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Earth's Year A.D. 2,029
House 1881, Hongkong
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An Enclosed Digital Tablet File Reads:
Rank: A - (minus)
Title: Records of Catastrophic Occurances:
Specifics: Year & Era: 1600's
February 19 – Huaynaputina volcano in Peru underwent a catastrophic eruption, the worst to be recorded in South America.
Survivors: Unknown
- Access Requirement: Directorate Secretary's Authority or Higher.
William continued on to his overbearing look as he lightly scanned the case file and said to Samantha:
1.) "Highly Classified..."
1.) "That's what it says here, and if you are thinking of something very audacious, shut it. Your life is at stake here. There's no time for you to keep on playing like you are in a playground. Of course I do understand how talented you are. And the proportions of your investigated solved cases are high — this here, in this file is the one thing you should never, ever touch!"
2.) "I'm not afraid. This is how I live for — it doesn't matter what happens to me. I am close to the truth, William! Tell you, it's highly classified for a reason!..."
1.) "You... you've gone through it?"
2.) "It's... yeah... and I have the case progress at 65% and the more I dwell deep into it, the more I don't.. *interrupted*"
3.) "Understand?... right?
2.) "Yeah... You're late, Jim"
1.) "What.. in the world...?"
3.) "Yes, Will, I'm in this case too; perhaps, you didn't know, but a distinguished unknown authority from the high-up-there sent us this badge"
4.) "And that means: You and I are in this, too. Willy."
2.) "Shan! At long last, I never knew you're in this too!"
4.) "Hi Samie-! How on Earth did you do your hair!? It has become... so smooth~!"
The room felt a little vexing after the two girls sneakily chat at the side along with the heavy introductory atmosphere. Samantha, on her 30s, the once 'curly-o-dashian' glee girl whom Shan Long shortly addressed, had calmed down from the overbearing attitude William gave her.
And with the seemingly shocked expression William had on his face, it slowly turned a bit more sour as the conference room started with their small ice-breaking conversations. Surely this odd team composition, assigned by the Directorate of Analysis, a secretive branch of Pentassociation Of Intelligence governed by World Leader's Council, have become a confusing feat to his ears.
On the other hand, Jim, a stoic man yet having a supplementary attribute of flexible nature, thanks to his once-young genius tales in technology and probilities, had long once predicted and expected this gathering to become, lead the group and said:
"I guess this is how Sammy had made her early prep nitro-boost on the case?" as Jim hands out a thin tablet, a technology that unlocks only with their specific biogenetic samples — such as fingerprint, with a scroll-like information that feeds out.
"Yes, and to think that I have miscalculated such relevant information! It looks a bit odd but surely this thing right here hits a spot!" Sam replied.
"And to think oddly that I am needed here. Of all the people, why me?" William finally snapped. It seems that as long as no one clears out the baffled fog inside his mind first, William won't be able to make a step forward with the case or had to choose a force exit out of the A1 authority mission given to him — and that would mean a heavy penalty amongst the unit imposed either on them or their bloodlines and kin, if ever they, themselves, couldn't take it well.
"Because you have had once manifested multiple superhuman capabilities that led to multiple examinations amongst your physical and mental attributes — including the compulsory Polygraph Examination that had been since upgraded because of you. And I, as one of the directive part of the Chinese Intelligence Unit, have done my prerogative tasks." Shan Long, on her sleek-short brown leather-jacket, black tight jeans, and high-heeled boots, repulsed while navigating around the room, and handing out a chip-like device that goes well inserted on their tablet devices.
"THISSS..!!?" William reacted.
"It's a home on fire!!" Samantha gasped shortly after she realized this was within her parents' neighborhood town in Colorado. "But why this one?" Samantha asked.
"Ask Will" Jim said.
"It's a footage of Will's childhood home on fire caught by the person driving a roving Geographical Survey Car, uploaded on his personal space - an SNS retrieved file" Shan Long clicked her main device and suddenly the screens at their tablets focused on a slowly panned duration of the footage.
