AN:
I've decided writing my author's notes like this looks less... annoying...
Short(er) chapter today. The first 2 1/2 paragraphs were written at 3:30 in the morning during a spell of insomnia, and I decided not to change it the next time I sat down to write. The random words "Pit filled with cheese dddddddddddddddddddd(...)" was directly beneath it, d's continuing for about two pages. Also, the Loboto and the Tetris nightmares are completely unrelated.
As always, missed spelling errors should be reported.
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Ch3: Mission No. 1
Somewhere, in the back streets of Los Angeles, a battered old delivery van was parked in the alley between a rather shady looking video rental store and an even shader looking pizza parlor. The van had been at one time solidly painted a depressing shade of grey, but now the paint was pealing off in great strips, leaving patches of rust the size of road signs exposed. The tinted windows were cracked, and the entire van had a way about it that strongly suggested it had never been cleaned.
Is there anything special about this van that would make a sane person describe it in such flowering detail? Of course there is. No, the van didn't suddenly explode at this moment, killing a lone drug dealer as he ducks into the pizza parlor to grab a bite to eat.
Instead, despite the van's abysmal outward appearance, it was one of the most sophisticated spy vehicles of its time. State of the art, seamlessly integrated equipment lined the walls, complete with mysterious blinking lights and dozens of colored video screens. Several cartons of half-eaten Chinese food were in the hands of agents and perched precariously by keyboard, filled the van with delicious smells. A thick shag rug had been firmly attached to the floor by means unknown, possibly as a joke, possibly because the first group of agents that had used the van had included several hippies.
Raz sat quietly in a corner. Under normal circumstances, he would have been barely able to contain his excitement. He was on a mission to track down a dangerous psychic at large in the streets of Los Angeles, one who was believed to be responsible for five deaths and several disappearances.
Five days had passed since that traumatic nightmare, and even though Raz hadn't had another, he was still reluctant be out in the field. Raz hadn't told anyone about it, mostly because if he did, well, he'd be sent to the loony bin. People didn't feel physical pain when they were dreaming, and even the psychic attacks that he had endured during training hadn't been nearly as painful. He had, for the first time ever, tried to talk his way out of it. If, during the mission, he dozed off and....
He really didn't want to think about it.
To make things worse, Dave Huron was group leader. The man was what you would call old school to the extreme, so by-the-book that the mere mention of Raz's early admission into the organization would bring his blood to a boil. Consequently, Dave didn't like Raz, and Raz didn't like him much ether. Every time the two were sent on a mission together, Dave found some way of preventing Raz from taking any part said mission. The last few times, Raz had found himself "guarding strategic locations", which had included an old stump in the middle of the woods, a large dumpster behind a retirement home, and a tinny video arcade in the back of an abandoned daycare center.
Actually, Raz enjoyed that last one. It had been a routine find-the-pyrokinetic-arsonist mission, the kind of mission Raz found boring, and Dave had somehow found a plausible sounding excuse too force him to stay behind, something about how the pyro seemed to be targeting places were she'd had bad experiences blah blah blah. By the time his exhausted, and slightly charred, team came back, Raz had progressed from not knowing how to play packman to beating the enigmatic "AAA", setting the new high score.
"Hey, kid."
Raz's attention snapped back to the present. He looked up to see Agent Asok Gandhi watching him. Asok was the second youngest agent in the van after Raz, and this was his first major mission.
"Are you going to finish that?" Said the ever-ravenous sixteen year old, pointing to the half-eaten container of lo mein in Raz's hand.
"Yes." Raz said before shoving some into his mouth with his spork. He liked Asok well enough. Asok's Mother, Jahana Gandhi, had come from India about twenty years ago as part of an exchange of skilled agents. Asok had inherited her amazing abilities as a psychic healer, and he hoped to follow in her footsteps.
"Oh." Asok said before returning his attention to a hand held gaming device.
Raz picked himself up and, still munching on his noodles, and looked over Asok's shoulder. He recognized the colorful falling blocks almost instantly, and quickly looked away. One of the most traumatic experiences he'd ever had while in someone's mind had involved Tetris, and he still had nightmares. He'd be running as fast as he could, then there would be these walls coming out of the ground, and then he'd be trying desperately not to get crushed by falling blocks, then- SPLAT!
Raz glanced around at the other agents in the van with him. Besides himself, Dave and Asok, Agents Thomas Marqui and Lana Sun were also part of the team.
Thomas Marqui was a Los Angeles native who knew the city better than any other agent, and was considered to be one of the leading urban explorers in both the psychic and normal communities. His short, dirty-blond hair complemented his hard grey eyes, and he look natural in both business suits and torn jeans and t-shirts. Raz and Thomas, after a rough start because of Raz's age, had gained a mutual respect for each other. Raz was a skilled acrobat, and the only other person on the team capable of keeping up with Thomas on runs "through the urban jungle".
Lana Sun's father had come from China to the states during the Cultural Revolution and married an American woman, much to his parents' displeasure. Lana was kind and slightly protective of Raz and Asok, and reminded Raz a little of Milla. Her biggest talent was her ability to find things and people that she had seen before, and her main job on the mission was to ensure that the killer couldn't go into hiding after they found him.
