Sunset:Part 2

Have you ever looked at the world through eyes attached to a familiar body but with the mind of a different spirit? Of course you have. Surely you’ve done something you normally wouldn’t or thought you couldn’t. Surely, even if it was only once, you’ve opened the eyes of reason and found yourself standing one step from the edge of a cliff, just saving yourself from doing something stupid or maybe you’d already fallen. Or maybe that cliff was a means by which you could receive accolades for a triumphant victory you still wonder how you managed to achieve. What drove you to do that special something? It was you, but a part of you that was so unfamiliar you mistook it for somebody else. It was that dormant you kept locked away, deep in the dungeon with your other imprisoned characters. Remember that cloudy, ill-defined moment. Touch it. Smell it. Now you can fit into my shoes.

When I’m at battle, Adam Cross, the guy you met a few minutes ago (trust me, he’s not all that bad), runs through the back door praying not to be the final destination of a stray bullet. Then Agent A47 appears. Through the years I’ve grown to know him. I don’t like him very much – he’s a killer. But I respect him, he protects humans both good and bad.

Slip into my shoes, firmly plant your feet on top of mine as I stand in this white room prepared for battle.

As I looked at my 7 foot tall enemy, I held the invisible chains in my hands, ready to unleash my deadly accomplice. We stood face to face, eye to eye. My eyes settled on his long, thick neck. As you saw earlier, his body temperature was 87.5. That was rather cold for a human. Even the ones who made it a point to be jackasses didn’t come that cold. My mental computer, snuggly enclosed by bone and fluid searched my memory database and quickly turned up a match of who this being most likely was. He was a hummer, not human. I had to be careful with this one. Hummers had a unique ability of causing just about anything to vibrate with their humming sounds. They controlled their hums to produce frequencies that could vibrate something as small as a needle or as massive as the ground. Aside from his broad neck, he looked like any other human being. In fact, most aliens did. That was why our work was so important. We were the only ones who could tell them apart, and kill them.

He wore a white suit with a matching tie and shoes. His shoes nearly blended into the floor, definitely putting my white (or what I thought were white) sneakers to shame. His bald head partially reflected light beams alerting me of its presence. The light told anyone who could see that he was pristine and I was filth, he was regal and I was inferior. I could tell he believed it. Fear wasn’t in this room. But the light, as it usually did, failed to show the truth. Things weren’t as they seemed. Truth wasn’t boastful. It knew how to twist and turn, dodging light’s rays until it chose to be seen. But I could see it. In time I knew that silent powerful being would peek its head from the shadows. The truth was that while this hummer wore a suit and I wore dirty khakis and tennis shoes, he wasn’t the better fighter, I was.

His kind lived in Galaxy Zero, 40,000 light years away. What the hell was he doing here? I was told that he was a spy but my gracious heart wanted to let him speak for himself.

“Do you know who I am?” I asked.

“I know who you work for. Honestly, I thought we’d meet sooner.”

“I’ve been on vacation. What’s your business here?”

“Why are you asking when you already know?”

“You’re a spy.”

“Spy has such a negative connotation. I prefer the term student or researcher. I’m just trying to learn all I can about this great planet of yours.”

His English was flawless. He didn’t even have an accent. His native tongue was different from any language spoken on Earth.

A feminine digital voice sounded in my head. “Timer activated and counting.”

When my eyes had recognized that the man in front of me was an alien, a timer implanted in my brain was triggered and the countdown had begun. Agents had 6 minutes to complete their assignments. We were trained to defeat the enemy in 2 minutes. I hold the record. Six years ago I defeated an alien from Galaxy Five in 57 seconds.

It was extremely rare that an agent couldn’t defeat their enemy in 6 minutes but if such an unfortunate event did happen, the Society would finish the job themselves. I didn’t know exactly how they did it but I did know that the whole city would lose power and a short pulse of light would appear from the darkness and with great precision enter the alien’s body causing the enemy to implode. It would all be done within seconds. The Society wanted the job done right and fast. The longer a fight lasted, the higher the chance of getting a spectator and that was highly frowned upon.

The Society in many ways was like a mother to a child. It was very important to keep the child innocent as long as possible. We did what we did to keep human interests, whether good or bad, restricted to Earth. You could argue whether our reasons for keeping it from people were right or not but no one could argue that what we did was wrong. Human beings still existed because of us, because of The Cause.

“It’s only proper that we at least know each other’s names before we carry on. My name is Zine. I come from Galaxy Zero but you probably know that already,” he said.

“That sounds about right.”

“And you are?”

“I’m Agent A47.”

“The famous Agent A47? I guess I should feel honored. Only the really dangerous ones meet you.”

