Alternative CH 1

Floating endlessly in darkness. No Direction. No purpose. Simply drifting eternally. Then came the light, with it come's warmth and nostalgia.

Lincoln slowly opened his eyes but was forced to close them again because of the bright light, adjusting to the light, he slowly opened his eyes again, as he did so, he immediately noticed 2 things. The first is the strong smell of anaesthetic and the second is the Asian man on the left side of the bed. The man in question had sleek black hair pulled into a bun and was currently peeling a red apple, beside him was a table to where a basket full of fruits could be found, mainly apples, pears and bananas.

Lincoln tried speaking, but no voice came out except a hoarse sound, it was here when he noticed just how dry his throat was, he tried swallowing his saliva but even doing that was painful.

The mysterious man, ignoring that he was already awake, said, with a slight Japanese accent,:

"Don't bother moving. You were in a coma for the last, 3 weeks. Your body should still be adapting at the sudden increase of activity, also there's a bottle of water to your right. "Still concentrating on peeling the apple.

Lincoln looked to his right and there was indeed a bottled water there, slowly grabbing the bottled water while feeling his body groan at the sudden increase of activity, grabbing the bottle cap and putting more force in it than necessary spilling quite a bit of water on him. Ignoring it, he greedily chugged the water, soothing the pain on his throat. Finishing the entire bottle Lincoln looked at the man again.

"Who are you and, where am I?" He asked him.

The man ignored him as if not hearing him and continued peeling the apple. Lincoln was slightly pissed at being ignored but decided to not be bothered about it.

"Look, thank you for saving me and all but I gotta know where I am or at least tell me who you are," as Lincoln said those words he was looking around at the room he was in. It looked Spartan, pure white room with functionality in mind rather than commodity with just a lamp table on the far right with wilting flowers, a heart monitor, an IV unit, a small table on his left where there was a basket full of fruits, a small window up on his right and of course the bed he was in.

The man finished peeling the apple and finally looked at Lincoln but when he saw the man's eye he had to suppress a shudder. The man's eyes were deep brown, almost pitch black but that wasn't what scared Lincoln, no, what scared him was how the man's eyes looked at him, like a predator waiting for him to make any mistake, always waiting, ever patient and constantly watching, that he was convinced that if he ever did something stupid, then he would most certainly die without even knowing how.

"I suggest you return the IV needle that you took from your arm, you still need that, and don't worry, I won't kill you. If I wanted you dead I won't even bother with doing all this shit." the man said, ignoring his question.

To say Lincoln was surprised would be an understatement, he was sure he remove the IV needle stealthily, not for any reason at all, but by the simple fact that he needed an insurance, a "just-in-case" scenario no matter how small of an "insurance" he has, but now that he looked at it, he was pretty sure it won't even do him shit against the man, hell, it might even annoy him and make his death more painful, taking a closer look at the man. He suddenly notices the few things he didn't before, for example, the way the man had his entire body, hunched together while peeling an apple, as if trying to make himself look as small as possible as he peels the apple, it could be seen as being weak or careless to the ordinary people as such would make them assume he´s an easy target, but to the eyes of a professional, he gives a feeling of an arching panther, prepared to launch itself to rip out your throat at a moment's notice, his hand full of calluses. You only get that kind of calluses for two things, either you lived your entire life as a farmer, which he isn't by the feeling of danger he gives, or your adept at using sharp blades, which Lincoln deduce he is, and taking a closer look at how the mysterious man peels the apple, he's neither shaking or having difficulty, nor are the cuts uneven, it's very clean and thin, almost transparent, only cutting the apple's skins nothing else.

At this moment Lincoln was pretty sure that whoever this man is, he is probably backed by some organisation and they probably want something from him. I mean, why else would they bother saving him.

'Maybe they want information or they could want a safe house location or maybe they want nothing and just saved me for convenience', but Lincoln doubt the last thought, no one wants to save a dying man for nothing. That was the first lesson he learned in training, everything has a price.

"We just want to know a few things, if that's what you're wondering. Also, the name is Hayate Hisakawa, with Hayate written as 颯 (Hayate) meaning " sound of the wind" and (hisa) meaning " a long time ago" and 川 (kawa) meaning "river or stream". Not 'Im-gonna-see-if-this- 45mm-needle-I-have-is-enough-to-kill-you' guy." The man now named, Hayate said while still looking straight at Lincoln. At this point, Lincoln was already planning to tackle the man to at least give him some kind of window of escape, no matter how small, and even if he isn't able to, at least he'd resist as much as possible, maybe even give the man a bloody nose and a broken teeth, but he highly doubt that considering his current situation, but with his body pumping as much adrenaline as possible making him capable of at least ignoring his bodies protest on his current predicament. He was preparing to attack the man when he suddenly broke eye contact and went to pick up another apple to peel, and for the briefest moment, Lincoln thought he saw a small smile from the man.