The doors to the van swung open, and Dave hopped in. He quickly unzipped a nondescript uniform and pulled it off, revealing an equally nondescript grey suit.
"Alright." He said as he pulled out a red tie, ice cold blue eyes scanning his fellow agents. "Everyone in street clothes?"
Everyone was dressed in street clothes. Raz was wearing a pair of jeans, an orange t-shirt, a brown jacket, sneakers, and he had his hair spiked and held back with his favorite pair of orange goggles. Asok looked just like a collage student in kakis and a blue polo shirt, and had an old backpack full of medical supplies to lug around with him. Thomas had donned one of his many urban exploration outfits, and since his fellow explorers were in on this, no one would think twice about a man jumping from roof to roof. Lana had a pink blouse and a black skirt on. It made her look pretty, and with the addition of a contact lens over one of her mismatched eyes, no one would give her a second look. Well, they might, but not for that reason.
Dave gave a grunt of approval.
"We need to get going. Now. Gandhi, Sun, you'll stay back if there is any trouble. Hide if you need to. Marqui, I need you to keep a watch from the roof tops. Be prepared to block off any potential exits at a moments notice." Dave stooped to smooth out his greying brown hair.
"What about me?" Asked Raz. He was not going to be left behind again. He could take care of himself, he'd proven that years ago at Whispering Rock. What if Agent Marqui needed help stopping the guy?
"You are staying to guard the van. I don't want to come back here to find the van striped of parts or stolen." Dave replied angrily.
Apparently, he was.
"But-"
"No 'buts', Agent Aquato."
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And thus Raz, by now very fed up with being left behind, found himself guarding the van.
In the dark.
Alone.
"If anyone tries to jump me, I'll just run behind the van, turn invisible, sneak up behind them, and KICK THEIR ASS!" Raz said to no one in particular. "And people say I go into fights without a plan of attack."
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Raz was bored out of his mind after the first two hours. He'd done everything that he could think of: crumple up the loose pieces of paper lying on the ground and set them on fire (fun), trying to levitate himself without using his levitation ball (bad idea), use confusion on the rats (very fun), Spying on people in the apartments across the street with a clairvoyance'd pigeon (Very, very, very, very bad idea. The mental scars would last for a lifetime. People shouldn't be able to bend that way.).
After about half an hour Raz settled on TK stacking some cans he'd found by a dumpster, just for practice. He'd started out building pyramids and then, after getting bored with that, started stacking the cans one on top of each other. It was hard, he never had quite figured out how to put something down gently, but he managed to avoid nocking over the stack. There was only one can left to add. Just one more can and-
Something, something too big to be a rat or a cat, moved in the shadows behind him.
'What the hell? Did I just see that shadow move?' He thought, accidentally drooping the can.
Raz stared into the darkness in the back of the alley for a few minutes. His heart was pounding in his ears.
"Must have been a rat." He said after a while. He was unnerved, but some rat wasn't going to spook him. They weren't like the tower rats around here.
He turned back to his tower of cans and, impossibly, the can he'd dropped was still floating in mid air, almost as if someone else had caught it with TK....
"Hey there, kid. A bit late for someone your age to be out, isn't it?"
Raz took a deep breath. There was someone with psychic powers and a creepy voice standing right behind him. Very, very, carefully, he turned around, again, to face them.
The figure of a young man was leaning casually up against the side of the van, partly concealed in shadows. Raz could barely make out the man's forest green hair and black leather jacket. The man's face was covered by shadow, but his pink eyes seemed to be glowing ever so slightly.
"Erm... How long have you been here?" Raz asked.
"Since about an hour before you and the rest of your agent friends showed up, Mr. Aquato. It is Aquato isn't it? It can be so hard to tell who's who when your eavesdropping sometimes..." The man said cheerfully as he stepped into the light. He smiled at Raz, like a hungry wolf smiles at a rabbit.
"You were here the whole time?" Raz said, slowly beginning to back away. Growing up in the circus had dangers that outsiders rarely thought about, and after a close call with a man in a similar situation.... He was lucky that the knife thrower had decided to grab an extra blade before the show. Raz refused to wear his leotard for weeks after that, and it wasn't until he began reading minds that he began to trust strangers again.
"Yep. You Psychowhatsits have been parking in the same place for the past few months while you look for that other guy. You know, the one who's been exploding peoples' heads? Of course, you guys aren't looking for me." The man said casually, reaching a pale green hand into his jacket and pulling out a small knife.
The can, which the man had been TK holding onto the entire time, smoothly floated over to him. The knife delicately floated out of his hand, and just touched the bottom of the can.
"You know," The man continued, running his knife across the can in a neat upward spiral, making a sickening screeching noise. "It's taken you guys long enough to finally leave someone to guard. I slashed the tires last time; I was wondering if I was going to have to take the engine this time. But now I have you to play with."
The man's smile grew wider as the can unraveled into thin metal ribbon.
Raz took a defensive stance. Running wouldn't be an option, he knew. The only way he was getting out of here was to disable this guy, and fast.
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RS:
Dave is in fact my default name for annoying, antagonistic (not always evil, mind) and Lawful characters that aren't Illithids. I *have* been playing too much D&D lately.