October 17th - 1989, San Francisco
03:00 AM
A man wearing a green jacket, blue jeans, and a white baseball cap with the logo of his favorite team was walking down the night street towards his home from a night in a bar.
"What a beautiful night," he spoke as his gaze shifted towards the glittering night sky.
"Hah Monika, why did you leave me? " The man asked himself as the wind around him started increasing its speed, almost acting strangely.
Towards him was walking an old granny. She was his neighbor for a long time.
"Hello, Miss Grey, how are you? " He asked as the granny stopped and looked closely at the man, a little scared.
"Jake! Oh my god, you scared me! " Miss Grey said as she smiled. She wore an old white dress with small red flowers, holding a small, wooden walking stick.
"I thought you wanted to rob me or something hehe..." She added nervously, looking to the ground while acting slightly shy.
Jake just flashed a kind smile and shook his head.
"Miss Grey, you shouldn't walk this late all alone. What would you do if someone else met you now? "
"Yeah I know, I would be probably robbed... or worse, but what about you? " She asked.
"I was just on a walk... to clear my head."
"Monika huh, well, she is not the only girl on this planet Jake... You still have time to find another girl and have a happy life! " Miss Grey spoke with a smile, confidence radiating from the tone of her voice.
"Yeah I know, but I still miss her," Jake replied, his eyes sad.
Taking a deep breath, Jake spoke.
"Well, I'm not going to disturb you anymore. Bye, Miss Grey, and take care," he said with a smile and started walking again as the weather started getting worse.
"You too Jake, you too." She spoke and looked at the sky when suddenly a green light lit the entire sky and Jake's shout reached Miss Grey's ears while continuing to echo around the street.
"Aaahhhh! "
"What the... Jake? You okay? " Spoke Miss Grey but when she slowly turned, Jake was nowhere to be found.
"Huh? Jake? " She spoke again but no one answered.
"Weird, I thought I heard Jake..." The old granny spoke to herself but then turned and started walking home quickly as the green light that was coming from a hill in the distance disappeared as it was just a mere illusion.
---THE END---
"You saw that... right? " Said a police detective as the tape on which this incident was recorded ended.
He is sitting at the desk of his friend who is sitting on his black, leather chair with an old TV placed on his desk in front of him.
The man on the desk is dressed in a brown suit with a white shirt and black tie. He is around fifty years old and on his belt could be seen a shiny police badge.
"Yeah and? It's a cool edit but that's all... Or someone must have messed with the tape to cover something illegal. It's pretty easy these days as you may know."
The other man who is sitting on his chair is wearing a black leather jacket, blue jeans, and a white T-shirt. He is around thirty years old and he is looking at his friend with a shitty smile.
"Oh, right, my bad for letting you watch it... Wrong you idiot! This is a VHS tape and is thirty years old! It's literally impossible to edit it! " Shouted the detective at his friend as their colleagues looked at him like he was an idiot.
"WHAT?! Do your job! " He spoke a little louder as everyone turned and started working again.
"Mike, first, you should stop yelling at me and tell me what's going on, or stop playing tricks on me and let me do my job. I don't have time for this! " The man sitting behind the desk spoke to his friend as Mike took a deep breath and started explaining.
"Hah fine. Yesterday I was called to a traffic incident where a man appeared out of nowhere in the middle of the street."
"...You are kiddin', right? Hahaha, you must be kiddin'. " Mike's friend raised his eyebrow and laughed at him.
"No Thomas, shut the hell up and listen."
"Hahaha... hah fine, sorry, continue please Mr. Sience-Fiction~." Thomas replayed.
"Hah... Fine, so when the man appeared out of nowhere, he was caught on the CCTV cameras, looking around, pretty disoriented for a few seconds, if you ask me, until a car hit him, and he was taken to a Hospital."
"Well duh," Thomas rolled his eyes and took a cigarette from the pack lying on his desk, liting it up.
"But that's not all..." Mike sighed.
"Oh, are you going to say he died, and after a few minutes, he woke up and turned into a zombie, killing everyone around? " Thomas opened his eyes wide at his partner.
"Or should I assume you found out he was a Vampire and after you found out, he drained the entire Hospital? " Thomas continued with his theories as Mike started being irritated.
"No, you idiot! When I came there, he was mumbling about some monsters, levels, yellow walls, and other shit..."
"At first, I thought he escaped from some mental institute but when I saw his clothes and personal things, I was shocked," Mike said.
"No way, so he came from space, right? No! No! No! No! Wait! He is The TIME TRAVELER! " Thomas spoke with a dramatic voice, made a shocked expression, and started laughing again.
"No you dipshit... Hah, you see, thirty years ago when I was just starting at this cursed police department here, a man named Jake Stevens disappeared without a trace."
