A Tale As Old As Time
{A/N, this takes place back when the stranger first joined GATS}
Jenna/Stranger
"Dear Diary,
I've finally made it! I've achieved my dream and joined GATS! My mom and dad are super proud and I'm super excited to start my first day!" I'm so excited, my first assignment at GATS! As I walk down the hall I can't help but grin like an idiot all the way to the boss' room. As I walk in the room I see the boss and another man I don't recognize, and then tension hits me like a train, gone was the happy paternal exterior of the boss I heard give a hopeful welcome speech. He was replaced with a cold brutish man, giving me a stoic yet aggressive lecture about my tardiness. "You're late" he said "Yes sir, I'm sorry" "Listen newbie, there's one thing about working here you must understand. We demand perfection. Anything less and the society we have spent so long building will crumble before us on its delicate podium." "Yes sir I understand sir". "Now that the pleasantries are out of the way, you have been assigned to your first mission. It's a basic one, something so simple even a newbie like you couldn't screw it up. You are going to oversee the transportation of a powerful weapon to the GATS facility in the west side of the city. We need you there just in case anyone tries to stop the shipment." "Yes sir." "Every GATS member has a partner assigned to them, your partner is Agent Tom Houston. He's a long time GATS veteran and a trusted ally." The man standing next to me smiled and nodded. He was about 5'10 and of a stocky build. Not too muscular but he had some bulk. He had blue eyes, brown hair, and a stubbly face. He was wearing the standard GATS male uniform with the addition of a gun in a chest harness. As we walk out my partner tries to make small talk with me. "Sorry about the boss man, he gets cranky around newbies. I'm Tom by the way, nice to meet you." "Nice to meet you too, I'm Jenna." "So, first mission. It's very exciting." "Yea, I am pretty nervous though." "Don't be, you're with a trained professional you know!" he says with a charming boastful smirk. "Oh I'm sure I'll be safe, any man with a harness from Walmart knows what he's doing." I say with a sarcastic tone and the same smirk. We both start giggling. "I like you, newbie." He says.
We arrive at the transport site and start moving. All through the trip there's a suspicious guy following us. "Keep your eyes peeled" said Tom. "He's got the badge of a well known rebel organization on his jacket." "Where? I don't see it." "It's super tiny, but I can see it because my power is enhanced eyesight. Yea it's pretty lame but it's useful for combat ''''Cool." After we get a few feet ahead the trench coat guy starts walking towards us. Me and Tom hold up our guns and I say "Sir, please step away. This is official GATS business." He then throws open his coat revealing a bomb attached to his chest and a switch in his hand. He screams "LONG LIVE THE REVOLUTION, DOWN WITH GATS AND THE SHADOW GOVERNMENT!" As he's about to press the button Tom rushes in and takes him down. Everything, from the way his kicks landed to his expertly thrown punches, was on mark. Needless to say, I was impressed. "Wow!" I said with a gleam in my eye. "Where did you learn that!" "Years of practice", Tom said. "You'll learn someday." We eventually got to the GATS facility and delivered the weapon.
*1 year has passed*
"Dear Diary,
It's been about 1 year since I joined GATS, and I love it! It's everything I've wanted it to be and more. Especially my partner Tom. He's funny, cute, smart, and is an expert fighter. We've grown closer as the time has progressed, and I feel like I finally have a friend. Someone to trust. It's like we understand each other on a deeper level, and I like him a lo-"
"Hey you coming?" Tom asks while I'm writing in my diary. "Yep just a sec." I quickly close my diary and put it back in my locker. "The boss just called us for another assignment and it seems like a big one" Tom says. We eventually arrive at his office and knock at the door. "Come in" says the boss, in his same cold uncaring tone. As we walk in he turns around. "Agents, as you know I am about to assign you a rather hefty task. You see there is a terrorist organization in the Middle East that is currently working with British and American forces to try and bring down Skyline. They have stolen genetic material from a powered corpse and plan to use it to reverse engineer some sort of way to remove the power gene from the population. Then when we are weak, they strike and take over the city and reclaim the land. The leader of the organization is currently on the shores of Dubai on an aircraft carrier given to him by the U.S. Your job is to infiltrate the leader's aircraft carrier and take him, and the rest of the crew, hostage. We've already had a team in deep cover for the past 2 years so you will rendezvous with them. Any questions?" "No sir!" Me and Tom say in unison. "Good, move out!" We start running to the hangar and after a jet ride which seems like it took forever we finally arrive in Dubai. At the airport we met the Operations Manager of the team. He was an old man, rather stocky, with a male GATS uniform and a big bush white mustache, which complemented his snow white hair. "Agents, thank you for coming all this way, we hope the flight wasn't too long. Now, here are your hotel room keys" The man handed us 2 plastic cards. "Check in and report immediately to the location on your GPS." "Yes sir!" After we checked in, we met the Operations Manager and his team at an abandoned warehouse in the city and began to discuss our plans. This took about a week of meeting before we put the operation into effect. "Agents! We will commence the plan in about 1 hour! I'm going to go over the plan so we all have it down! The information squadron will stay here, while you and the attack squadron will storm the ship with the undercover squadron. We will then proceed to take down the crew and take them into custody until we reach the leader. Got That!?" "Yes sir!" "Good now move, move!"
