Other Side of the Fence
There definitely were days when he felt like a relic from another time. It hadn't felt that way in his old job, working in the police department. The rank of detective gave him equal footing among his colleagues and his God given smarts took care of the rest.
Here in Section 9, however, he always felt one step behind. This was a whole other level to the game, and he couldn't help but feel that he wasn't equipped for it. Most of the time he could keep the feeling under wraps, working his brain overtime and being as daring as his familial obligations and ever present sense of mortality would allow. But it was never enough. His body, he mused to himself, was as outdated as the pistol he held in his hand as he fired off shot after shot at the distant target.
Some people called the other members of the team crazy, reckless, extraordinary. Togusa knew better. Their superhuman feats stemmed from dissociation of what was warm and human and unpredictable. They simply believed they had nothing to lose and so would accomplish seemingly impossible things. Such as tonight when he had witnessed the Major snipe her target while hanging from a rip line, then cut herself loose to perform a hair tingling swan dive twenty stories to the city street below. Unbelievable, the duped swat team had whispered reverently as the cloaked Togusa slipped away. Superhuman.
He knew it was stupid to wish himself in the Major's shoes. But to do what she did with such seeming ease, and yeah, to be the object of open mouthed wonder as he had seen tonight was something he allowed himself to consider on when safely alone. The section would pay for the body swap, top military grade of course. They would fund the crippling price of upkeep. And he would have the tools he needed to not only keep up but to excel.
Yeah, it was an interesting idea. It was something he thought about daily. But then he would think of the touch of his wife's soft skin. He couldn't be sure it would be the same, the feeling of holding her from inside a prosthetic. So he took more late night target practice.