"I was called as a spectator to the investigation to learn more about San Francisco's investigation methods and our only clue was a senile old woman named Jessica Grey and a tape from a nearby CCTV camera that recorded this incident."
"Wait, is this the tape? " Thomas pointed at the TV on his desk as a wave of goosebumps ran through his back.
"Yes, on that tape, Jake is twenty-five years old and Miss Grey is seventy-four. After a week of our investigation, Miss Grey died from a sudden heart attack and the only clue on where Jake might have disappeared was on this tape."
"After a month of investigating with still nothing new, our chief ordered to close this case and everyone forgot about it, and later, I gave up too. My hopes died... until now."
"What do you mean until now? " Thomas narrowed his eyes as this story started being interesting.
"Due to the injuries, I'm not exactly sure, but... I think that man in the hospital is Jake Stevens himself, and he is twenty-six years old! " Mike spoke quietly with wide eyes.
"What? Are you nuts? This doesn't make any sense?! You must be kiddin' right? " Thomas spoke but seeing the lack of reaction from Mike, he started being unsure.
"Look man, if this some kind of low-life prank you came up with this morning while you were taking shit on your precious toilet, I'll kick your ass! " Thomas spoke.
"No, it's true! I don't know how can he be still so young too but listen, when our chief said to close this case, I sneakly worked on this for another ten long years. "
"All my research is in my house and I need someone who I can trust to help me solve this."
"You have been my partner for the whole ten years... so therefore I'm askin', are you coming with me? " Mike spoke the question, feeling slightly unsure.
He knew of what kind of nature his partner was but still, he trusted their friendship.
"Wait, wait, wait what!? Solve a thirty-year-old case with a tape and a slowly aging man who mysteriously appeared and looks like he escaped from a nut house? " Thomas asked as Mike nodded in response.
"Look man, this is stupid! We should talk to our chief first and only then look at that man..." but saying this, Mike's expression changed for the worse.
"NO! I already talked to him multiple times Thomas, begging him to look at my research and let it investigate but nothing happened." Mike said, adding, "He just said I'm losing time on an already dead person and I should help living people instead. He will not help, trust me."
"Last time, he took all my research and destroyed it, saying big players are mixed in that disappearance and if I don't stop digging the dirt, they will go after me. "
"Luckily, I had a copy for emergencies like these. Come on partner help me, please. I feel it in my bones that this is something bigger than one disappearance! " Mike looked at Thomas with hope as he spoke those words.
"I don't know man. You know I have a last chance and if I break the law or don't do what I'm told by our boss, my career as a detective here is in hell." Thomas said as he leaned into his chair and inhaled the smoke from his cigarette.
Leaning closer, Mike started pursuing Thomas with sweet words.
"Yeah I know but what if we solve this? You'll be back in the spotlight and your career will be saved, plus, you will kick that bastard's face once and for all."
Hearing what Mike said started giving Thomas hope about his dying career. In the past, he was the best detective in San Francisco, but after a few years, more and more cases started avoiding him and were taken by his rival.
"Hey Parker, what are you doing here? Waiting for a new case or your retirement hahaha? " Spoke a man who passed by Thomas' desk, turned, and threw an empty, paper coffee cup into Thomas' head.
"No Summers, I'm waiting for a day when you stop looking like a piece of shit." Replayed Thomas as he threw the flaming cigarette at Summers.
"At least I have real cases, not like you dipshit." Summers replayed as he dodged the flying cigarette with a wide smile, turned around, and walked to his desk while showing a middle finger in Thomas' direction.
"Jason Summers, the best detective in San Francisco..." Mike said.
"Yeah, thank you for a reminder, Mike! " Thomas huffed.
"Hah, come on Thomas! At least come and look at my research... please. You'll never know what might happen if you don't give it a chance~."
"Hah fine! But I'll only look! " Thomas spoke and Mike nodded.
"As you wish, partner~."
Mike spoke as Thomas got up from his desk and they walked out from the building.
...On the street...
"So, you said you were trying to solve this case for ten years, why? " Thomas asked as he walked down the stairs, litting up another cigarette.
"I just had a feeling that something was not right. I showed our chief the tape and he saw that the man literally sank into the ground and did nothing! Like he already saw it, but at the same time he was scared of doing something and now, I know exactly why."
"So why then? " asked Thomas as the two arrived in front of Mike's car.
It was an old Ford sedan LTD Crown Victoria 1984 with a light brown color and silver bumper and wheels.
"Get in and I'll tell you everything."
"Fine," Thomas spoke as he and Mike got into the car and Mike drove on the highway.
... After ten minutes of silent ride ...
"So? What do our chief fears? " Thomas asked.
"A-sync."
"A-sync? I heard that somewhere, but where..." Thomas pondered upon the name until he finally remembered.