When we got to the aircraft carrier we wasted no time starting the storm. Level by level we went and took hundreds of prisoners, before finally arriving at the leader's office. We kicked down the door and were immediately attacked by 2 guards. We quickly and efficiently took them down with ease and had them on the ground and handcuffed. "Good work Jenna." said Tom "Well I learned from the best" I said with a grin on my face. "Well well well, if it isn't the GATS forces." We heard a voice behind us and when we turned around we were faced with the leader pointing a Desert Eagle at us. "Drop your weapons or I shoot." He said in a commanding tone. We dropped our weapons and put our hands up. "You powered humans make me sick. You mutated freaks stole our land and killed our people, and once we get our bio-weapon completed we will take it back. And you disgusting monsters will be back in your place... below us like the common filth you are." Suddenly, one of the bodyguards behind him did a quick strike to the back of the neck and knocked the leader out. "Hello Agents'', said the bodyguard, "Both of us are from the deep cover team, so you don't have to worry." "Thank god" said Tom with the same charismatic smirk on his face he usually has. Once we apprehended the leader we went back down to the port. Suddenly a voice came over the communications. "Great work agents, the operation was a success." It was the Operations Manager, he spoke with a gleeful tone. "Now we're gonna interrogate these punks tomorrow, but for tonight head back to the hotel and get a good night's rest." "Yes sir!" We said happily.
"Oh man am I TIRED" said Tom while stretching and yawning. "Yea me too...." I took a pause and reflected on the past year. "Hey Tom," I said "I just wanted to say thanks for everything. I've never really had someone I felt like I could trust before and it feels nice." "Why's that?" said Tom, sitting down beside me on the bed. "Well you see when i was a kid my dad wasn't around much, and when he was he ended up hurting me and my family in some way. As soon as we felt like he was getting better he'd beat my mom, or steal from us, or come up to me or my sister's room and..." I couldn't continue. The memories were too painful. Tears started to well up on my face as I hugged Tom for comfort. "My mom eventually had enough, and she bought a gun. The next time my dad came over I heard two loud bangs and I went downstairs to find out they were both dead." I was bawling by then and Tom was trying his best to calm me down. "We got put in an orphanage. It was awful. You couldn't trust a soul. One minute you think you have a friend and the next your lunch and your toys are stolen." "I'm so sorry that happened to you Jenna." Tom said, holding me closer. I looked up at Tom, with his deep, caring ocean blue eyes. Smiling at me with a warmth I hadn't felt before from another human, and I couldn't control myself. I leaned forward and kissed him. He was shocked at first but he eventually started kissing me back. He laid me down and started unzipping my uniform, and things started to happen.
I woke up with my clothes halfway across the room. The night before was a blur and I was in Tom's arms. With the combination of his soft skin and warmth, it was the safest I had felt in forever. "Hey, are you awake?" "Yeah" I said. "We've still got 3 or so hours before the interrogation." "I know, but I'm still kind of nervous." "Why?" "Because it's my first interrogation." "Oh I see. Listen, things are gonna get rough. It's not gonna be all peaches and cream, it's gonna be kind of disturbing. So I'm just giving you a warning." "Thanks." "You're welcome, now what do you say we catch up on some more sleep?" "I'd like that." We eventually woke up and got dressed and ready for the interrogation. We walked up to the Operations Manager and asked who we we're interrogating. "The boss gave you two the special job of interrogating the leader himself." "Really?" We both said in shock. "Yes, now hurry up and get to the interrogation room." We hurried to the Interrogation Room and as we walked in we saw the leader chained to a metal chair. "Well well if it isn't the big bad scary leader." said Tom in a baby voice. "We're gonna need a few things from you so let's cut to the chase. Where did you get the powered DNA sample?" "I'm not telling you freaks anything." The leader said. "Well well, looks like we have a silent one." SMACK! Tom took out his pistol from his harness and smacked the leader in the face with it. The leader had a huge bruise and a few teeth missing. "I'm gonna ask again, WHERE DID YOU GET THE DNA?" Tom's tone was more forceful this time. "Like i said before, I AM NOT TELLING YOU MUTANTS ANYTHING." "Looks like I'll have to be rougher." Tom took one of the leader's fingers and SNAP! He broke it. The finger was turning purple and swelling. The leader's shrieks of pain were hard to listen to. "Tom, meet me outside." I said through gritted teeth. When we got outside I wasted no time yelling "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" at him. "Interrogation, I told you it would be rough." "THAT'S NOT INTERROGATION, THAT'S TORTURE." "Listen Jenna, the boss demands perfection so sometimes we have to turn to distasteful methods to get what we want. Besides he tried to reverse engineer a bio-weapon to wipe out our people." "That doesn't matter, he still shouldn't be tortured." "Listen Jenna, the people we target are the scum of the earth. They're disgusting people who need to know who they are." I thought about it for a second. "Ok, but I won't have any part in it." "Whatever you say Jen, you're up next." As I walk up to the chair where the leader was sitting I see his face go into a confused state of familiarity before he perks up. "Jenna?" "How do you know my name?" "Your father was a frequent client of mine, back when I first started." "First started what?" "This organization of course! Although we didn't have the size we do now, we were just simple drug traffickers. Though your father made us great money from our methamphetamine stock." Suddenly it all started to click. Dad would always come home smelling of weird chemicals, he always seemed jittery and whenever my mom did the simplest things he would flip out and beat her. The more I thought about it, the angrier I got. Suddenly, without a second thought, I started beating him mercilessly. Punches started flying as I beat him senseless for all the pain he had caused me. His face afterward looked like a scarred bloody mess with purple and black all over. When I stopped I barely realized what I had done before a booming deep voice came over the loudspeaker. "Excellent work Agent, I'm promoting you up a rank." Sitting in the big glass observation booth was the boss, with a slight smirk on his face.