“Now that we’ve broken the ice, let’s get down to business.”

“Right.”

A fraction of a second after that word left his mouth iron-hard knuckles met my brow sending my body across the room to the opposite wall. Adrenaline pumped through my veins giving me a surge of power. The chains were loosed. Determined eyes led my feet as they pounded toward him. He stood his ground ready for me but uncertain which move I would make. I arrived at arms length. He swung again but his body slightly rotated as his clenched fist aggressively traveled through open air. I saw the top of his shiny head as I soared above him. He couldn’t react fast enough. I paid him back with an iron clad fist to the ridge in the middle of his back. Me, him, and tension couldn’t help but hear the crisp snap. He threw his head back screaming. He dropped to his knees and his arched back hit the floor. I slowly walked around to see his face. It showed a feeling any person speaking any language from any galaxy could understand – pain. He wouldn’t last long. I knew it. He knew it. His eyes bulged trying to jump from their sockets to escape the horror. But they, like him, couldn’t escape. They were prisoners of their destiny.

His eyes settled on mine. Another emotion appeared mixing with pain until it formed the color of fury. An invisible bird pecked my nerves telling me this wasn’t over. His shoulders moved as he sucked in air and a deep low hum reached my ears. I fearfully waited for the pain and it came. My eardrums fluctuated rapidly. The vibrations moved to my brain causing pain I couldn’t ignore. I fell to my knees. Defeat turned its interest to me and I could feel it working its way inside. I had to stop it from going any further. I was agent A47. I was better than the pain.

I crawled toward him. The hum grew deeper. My heart began beating uncontrollably. Beads of sweat showed my distress and rolled down my face replacing the tears I didn’t cry. The pain in my chest slowed me down. The dizziness weakened me. Voices in my head competed to be heard. Why don’t you give up? It’s too hard. The pain is unbearable. You’re agent A47. You’re better than the pain.

I continued to drag myself toward him. Just as I reached for him the hum grew even deeper. The ground shook. A low deep grumble sounding like a monster ready to break free from the compacted earth haunted the air. A lamp toppled from the coffee table and crashed to the floor.

A digital voice in my head sounded. “Four minutes remaining.”

I fought harder, reaching my hand forward and grabbing his neck. I balanced myself and inched toward him to tighten my grip with both hands. I squeezed as much as my weak body would let me. The hum weakened and the ground responded in stillness. I squeezed harder. The hum grew fainter and I got stronger. The pain went away and I was back on top. I squeezed his neck so hard, I was shaking. The humming ceased and so did his breathing.

I stood over him as reality slapped me in the face and made me realize what I just went through. Like I said, it was like looking at the world with familiar eyes but a different spirit.

I wanted to make this fight as clean as possible. I didn’t want to give Joel a hard time. Joel was my sweeper and a real cool kid. He cleaned up the mess after my fights. All agents had one.

I climbed out the window I came in and noticed a young man in a black jumpsuit surveying the area.

“Hey buddy,” I said.

He turned to me, not at all surprised to see my face. “Well, well. Agent A47 rises to yet another triumphant victory.”

“It’s all yours, Joel.”

“I’m almost scared to look.”

“Get in there,” I said with a smirk. We exchanged smiles.

He covered his face with a black gas mask and went inside. I climbed down the fire escape, one foot after the other. I was beat. I emerged from behind the building onto Sunset Boulevard and weaved between the people talking amongst themselves.

“Did you feel that earthquake?”

“That was a pretty big one. I don’t see much damage though.”

“That’s L.A. for you.”

I walked through the crowd to a black sedan parked in front of me. I hopped inside.

“Good to see you Adam,” the driver said.

It was time to go home.

Sunset: Part 1

Note: This post is a work of fiction.
Do you ever wonder if you’re where you’re supposed to be in life? Would life be the same if you were somewhere else? Would there be a kink in the universe because one relatively tiny human organism on planet Earth was displaced? Are you supposed to be sitting in that chair? Were you supposed to make that right turn in the complex, never-ending path that composes the maze constituting your life? What if you’d turned left?

Two identical men composed of imaginary lines, perfect copies of the man I saw in the mirror everyday, reacted to my thoughts in the sub-physical world of my mind. One of the tall, dark-haired figures nodded while the other contorted his face in deep thought.

If my life were rewound and played again, would I choose to pick up this shot glass of whiskey? Would I choose to sit at this bar? The thing is, I’m not sure I chose the first time. So why was I here? Oh yeah, that’s right…I was waiting for something. A message to be exact. A message that would send me on my next assignment.