"Aren't they the one really big corporation that is allied with the government and DOE? "
"Yes, the A-SYNC Foundation, to be honest, is an organization that wants to solve overpopulation and storage problems of our world."
"Wait, aren't they a biomedical corporation? And what do you mean by 'our world'? " Thomas chuckled as he again used his dramatic tone.
"There are more worlds like this? Hahahahaha." Thomas laughed, but seeing Mike's stoic face and his expression filled with slight hesitation, Thomas closed his mouth and placed his hand on Mike's shoulder.
"...Are there? " Thomas asked as Mike sighed.
"Yes... there are more worlds and dimensions than you think Thomas. Some of them are fine and you can easily live there, but some are hostile ones... and those idiots in A-sync found one of them disguised as a safe one." Mike explained as he took a turn and looked into the silver rearview mirror of his car.
"Fuck, we are being followed," Mike spoke as he floored the pedal of his car.
"By who? " Thomas looked behind and saw a black SUV without a license plate slowly approaching them.
"It's A-sync's security. Yesterday, I asked one hacker to hack their servers and copy everything related from the year 1989 to 2000. I assume they're probably pissed off..."
"What?! Are you crazy? " Thomas looked at his partner in disbelief.
"No... I just want to solve this damn case, do you understand? I'm not letting A-sync slip away... Not this time! "
"This time? So I assume that it happened before? " Thomas asked as he looked back again.
"Yeah... in the past, there was a death incident in their facility. His name was Peter Tench. He died by falling from the hill and his head collided with a rock." Mike spoke.
"Ouch..." Thomas sighed as Mike nodded.
"Yeah, he was dead instantly, but the interesting thing... he should have been dead a long time ago. Two months and eight days to be exact."
"Peter Tench... I saw him on a few missing posters one day. To my surprise, I never saw them again. The posters just disappeared. Not one or two but a bunch of them." Thomas said as Mike nodded again, adding, "Yeah, A-sync's typical work."
"But how can a dead man die again? It just doesn't make any sense." Thomas spoke as he looked behind again and the black SUV was already gone.
"We lost them, you can slow down." Thomas smiled and turned back.
"No... they don't stop until they get what they want... Look." Mike pointed at a nearby bridge as a bunch of men in black suits stood there, aiming a weird piece of technique right at them. The device was one meter high with an antenna pointed at their car, resembling a machine gun on legs.
"Detective Mike Roberts! Stop the car or we use weapons! " Spoke one of the men in black through a megaphone and fired a blue light projectile from the antenna as a warning shot.
Mike dodged it with ease as a container behind them exploded and melted into pure hot magma.
"Mike? " Thomas looked at his partner who was not stopping, he even sped up.
"Mike?! " he shouted now as Mike looked at him and spoke.
"We can't stop. If we stop... they kill us both. You already know too much about what dirt they have on their hands so they are not going to let you go either."
"Well, shit..." Thomas said, adding "Hah fine! Floor it and when I say, you'll pull the hand brake and turn the car to the right. I'm going to distract them a little like we did in New York." Thomas spoke and pulled his upper body through the side window, out of the car.
Pulling out his trusted Colt M-1911, he aimed it towards the device next to the man in black.
"Hahahaha, that was one of the best cases we had Thomas hahaha." Mike laughed and held the car still.
*Bang *Bang, *Bang *Bang *Bang, Thomas started shooting at the device and after the third bullet hit it, the device exploded, sending the man in black flying away from it together with a blue electric wave that spread around.
"Mike! Now! " Thomas shouted as Mike pulled the hand brake and turned the steering wheel to the right, spinning the car by 180 degrees.
"Nice job... Now we need to hide for quite some time. Luckily, I know a place." Mike said with a slight smile as they drove away from the bridge.
"After this... I would like to have a drink, a cigarette, and a good explanation of what the fuck is happening, Mike! " Thomas growled in anger as he climbed back into the car and changed the magazine of his gun.
"You can have anything you want my partner... Just wait a few more minutes. We will be right there." Mike smiled widely and floored the pedal once more as the brown sedan disappeared in clouds of dust towards the upcoming sunset.
...
"Boss, ugh... They caught the bait." The man in black spoke to the radio as he got up from the ground and patted his suit.
"They? Mind telling me who's with Detective Roberts? " A male voice was coming from the radio.
"Detective Thomas Parker."
"Ah, the fallen star of the San Francisco police department joined his partner... Bring him too. As I know Mike, he already told Thomas some valuable secret information about the KV31. Find them quickly and bring them to the facility. I will personally have a word with them."
"Yes, boss." The man replayed as a black SUV came to him and he got in with the other man in black, following the tracks of the brown sedan while some man stayed on the bridge and started clearing the mess the explosion did.
...
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