[WP] One morning, you woke up with the ability to see true and false when written down. If it glows a golden color then it is true, but if it glows a dark color, then it is false. Out of curiosity, you go to the library and walk into the History section, and to your horror, all you see is darkness.
*****
Meek and Mill came out of the Black Bentley and sat on the hood, looking at the currently lonely intersection, devoid of any cars. By the time the sun rose, the place would be full of cars, honks, and all the noise pollution and chaos that came with road traffic.
“This is their last known location,” said the voice on Mill’s phone. It was mechanical, and only had a hint of disdain at being on duty this morning and having to handle all of this when there was most likely a warm bed calling.
“You’re giving us ultimatums and incomplete information now?” Meek hissed, to the hearing of whoever was on the other side. “This is beginning to look a lot like what you do to new agents. You should know better than to treat us veterans like that, especially given who we are and what we are capable of.”
The voice suddenly gained some life. “What’s this I hear? A warning, or a threat?”
Mill interjected, calming his seething partner. “Neither. It is just a statement of fact. Sure, the Foundation boasts of impartiality in handling affairs of its agents, both on the field and in the cubicles, but then, 10 years in the game, 72 anomalies were captured, and 19 Justice Agents disposed of. An unmatched tally like that deserves a bit of respect, doesn’t it?”
“If you take the altercation that took place five years ago into consideration, then I guess you guys would stop boasting of those achievements like they were Olympic gold medals. Five years in the game, a lot of experience, and yet you were pushed to the edge by a 20-year-old delinquent,” the voice said smugly, his tone even suggesting mockery.
Meek gritted his teeth, remembering that incident. That was the first time he had failed to hit his target. The girl had a good knowledge of physics, and what her powers could cause. And unlike them, she had no reason to want to keep things quiet, going for big moves from the start and forcing them to go all out.
And yet, they failed to kill her. The resulting burns were so extensive that they were put out of commission for about three months until-
“You do remember how much it cost to take care of those legs until we managed to get that anomaly whose blood was capable of accelerating wound healing, mitotic regeneration, and so on, don’t you? How much it took to make sure that the real story of what happened was never released, including the killing of innocent witnesses? Wasn’t that the biggest fiasco the Foundation has ever wit-“
“We remember,” Mill said coldly. He had had enough of this trip down Memory Lane, to one of the most embarrassing and hated moments of his life.
“If you do, then ensure that you don’t bring this up again. If the Foundation deems you to be useless in the Field, which might happen if you fail to meet this ultimatum, then you might just be coming back to the office to handle the paperwork. Or even the laboratory. I can see you guys being of great use in some of our...experiments,” the voice said with a scoff.
That was it. What they had been waiting for. The Foundation had finally expressed what they felt about their two most successful, efficient agents, and proven to them that their relevance as respect was only based on results. They were conditionally expendable, just like almost every other agent.
“Moving on, this is all we are giving you because this is what we have. The car does not show up in any other security cameras after this, and we’ll send you the last footage to see if you can get any clues.”
Meek raised an eyebrow. “The car doesn’t turn up in any other cameras? Did they teleport? Or did they just disappear? Can anyone do that?”
The voice scoffed. “Incognito. He’s the head of the unit that The Arsonist belongs to, and he’s the only person capable of doing that, The geezer is capable of bending reality to remove any visual records of his existence or the existence of things that he chooses to protect, Basically, every camera and human eye in the area will not remember that car ever being there, because to them, there was nothing there.”
Meek laughed. “What the hell is that? What are we supposed to do against something that nasty? And he can use it over long distances too? That’s a handicap if I ever saw one. So what are we supposed to do about that?”
The voice spoke with another sneer, “Aren’t you the top-tier Level 5 agents? The veterans and the best the Foundation has to offer? I’m sure you’ll think of something. Let me tell you guys something that might help though. In his prime, Incognito could use that ability over the radius of a whole kilometer. It must have reduced a bit now that he’s in his late sixties, so use that as a guide when you’re measuring. Whatever you do, and however you do it, remember that those guys will soon be on the move as well. You have 55 hours left, so-“
Meek cut in. “We got it. But by the way, PointGuard,” he said, suddenly calling the agent by his codename, and without the ranks or titles, “I just want to remind you and the others in the upper echelon there that we are not expendable. You can’t just replace us with any other field agents, because none of them can do it like us.”
Another scoff. “We’ll see.”
Mill mulled over his next words, then just sighed and decided to say them anyway. “And if the Foundation decided to push us to the wall, in any way whatsoever, you will never recover from our response. Never. Thanks for listening.”
Ending the call, he turned to Meek.
“I like the new Mill. You stopped overthinking things to make sure that we stayed in those bast*rds’ good books and you grew a pair of balls too. Things we love to see.”
Mill smiled. “Let’s find the Arsonist. Not for the sake of the Foundation, but for the fact that she’s the reason we’re getting all these insults. And maybe we just might stop working for the foundation and use these abilities as mercenaries or contract killers, much more money there.”
“You’ll go against the whole Foundation.”
“No. The Foundation will go against their worst nightmare. Two field agents who know exactly how they operate and are very dangerous,” he smiled.
*****
TO BE CONTINUED
Thanks for Reading.
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