Once you see that gun pointed at you, it's as if time itself slowed to a crawl. Someone must have betrayed you. Could it be Silva? Why make an operation like this just to catch you?
You think about every oddity you've noticed so far. Like Ashley's behavior; what if she was replaced before you met her at the FBI building? (And is that why she asked you to take care of Mrs. Morris?) And what about agent Clark? He's been awfully absent – agent Silva's the one that has been in charge. Then there's Renner – you’ve never met him before, but he’s Silva's partner.
Time's running out. Tackling Trevor will be a mistake, and so would tackling Cassie's mom. You don't know where Renner's loyalties lie, but if you want more time to think, he'll have to bite it.
Thus, in a blink, you lunge at the fake Barbara and bind her arms while going behind her. Perhaps Cassie's mother thinks Cassie worthless, but she won't risk losing Barbara's businesses. “I'm not going down without a fight,” you say. “You wanna harm me? You'll have to get through her first!”
“You're brave,” Mrs. Wright says, evidently amused. “Quick-witted. But foolish.” She moves closer to Trevor, still brandishing her gun towards you. “You're outmatched. What would happen if Barbara was to be... I don't know? Deflated.”
You shiver, since that would take away what little protection you have. You feel Barbara's skin squirm and her muscles twitch. But, perhaps, if you draped on her skin and dashed to the door–
You yank Barbara aside. Both of you fall, and you immediately go look for cover. Your eye's still trained on Mrs. Wright's gun. She trains it at you, and a bullet blasts from it, whiffing dangerously close.
The pen's still on your hand. (It's a miracle it didn't fall when you were brawling with Barbara.) You slip out of cover, ready to fire–
–only to notice Mrs. Wright slowly deflating. Trevor's pointing at fake Barbara, sneering. “Should've known it was you, Renner.”
With another click, Barbara deflates. Trevor lowers the pen, then takes a phone from Ashley's purse – one that you know isn’t Ashley's own. You're too stunned to react, but as long as he ignores you, you should be safe.
Though, from what he's saying, perhaps you were always safe. “Owl here. Momma Rooster down and out. Pigeon was the mole.”
--
What happened next is like a blur to you. The FBI stormed in, checking everything. One of the agents (Silva?) asked you to take Cassie off, but Trevor stopped you (and them) from taking Quentin off. From Barbara, the limp bodies of Ross Marquand and Tim Renner were extracted.
And as for Mrs. Wright... “That's above your clearance level,” Silva claims, shutting down your question.
You're now off Quentin’s skin, the thin layer of sticky slime evaporating with the chilly air. You're draped in towels, with your clothes and a pack of new underwear close to you. Silva's waiting outside, for when you dress up.
You take a shower first, which Silva and the other agents allow you. You use soap for everything – even your hair – but do so lightly, trying not to ruin their bathroom. The steam from the hot water has damped your clothes, and as you step out, the cold air chills your humid body.
Silva escorts you away, but you can see from the distance three very confused women. The sneers and coldness in Barbara's and Cassie's faces was gone, replaced with teary, fearful eyes. They see you, and Ashley quickly rushes to meet you. “Hey,” she chirps, squeezing her wrist.
“It's alright now,” you say, trying to comfort her. “It's over.”
“It's not,” Ashley says, and a glance from Silva stops her. “Can't tell you. Could ruin the investigation.”
“So...” Cassie’s cockiness was absent; the young woman warily points at you, then at herself. “Is this guy the one that... Um...”
“Just so you know,” you tell her, “your sister didn't agree with the idea. And I know she doesn't trust me, but I didn't touch you or anything.”
“David, don't make this worse.”
Cassie looks at you from top to bottom, grimacing. “At least you're cuter than the other guy.” (The memories are fading, but you know this is a very Cassie feeling. That she finds you cute, though...) She then hugs you, trembling. “Thanks.”
“I agree.” Conversely, Barbara takes your hands and shakes them firmly. She's spooked, but still professional. “I don’t know how we'll ever repay you.”
“It's alright,” you claim. “Helping you guys is its own reward.”
“David...” Ashley hugs you, and you feel your thing growing uncomfortably big. “Stop being so soppy. You saved my sisters, and for that... You're welcome in my house any time.”
Nice! you think. Though... It'll be odd just being friends with her being so hot.
“Time to take David home,” agent Silva says, leading you away. “You'll have more time to speak later.”
“Right.” Ashley drops a kiss on your cheek, smiling. “See you later, David.”