"Dear Diary,
About 2 months have gone by and I'm starting to love things at GATS. I'm in control of my own squadron and we've been on several successful missions. Tom is still my partner however, and we've taken things to the next level. We've continued going on dates and he is absolutely amazing! We've been to such beautiful places and had amazing dinners. Is this what love feels like? It's been a while since my first interrogation and I've learned 2 things: 1. Extreme violence is necessary to succeed in this ruthless world. And 2. It's justified because we tend to bring in the scum of the earth. Seriously, we bring in all kinds of awful degenerates. Child traffickers, terrorist leaders, murderers, rapists, etc. So I'm perfectly fine giving those jerks payback for what they've done."
"Hey we gotta go, the boss needs us." Tom says, wrapping up our conversation. As we walk to the boss's office I tense up for a moment. "What's wrong?" Tom says with a caring look. "It's just... I know we've been together a bit on and off for a while, but I wanna take things to the next level. Something more serious." He has a look of confused and shocked. "I- I wanna make things official Tom... Will you be my boyfriend?" "Yes!" says Tom, enthusiastically. I got super jittery and excited, and I rushed forward and kissed him. The rest of the walk there was all happy and flirty, it was amazing! "Wait here." Tom says to me and I obediently wait outside, though curiosity piqued my interest and I listened in on the convo. "How is the agent training going, Thomas?" "I have her wrapped around my finger, and she doesn't suspect a thing."
"Good, the results have been fantastic." "Now she thinks we're 'official', so I'll be sure to use that to my advantage. After all, human emotions are easy to exploit." I can't think anymore. I start running down the halls, bawling my eyes out. When I get to the locker room a familiar voice greets me. "Hello agent, I see you've taken to snooping." The Boss' cold dead face stares me down. "Was this all a ruse? To get me to take orders?" "One of many, you see along with Tom we've been slowly using other methods to teach you the conduct here at GATS. The 'rapists' and 'drug dealers'? Just petty thugs. But, we need info. So any method goes." "Why are you telling me this, won't I report you to the police? Go to the media?" He laughs for a second. "You seem to misunderstand agent... We are the police, we control the media. Now for your sake we'll transfer Thomas, but you will still be expected to comply with our expectations. Or, as the plebeians say it, you will be iced. More than iced in fact you will never have another job in your life. You see, we control every aspect of this city. We are the so called 'Shadow Government', and we can pull our strings how we wish." I was taken aback. I always looked up to GATS as this amazing peacekeeping group, but they were no better than a gang. No... Even the worst mobs had more morality than these people. "Ok. I'll comply" "Good, now head back to my office for your new mission... and punishment" I froze "Oh, don't you know? Snooping is a major offense here agent, and you must be punished accordingly. You know, to get you back on track."
As I walked down the cold metallic stairs the mood changed drastically. No more hi-tech organization, it's now a musty torture chamber. I'm pushed into a chair and strapped into a device. "You see agent, this is our state of the art brainwashing device." Machinery is strapped to my head as I look around in fear. "Now you may feel a slight... pinch." As the machine turns on I feel pain. A pain so bad that the world's most twisted sadist could come up with something far less painful. I now know what it means to be a GATS agent, fear. Constant fear of living up to unachievable standards or your life has been ruined. I now know what I have to do, toss aside my humanity and compassion. Be a cold, calculated, heartless monster only in service of the organization. In these moments of sheer absolute torture, as my mind and body felt like they were being destroyed at the smallest level, one phrase came to mind... Never meet your heroes.
{3,165 words}
This chapter was written by my friend Bryce.