It was William and his locations on dot gaps of Nano-seconds. A second he was on a home-route school bus, half a second - a shadow came behind a fire truck unit, another half a medium-tall shadow was by the window, and a full second of a wooden cabinet falling off from 2nd floor of the house. It was found out that his only Guardian Mother, Lilia, on severe foot gout who relies on wheels and stick to move around was inside the cabinet. She didn't make it and died of suffocation by smoke inhalation.
William then became the center of topic inside the closed locked down conference room. He knows very well of what had occurred:
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He was 14 at that time, and being both the athletic and the scholar type of a student; when he was being fetched by the timely school bus, he felt a slight searing pain on his chest. The fish marble pendant was glowing faint red. He held it on and worn it out thinking it was maybe a co-reaction of his sweat irritation and just stared at it with an investigative eyes during the whole trip.
About the time when he was near his home, multiple loud sirens came along and hurriedly passed by the vehicles coming across, causing mild to heavy traffic along the road. It was when he saw those big black foggy smoke that he had a vision of his mother crying out helplessly. He didn't realize that he had closed his eyes already, brought by the traffic and fatigue, after envisioning his mother crying.
He felt all warm. A sudden feeling of comfortable blaze enveloped him as he tried to pull open a light but thick door mechanism — he couldn't pull it out open so he pushed it towards the warm comfortable light. Only to get the door mechanism away from the molten heat. It was a brief vision — so he thought.
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Then he opened his eyes.
A shock of reality came forward after his bus arrived home. — his mother, Lilia, has been declared dead on-the-spot after being rescued.
The wide white blanket covering her whole body figure already bore an ill omen on its own after William saw the scene from his seat. He quickly pushed down towards the bus exit and ran hurriedly and queried frantically — fear, panic, sadness, dejection, and heavy anxiety all crept unto his heart. He tried to cling unto his mother's figure one last time, as if already but half-heartedly accepting that this is the fact; however, he was stopped by the medical team as the situation is far from good and needs urgent undivided attention — the ambulance door closed on him, leaving far behind a time that holds the world down on him. Seconds became minutes, minutes became hours, and hours felt like days. He didn't know what to do. He felt all blank.
The officers, firefighters, and medical teams hurriedly and professionally resumed their cases after an appropriate representative gave attention to William and learned that he was the victim's son. Shortly thereafter, Lydia, her mother's occupational therapist came after doing her daily supply procurement on a nearby H-Mart. She was in-charge of her mother, and she was as devastated as William. She and Will were then shortly been invited and escorted by another police' legal representative towards their office.
Not hearing and wanting to comprehend anything anymore from the scene that was in front of him, he ran away as fast as he could — away from the depressing scene. The invitations from the unknown police "henchmen", as what he perceived, just passed by through his ears and unto the other.
He continued to run as far as he could, as if he had nowhere to go. The police legal reps thought that he was just trying to escape reality and did not continue to further do a kid-chase. The occupational therapist was enough for their case.
William had thought of this already. And went further down the line of his abstruse judgment.
One of his mother's teachings: "Never trust anyone easily", came to him and continued to run towards south of the neighborhood.
He was going there to search.
To search for a clue - more or less an answer.
After a sudden feeling of intangible embrace, William felt a comfortable light feeling on his chest and a cool breeze passed by seemingly wanting to enter his stomach. He suddenly has an insight of all the memories he had with his mother: how he knew of her, her stories, her teachings, her smell, her songs, and her reminders for him.
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This brought him such an emotional ride.
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-- TM --
Terms & Meanings:
A1 - Meaning "A-type Priority 1" mission, a level and degree of mission based on its evaluation. ( e.g. mission regarding the prevention of 9-11 terrorist assault was an A2 mission. )
Directorate of Analysis (POI) - a hemmed branch of the C.I.A ( Central Intelligence Agency )
SNS - Social Networking Sites ( e.g. QQ, Line, Whatsapp, Facebook, Friendster, Twitter, & etc. )
H-Mart - Han Ah Reum - the largest Asian-American & the largest Korean-American chain in the United States (California, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, Washington) - Korean-American supermarket chain. ( retrieved: Wikipedia )