Part of The Program
Part 1
There are many possible realities that exist parallel to one another. While they differ in ways large and small, there is one thing that is constant-- most of them do not know of each others' existence. However, there is some trouble brewing that may change that…
The first thing he saw was that he was in an alley, once his eyes had adjusted to the dim light. Knowing he had a job to do, he made sure that his weapons were concealed so as to not to cause trouble on his way through the city. As he emerged from the alley, he saw that he was in Japan, due to the signs and billboards being written in Japanese. Before he could go on any further, he was halted by a flash of an image in his mind. The image was that of a logo with the words "RAPT."
In the past he had learned that flashes like these always pointed him towards what he was supposed to do, and so he had come to trust them. After gathering information by questioning others, he came to learn that RAPT was a peacekeeping force that had some unsettling things connected to it. He had also learned that its headquarters had been attacked by some assailants who were now in hiding. He decided to go to the headquarters to look for clues as to what his mission here was. The place, sure enough, was decimated by an explosion, just as he had heard, but what got his attention was that the police were not involved in securing the area, but instead some masked men in military attire were on patrol. He was able to sneak around security sections put up to keep the public away from the area. When he came upon the building, he saw that they were bringing things out from what was left of the shattered structure in metal boxes so as to hide their contents. He had to find a way to sneak in and take a closer look.
He was tired of guarding this place, which gave him the creeps due to the things he had seen inside. He had decided to sneak away to smoke a cigarette to calm his nerves when he practically jumped at a sound coming just around a corner nearby. Getting his weapon ready, he went to check it out, despite not wanting to. However, he knew that if he did not, he would have some serious hell to pay. Carefully, he came around the corner, but saw nothing but scurrying rats. Relieved, he was unaware of a shadow that descended on him from above, and then his world went dark.
He had decided to take a uniform from one of the soldiers to have a better look around without causing any trouble. But before he could do this he had to wait for one of them to separate from the others. A few minutes later, he got lucky and saw that one of them had gone nearby for a smoke. He went around to the other end of the alley and made a sound to distract the soldier before he climbed up a rain pipe. When he saw that his target was beneath him, he came down on the guy and knocked him out. Once he had done so, he changed clothes to blend in, tied the guy up, and entered the building. After following the flow of soldiers that came out of the building, he found that he was being led underground. The lab which he came upon was almost untouched by the explosion above. There he saw huge tubes which contained people that were undergoing some type of process to be turned into various types of monsters.
Many thoughts raced across his mind, some of which centered on destroying the place since he knew what he was there for. He decided that would not be a good idea, since the things here were being relocated to somewhere else. He had to discover where that place was and then proceed from there, and so to do this he had to blend in by doing what he was told. Time passed and no one became aware of his presence there—he was able to blend in even when the soldiers were finished with their task and moving out, just as he had planned. He entered one of the vehicles, where the soldiers were prohibited from talking, which made his presence even better concealed. Sometime during the trip to wherever they were headed, an explosion was heard, and the vehicle suddenly stopped. The men he was with started to panic and questioned what was going on. Soon, their communication radios came to life, informing them that they were being attacked.
The men-- including him-- were ordered out of the vehicle and told to attack the source of the trouble. The source of the trouble he saw was a silver-haired girl wearing a black t-shirt and chaps who was firing at the vehicles and at the men trying to stop her. He watched as the men who were with him also fell to her gunfire, until he was the last one standing. Suddenly she focused her attention on him and pointed her guns in his direction. Having no choice, as she fired, he had to respond in kind. It was over in a heartbeat as the world around them became silent in the aftermath.