"I see Alex trained an excellent kid to be his prodigy" The man suddenly said

Lincoln, for a moment, showed a confused expression as if wondering how the man knew his mentor and was about to ask him when the door suddenly opened and came in his mentor.

Alexander Grey was a man with a peppered hair showing that the man was of advanced age of 57 years old, with grey eyes that seem to peer deep unto your soul that shows no emotion but apathy, a chiselled face with a thin chin strap and an average height, wearing a formal tuxedo. But Lincoln knew that under that underneath the tuxedo was an athletic body, full of old scars that speak of experience, packed and tensed as if an arched bow, that seems like even old age was unable to slow down, powerful and ready in any given moment born of constant contact with near death experience. And that same man was walking casually inside the room that Lincoln was in, with his right hand in his pocket, his steps full of confidence born from experience as if there was nothing that could threaten him, his stance relaxed. Stopping at the feet of the bed Lincoln was in and ignoring the Asian man beside the bed. He looked at Lincoln lazily and asked:

"How are you holding up kid?."

His voice sounded cold and distant, just like ice, as if he didn't care if Lincoln even survived or not and just asking for simple convenience, just like how Lincoln remembered it but even in his apathetic demeanour that he's giving and the distant tone of his voice, Lincoln knew the man was worried about him, others that don't know him may not notice it but Lincoln who had been with his mentor long enough to notice the slight intonation in his voice.

Alexander turned his eyes to Hayate, who was still peeling an apple ignoring everything around him, and asked him in a monotone voice:

"I thought you weren't going to see the kid, must have been my mistake then."

Hayate, still peeling the apple, answered without lifting his head;

"I wanted to see the prodigy you're so proud of. To be honest I was expecting an idiot who thinks the world revolves around him just because he's the prodigy of the best agent in your country".

Finally lifting his head and looking at Lincoln "Glad you proved me wrong." Standing up, Hayate dusted himself off and looked at Alexander for the first time since he entered, it here when Lincoln notice how small the man was, compared to his mentor who is 1.85m tall, he was shorter only reaching to his mentor's eye level, but he had a feeling that if it ever came to trading blows, his mentor would be hard pressed on taking down the smaller Asian man, it was a strange feeling since Lincoln never felt such, he always had a vision of his mentor as an immovable mountain, now that he takes a look at them both, it was as if looking at an immovable object meeting an unstoppable force.

Hayate walked pass to Alexander and to the door. With half of his body already out of the door, he spoke to Lincoln, without turning back," I have a feeling this won't be the last time we'll meet each other. Try not to die till then, kid."

With those words, he finally closed the door leaving Lincoln alone with his mentor.

Alexander turned his eyes back to his prodigy and sat on the chair Hayate was in just moments ago, and for the first few minutes he said nothing, simply staring at him, when Lincoln was about to ask how his mentor had been doing, Alexander beat him to it, he asked in a monotone voice," What do you think you were doing?".

Lincoln's first instinct was to play the innocent, of course, he knew what he was talking about but that idea left as quickly as it came, he had to remind himself that lying now was a very bad idea, especially to his mentor. To others, it may seem as if Alexander was simply inquiring about what happened to him, similar to asking about the weather, but to Lincoln who knew him long enough was able to notice the cold anger hidden in his monotone voice and that scared him, he only saw his mentor be angry twice and on both occasion the ones who received his anger ended up dead, because no matter how much walls and protection they placed between them and him, by the next day they always die in the most painful way, usually in torture, but now that cold anger is being directed at him. So deciding that lying would be pretty stupid, he decided in telling the truth,

"I had to do what I had to do."

"What you HAD to do was to wait for the perfect opportunity to kill him AND his sub-leaders, that way taking down the entire hierarchy and finally ending the bloody civil war going on that country. What you DID was you rushed into the warehouse, guns blazing like some bloody idiot going gung-ho." narrowing his eyes," I did not teach you that. I taught you to wait patiently for the right moment to maximise the effects of your attacks and lessen the stress on you, I taught you to be smart, I expected you to fight the same way. So, I want you to tell me why you did it." His voice getting colder at each word, "I want you to tell me why you let 2 of the five targets that you were supposed to kill, get away. I want you to tell me how you wasted 3 years of Intel gathering in 1 hour. I want you to tell me why you left your partner, that is only because of him that you're even alive at this moment and finally, I want you to tell me why in God's good name I should let you live and not shoot you right here and now."

Alexander's voice never raised but Lincoln knew his mentor was right. He let an opportunity of ending the civil war and crippling the ISIS group where it really hurts.

