore.
Grant Devore. Suave and slick, master of magic arts and shady as tropical forest in midnight. He's fast on his feet and hard to catch even for the smartest of agents. Grant is one hell of a con artist as he never is found. And he is a mentalist. But that is for card tricks because the true side is illusion.
In a flick of a wrist and blink of an eye he can plan out major illusion scene and then be gone in the winds with the gains.
However there are two things about Grant..
One being quite simple. Good heart. He'd never hurt anyone more than cleaning some stash or money they could survive without therefore nobody he's played ha ever been low or mid class, only those with penthouses, or cappuccinos in clouds, high end class levels of many places.
Because he'd stop traffic if there's either a bird on the ground or kitten. He'd jump in a lake to save a life.
A genuinely good person behind the illusion of himself.
The other thing, tragic past. And by that meaning he's disabled. It's mostly invisible and his illusion is just so strong nobody would ever know. Grant has minor paralysis in his left foot and left wrist due to nerve damage. While he's originally left handed in general there's an ambidextrous ability, while he avoids or simply refuses to write with his right hand. It's all well hidden by a sleeve, a medical wearable that has nanotech properties.
Also Grant has diminished hearing and vision for his left side and slight facial nerve damage that usually makes his left side look different with emotional display. The claim is that years ago he'd tried to end his life by jumping from a skyscraper but never dying which was a mystery by itself. Some believed he was experimenting with some new trick ideas and covered a mistake. Others said he was just drunk and high so he misstepped some rooftop.
But whatever they believed public loved the magic man. He pulled off major spectacular illusion shows that would take people to another dimension while secretly cleaning out bank accounts.
Grant lived that life of magic and even became famous at some point.
Until his mysterious disappearance.
Well Grant was famous but flawed and society milked it all along. They adored such personality and character. And Nate could pull off the last dregs from his latest force field misconception.
After that Clayton Rydell lived a short farm life as a local ranch keeper. It was small low down until his rodeo skills took him to new heights of a farmboy life in some small town in the far south and east, or west if you stood on the other side of the map.
Four months later Clay was killed by a jealous competition as his ride was sabotaged and he crashed from irritated horse's back. In reality Nate remained in a deep state of sleep under minimal function that was undetectable and later his body dissolved into shadows until his brain overcame the trauma and healed. To him directly the damage was really small- a hiccup once in a while that slowed down to mild tremble of a hand and hitch of a face or head. Spasmatic outlets that raked his left shoulder and back along with several ribs and even part of lung dissolved and didn't leave too much to remember that.
Nick Moreau also didn't survive long at some point. Nate wasn't liking the cold character but was great for dealing with shit. That guy was mean and dark, strongly reminding of Narcho in his best gruff. He was a mechanic with a dark twist and loved fixing scrapyard shit for living. Until he came upon a pot of gold and left some mark that there could've happened either an incident or accident. Plot twist happened few months later by impersonating twin of Nick's so there could've been indecisive fate for him.
And finally Clyde Halden. Young wannabe do-it-all-er. Freshly out of academy and eager to learn. Most brilliant student with exceptionally high IQ levels. Young genius from Hadar. By accident during helping out on cargo deck seven to offload fresh supply run. He'd been missed on official log due to some error on second link of chain of action and was pardoned eventually.
Clydon Jeremy Marsden-Halden, or for short Clyde Halden, was injured as he was placing barrels of diamine-tetra-hepa-myotolene, some sort of metal looking chemical with loads of kinetic energy stored inside. It was liquid by nature but synthesized in solid material for transport. However it still was hard to tame even in solid state. And it did lead to an accident where one barrel started to move because of ground vibrations and accidental container bump on other end by someone being clumsy. It resulted in Clyde being squished some and banged up. At the still unstable barrel containment his ride was bumpy to say the least. It was revealed that he was found by one Commander Narcho upon sudden scanner reading.
Clyde suffered prolonged slow internal bleeding of his left lung from blunt force trauma that basically nearly squashed his body into a pancake. He bled inside for days until his fading life was saved by fleet medical. Hadar allowed him to stay whenever and it's been claimed to be the best recovery and rehabilitation time ever.
But it also was the place that first diagnosed him. For that Nate wasn't sure to be happy or sad about. They did just drop a bomb on him like that and went on. While he was left reeling and sobbing for days with Noel soaking up all that hysteria.
After that they went off grid as Noel was on vacation for medical reasons and was given time for his own body to soak up some love.
To this day he felt it the best time ever.
You would all be runnin'
In a world you cannot hide
And the end is comin'
For the lemmings standing in line
Overcome it
Let the fury build inside
It could all be broken
If you only opened your eyes
But for tonight he chose no aliases. In worst case scenario he'd just pop an alias that wasn't really an alias. He found out on some really ancient paperwork another last name associated with his name and since the file was in a very bad condition the rest was unreadable. But he could always use that one. Or use the last name and drop another name for it and improvise from that point on.
After all it's just for one night. And he dearly hoped to make success tonight because this was his last job here. He already told everyone underground that he's retiring from criminal world.
Or so he wanted.
For some time there was this thought of maybe quitting his shenanigans and turn to something else. He'd been there, done that. Not a hardcore stuff. He could try again. Make some strong alias and create a character out of himself and see what's good can come out of it.
Maybe even get legit medical help instead of the bullshit he's been doing all these years.
Seeing all the cheer and crowd interactions it made him long for some belonging. They used to be a team, all of the unit. Training together and hanging out together in their bunks. It was fun for some twisted reason, but maybe not. They were bunch of kids thrown into some arena to learn how to survive. But they held together and taught each other companionship and simply trusting each other their lives.
He could at least try to find a place to belong and feel as a part of something greater, like he was supposed to be.
But that was probably just a wishful thinking on his part. Knowing his luck there could always be many things going sideways. And just that alone made his mood slightly drop. However the festive vibes caught up once again. He really enjoyed the elegant displays of some crap and paintings on the walls around the whole building. But what drew his attention and appreciation the most were the artifacts from the planet no more and other decorations that glowed in the dark or just sparkled. And the ceiling high above was simply what pulled him in. It all looked so mysterious and magical he could no longer wait to explore some more.
But his beeper quietly and gently tapped out a message that returned the dark again. He was needed elsewhere, in the dungeons, and so he slipped into the darkest corner he could locate to slide through the wall. The more dark the easier he could just fade away. Maybe he should've just done that years ago, the darkness was pulling again, deeper and deeper….
Open your eyes
Open your eyes
Open your eyes
See through the disguise
Won't you open your eyes?