Like most people, I didn’t like my job. But it was all I knew. I did it and I did it well. Besides, it was my duty and The Cause was certainly worth fighting for. I guess that was good enough reason for a 78 year-old to still be doing my type of work. Well, by your standards I was closer to 30…tops. But those were minor details. Not at all important. The important thing for me was to stay alert. The messages I received weren’t in the easiest places to find and since when was any location on Sunset Boulevard less than distracting?
The woman in red sitting a couple of barstools to my right also had a shot of whiskey. She was beautiful. Apparently, everybody else thought so too. A few even had the guts to make advances, but she shut them down. Now she was looking at me through those teasing eyes. What were they saying? Hey, cutie. Why don’t you come over and talk to me? Or was it more like, I know I’m cute. I’m too good for you, but let’s see whatcha got.

Five seconds later, her body no longer rested on the barstool, her drink abandoned, she walked my way. Her eyes focused on me. They became the head of an arrow aiming for a pre-determined target.

“Ol’ Jack over there doesn’t look too happy with you leaving him,” I said. She walked past me and my words. My main man. Give me a high five…oh, you left me hangin’.

Repetitive audio beeps, sounding so familiar they could’ve been the power button and I the robot automatically looking at my watch to receive the next command, demanded my attention.

My watch read: MESSAGE READY.

Where was it? You’re guess was as good as mine. I took my time. My glass was empty. A full one stood all alone just two steps away. Empty glass. Full glass.

I ignored the poisonous taste of the chemical vixen that slapped my tongue and penetrated. She felt good. You’ve heard it before – ignorance is bliss. It was so blissful, those of us seeking it stared outside its window painfully anticipating just a piece. Sometimes the more I know the sadder I become. The people here look so happy and care free. They have no idea what's out there. 

I don’t know how I got here but somehow during that last thought my body transferred to the empty barstool occupying the desolate space surrounding the full shot glass. Who cares? Bottoms up.

My eyes revealed a vision of their beholder with the aid of light and reflective glass. Truth hit me in the face. My eyes were red. Deep down I was tired. Now I could see another message the mirror displayed – not through reflection but through written words:

HAPPY WEEKEND!
THE PARTY’S NEXT DOOR, TOP FLOOR

It was time to go. My white sneakers hit the floor and I was outta there. My body entered the room with no limits and relished in the free air. My eyes greeted red and white lights. My ears welcomed the sound of cars, loud music, and futile laughter. I passed people that didn’t even give me a first glance. I guess I should’ve been happy. That was how it was supposed to be. I worked for an agency our world’s most powerful leaders didn’t know about. No one knew about us, except us. The Society, so it was called, had been in existence since at least the 1700’s. It was more than clandestine, it was invisible. They didn’t even tell us agents everything, or hardly anything.

I am Adam Cross. They call me Agent A47. I execute missions for The Society, but most importantly for The Cause. According to them, before I’d had my accident, I’d pledged my life to The Cause and had just begun training. I don’t remember any of it. Although I had been a part of the Society for 68 years, I still felt like something wasn’t right. Like I had another life before. But a part of me – that comfortable part, that scared part – didn’t want to know, didn’t want to ask questions, just wanted to accept my life as it was. So far that part was winning. As for The Cause, that’s a long story but perhaps this next assignment will give you an idea.

“Owww! Hey baby, where’s the party?” An SUV full of guys practically hanging out the windows called out to a tall woman walking towards me.
She gave me the eye. “Hey, baby.” Her voice was unusually deep, even deeper than mine...Gottcha!

I reached my destination. Another bar next door to the one I was patron to, where we met. Lots of people crowded inside trying to yell over loud music that exuded heavy vibrations I nearly mistook for a second heartbeat. I went around back.

To my advantage, there was a fire escape. Up, up, up I climbed until I reached a window of the room of interest. I activated the thermatron on my watch. It could measure body temperatures up to 30 feet away. It read 87.5 – just what I expected. A moment of reflection crept in with the slight breeze. I was here, outside a window that would be the silent witness to a struggle no human eyes were to see. I could win. I could lose. But there was no time to think. I had a job to do.

The open window invited me in. I stepped into a big square room with white walls and floors – not just white but the whitest white – sparingly furnished with a sofa placed perfectly in the middle, a coffee table, and a lamp stand. The sofa matched the pristine-white tiled floors. Even the telephone and lamp were white. The coffee table and lamp stand were transparent - they must’ve been made of glass. This room was a white cocoon safely perched in a safe haven amid the dark, wild night. It was serenity.

Footsteps sounded close behind me. The alcohol and adrenaline cocktail swimming in my veins morphed sound waves into echoes. I turned around drowning in a towering shadow. The body it emulated brought a cold stare. I felt my heart, it pumped faster. I felt my lungs, I breathed harder. But I was ready. Let the battle begin.