--
You still rub your cheek like a dumb fool as Silva takes you back. But not to your house, as she claimed. Not even to the FBI building.
No. She takes you to a safehouse, in the middle of downtown. And inside, you meet... Adrienne Silva?
“Whoa.” You step away from both, startled. “What's the meaning of this?”
“Take her out,” the other Silva orders. “And leave it on the bed.”
“Damn,” the first one laments. “And here I thought I'd be you for a little while longer...”
“Too bad. But hey – I'll consider you when my vacations are in.” The other Silva – the real one, maybe? - offers you a seat and waits until you accept. “You must be full of questions, don't you?”
“You have no idea, ma'am.”
The agent takes a case and takes out the black and brown pen. She then opens it and takes out three more – a green, a violet and a white one. “A year and a half ago,” she relates, “an abandoned factory four blocks away was hit by unknown assailants. The FBI was called in to investigate.”
She grabs and looks at each pen, one by one. “The place was suspected to be the source of a new drug the agency was investigating. The machinery inside it, however, wasn't for chemicals. It was for manufacturing devices. Far too advanced ones.”
She drops the last – the white one – and circles you, like when she briefed you before. “Soon after, a couple suspects disappeared. Some, we found them dead. Others... well, they were gone. No trace of them.”
You look at the pens and deduce from what you know. “That's when Mrs. Wright started acting wonky, right?”
“Pretty much. In about half a year, criminal operations had changed greatly. Whole investigations scrapped, in order to follow new clues. It set the agency back years.”
“Because they used the pens to disguise themselves as others.”
“Pretty much.” Silva seems satisfied with your answer. “The agency was hot on the trails of the new donna, Mrs. Tessa Wright, when we got the call. Someone was using strange devices to turn people into skins.”
“And that's when you came in.”
Silva grins and winks. “In more ways than one. You see – that investigation was just the tip of the iceberg. The abandoned factory, now that is what worries us.”
You look at the pens again, grimacing. “They were duplicating them.”
You hit the spot, because Silva sighs in despair. “Which has set us up in high alert. Renner was supposed to help me out on it, but it turns out he was a mole.”
It takes your brain a good moment to figure things out. “Wait. Something’s off. You know about them – you're not calling 'em... Uh...”
“Extraneous devices?” Silva grins again, satisfied. “Figured you'd get it. You're smart, kid. Quick-witted. Fooling Quentin, fooling Mr. Marquand, using Renner as a human shield... But most importantly, you're an outsider. You're the only one I can trust.”
“Lemme guess.” Your mind finally ties the knots. “You're not from the FBI, and your name's not Adrienne Silva.”
“With how long I've been her?” she finally reveals. “Might as well be.”
“And the real one?”
“Like I said. Might as well be.” That claim fills you with dread. “Someone stole the blueprints for the devices – the dermatoplastifier, the neural link, and the others.” She grabs the black pen, horrified. “Not even cheap knockoffs. Fully functional ones.”
The realization then sinks in. “I'm not going back, aren't I?”
“Unless you choose to”, Silva claims with a shrug. “But that'd be a damn shame.”
A shame? You feel strange – no one has praised you in such a way before. “Let's say I say no. What'd happen?”
“You'd be back to your normal life. We'd probably have to pull off the ‘neuralyzer’ bit with you – too much sensitive information.”
“That means you're the Men in Black.”
“Inside joke, but no. To be honest... even I don't know. Rule one of the organization is – nobody knows about the organization.”
“That secret?”
“That secret. You'd be back to your normal life – visiting Ashley, pestered by your little sister, probably living a boring life. But like they say – ignorance is bliss.”
“I see... And if I joined?”
Silva chuckles, moving behind you. “You'd be helping save the world, I guess. The devices are too dangerous on the wrong hands – terrorists disguising as citizens, spies infiltrating an enemy agency as their operatives, criminals turning people like Tessa Wright into dangerous mob bosses."
“Then Ashley was right? Mrs. Wright wasn't being herself?”
“I can safely say she wasn't guilty.”
“You can't even tell me who was wearing her? Was it a guy named Marv?”
Silva hums. “Can't say. Even I don't know. What I can say is – if we don't find the devices and the blueprints? The world will be in chaos.”
The stakes are pretty high. If you chose to return to your old life, you could become a victim of these missing knock-offs. And if they had a flaw, things could be even worse.
But that'd imply leaving your family. Are you really willing to make that sacrifice?
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
More by this author