"I knew what I did, but I couldn't just let those orphans, especially the little girl to be fucking raped by those animals. I saw them being herded like some sort of goddamn cattle, pushing them to get into the trucks and we both know what happens when they go in those trucks, they disappear. Never to be seen again, only to be used like some breeding cow underneath some unnamed dessert and be killed when they're of no use anymore. I couldn't bear watching it."

at this point, Lincoln was getting angry, not at his mentor, but at himself, he knew what he did, he knew he could have saved more people like them, orphans and people who lost everything if he just ignored it and closed his eyes, but he couldn't. He couldn't just let those animals get away with what they're about to do, especially when he saw the brothers eyes when his sister was being separated from him. Lincoln did not see a cowering childlike always, no, what he saw was a brother prepared to die to protect his family no matter how much the odds were stacked against him. A boy of 15 years old defending his 13-year-old sister against 5 armed adults, even Lincoln has to respect that.

"Many would say that what I did was being selfish, that I just saved 2 and doomed a 100 maybe more people, those of which could have been saved or prevented just by letting that animal's rape the little girl." Lincoln clenched his hands" So, yeah. I destroyed 3 years of Intel gathering in an hour, I left my partner that only thanks to him that I lived today, I went in guns blazing and let 2 of the 5 people responsible escape for all of the shit that's going on in that miserable country they call Syria. But you know what" Lincoln looked at his mentor in the eyes. "When I saved them, I saw the relief in the brother's eyes, I saw gratefulness and if I were given another chance, then I would do the same thing all over again." Lincoln finished, looking straight at Alexander's in the eyes.

Alexander stared back at him; he saw determination and stubbornness in Lincolns. "Heh" Smirking a bit, he stood up and started walking to the door, with his hand on the doorknob, he turned his head back and without looking at anyone in particular,

"You can be discharged in a week, till then take a rest."

With that he left, leaving Lincoln with alone in the room with nothing to do except to arrange his complex thoughts.

9 days Later

Lincoln is on a training mat, fighting against an older man. Lincoln delivered a quick right kick aiming for the man's head but was blocked by the older man's left arm. The man then proceeded to grab Lincoln's right leg and pulled it towards him, Lincoln already predicting this to happen, jumped and twisted himself mid-air causing left leg to swing with force. The older man seeing the left leg coming for his head, let go of his right leg and jump back making Lincoln fall down own on his back, wasting no time, the older man rushed to the downed Lincoln but before he could get any nearer Lincoln was already standing up and was making a boxing stance. The older man without being bothered or even stopping proceeded to deliver to Lincoln a right kick. Lincoln felt the strong right kick and could do nothing but block it, closing both of his arms and keeping it close to him, that would have been a good technique but the only drawback was that he could not see anything in front of him, without any warning he felt another kick on his left, then on his right, then to the left again. It kept going like a pattern but as Lincoln was preparing to dash in, he felt a sudden kick on his right ribs, holding back a wince of pain, Lincoln kept dashing ignoring the pain on his right rib, when he got near enough he delivered a quick right jab, then left, then right, then an uppercut, then a right kick which, with surprisingly the older man all dodge with ease, considering how fast Lincoln's jab and kick were going, as if he can somehow predict what Lincoln's next move would be. Getting frustrated, Lincoln started going faster, his action started going wider, his kicks broader and it was no surprise when the older man delivered a strong punch to Lincoln's phalanx, forcing Lincoln to stop. The older man took advantage of this and did a leg sweep making Lincoln fall down and as Lincoln was about to stand up, he found a feet on his neck, trying to move only made the foot start to slowly put weight on his throat. Lincoln, seeing no other alternative to escape, gave up.

"57 years old and still I can't even take you down" Lincoln said between breath, as he was lying down the mat.

"At least you're a good workout exercise." The older man, Alexander, smiled with mirth. Throwing a towel at Lincoln and landing on his face, without even bothering to stand up, started wiping the towel on his face. Taking the towel off his face he looked up and saw his mentor hand, grabbing his hands, Alexander pulled him up.

"How's your body holding up?" He asked

"Quite well, considering how badly I ended up. I consider this a recovery" Lincoln replied, internally shuddered remembering what the doctors said to him. Shaking his head to remove those thoughts,. 'Besides today's the day the 'prodigal son' returns to its family'

2 hours later Lincoln was freshly dressed in a V neck fashion with regular patched denim and grey ankle boot while Alexander was wearing a front open cardigan with grey tone along with denim jeans beside him was a duffel bag. Lincoln already knew what was inside the duffel bag. He looked at his mentor straight in eyes and spoke the words he always dreaded yet somehow wanted to.

"I'm going home"

Authors note:

Hey guys, I hope you like it. I was actually planning on posting it yesterday but I got caught up in stuff. Anyway here's the chapter. I hope you like it. Also please tell me what I could improve or how I could improve it.

R&R, Flames and constructive criticism are welcome.