As Marcus entered the house alongside the woman, his earlier suspicions were confirmed, the inside of this house was anything but normal.
The living room was covered in stacks of paper and smart boards, (like a blackboard but it has a screen instead of a board), empty pizza and donut boxes, and large black boxes the size of washing machines were lined up on the wall furthest from the front door. In the center of it all was a man dressed in clothes similar to the woman's.
The man had long black hair and dark brown eyes, he was on the taller side around 6 feet tall. He was sitting in the middle of the floor eating a slice of pizza and typing away on a laptop.
"Kenji, look who I got!" The woman exclaimed excitedly as she patted Marcus on the back.
Kenji looked up from his laptop, his expression one of slight annoyance, "what." Kenji said as he shifted his gaze from the woman to Marcus.
When Kenji's gaze landed on Marcus there was a moment of silence.
Kenji's gaze was unwavering, which caused Marcus to shift his gaze to the ceiling. Marcus didn't know what these people were capable of or what they were thinking, he already regretted coming here, but now this just made it even worse.
Kenji then bursts out into laughter, "Elissa, did you kidnap him?" He exclaimed in disbelief as he grabbed at his stomach. "You are a weirdo!"
Elissa rolled her eyes as she turned to close the door, "No I'm not, I told you I think he can be useful."
"Useful for what?" Kenji asked, clearly still amused. He wiped the tears from his eyes, "I thought you said he's just a student."
Elissa nodded, "Yeah that's true, but I just got a gut feeling about this kid, I mean he has a good head on his shoulders."
Kenji chuckled as he pointed at Marcus, "he looks like he saw a ghost already, he'd probably die if he saw the creatures that exit rifts.
"C-creatures?" Marcus asked in a worried tone, "What are you talking about?"
Up until the moment Kenji mentioned creatures, Marcus had been under the impression that these two were either in a gang or worked for the government, but something was telling him that was far from the truth.
Kenji raised an eyebrow as he shifted his attention toward Elissa, "You didn't even tell him anything did you?" He asked skeptically. "you just shoved the poor bastard in your car and drove off."
Kenji began shaking his head as he stood up, "Shameful."
"You know me too well Kenji," Elissa said with a grin, "can you fill him in? I need to go check a PRS."
Kenji nodded as he took a step forward, he then disappeared into a dust cloud of blue embers.
Marcus' eyes widened in shock he couldn't believe what he had just seen, "What the–"
Kenji then reappeared with another cloud of blue embers right in front of Marcus, "Let's go to the dining room." Kenji's tone was one of confidence and charm.
Marcus however, was still stunned at Kenji's sudden ability to teleport. "How did you…"
Kenji grinned mischievously as he pointed toward the dining room. "Meet me in there."
Kenji then disappeared in a swirl of blue embers and reappeared near the dining room door frame.
Marcus stood there with a puzzled expression. He wondered how on earth someone could just teleport.
Did he just misinterpret what he saw?
No, there was no way he could mistake something like teleportation for anything else.
Elissa smiled as she placed a hand on Marcus's shoulder, "By the time I'm back Kenji should have you up to speed on everything, just take your time to process it, alright?"
Marcus glanced at Elissa and sighed heavily, "Sure, I'll just go join the teleporting maniac, while the woman who brought me here just leaves me behind."
Elissa chuckled as she pushed Marcus forward, "Returning to form are we?"
She said with a knowing grin, "Now hurry up, I'll be back in a few hours."
Every ounce of Marcus's being was screaming for him to run away, but the mental image of Elissa pointing a finger gun in her head continued to replay itself in his head.
There's no way they would let me leave this place alive. Marcus thought.
"This is nuts," Marcus muttered under his breath as he began heading towards the dining room.
He entered the dining room to find Kenji sitting at the head of a long wooden table, with a tablet in front of him.
"Alright Marcus, I'm sure you have a lot of questions, but I need to know one thing before we start."
"Ok…?" Marcus said hesitantly.
These people sure have a lot of questions, especially since I'm the one who should be asking them, Marcus thought.
"when met with the choice between sacrificing yourself or surviving despite all costs, what kind of person are you?
"What kinda question is that?" Marcus asked in confusion as he took a seat beside Kenji.
"Just answer it."
Marcus hesitated for a brief moment, he was always a self-serving person, never one for heroism or selflessness unless it came to his mother, he'd probably never even give someone who needed help a second glance.
But he wondered if he should be honest about that, or should he lie?
Kenji watched Marcus closely, his eyes not missing a beat, the growing silence and tension was almost palpable.
Marcus felt it was best not to lie about his feelings, especially when it came to people this mysterious, they could probably read his mind for all he knew.
"I'll be honest, I'm not one to sacrifice myself for others, especially if I don't know them, so I guess I'm the type to survive at all costs."
Kenji leaned back in his seat with a thoughtful expression, after a short moment he looked at Marcus with a smirk. "Elissa does have a golden eye, I think you'd make a perfect officer."
"Is that so, I assumed the preferable option was the former?" Marcus asked curiously.
Kenji shook his head, "No when a situation ever develops into one of life or death, the officers should be prioritizing their safety."
"How come?"
"Because anomaly correction officers are few and anomalies are many, a rift pops up on average once every hour all around the globe, and that's just the tip of the iceberg, there's so much we as officers have to deal with when it comes to anomalies and their influence on our society, that we'd be lucky if we had double or even triple the amount of officers we have now."
Marcus felt apprehension about Kenji's words, the seriousness in his voice was a stark contrast to the carefree nature he had just moments ago.
But this was strange, not just in what he was talking about, but the fact that Marcus had never even heard of anything even remotely related to what Kenji was talking about.
"So if these things are popping up everywhere, how come I never heard anything about them, or seen them for that matter?"
Kenji shook his head, "No, you've most likely seen the influence of anomalies, drugs like red acid and white crystal are made from anomalies, alongside strange natural disasters that just happen out of nowhere, things of that nature."
Marcus nodded, what Kenji said sounded plausible, yet that wasn't exactly what Marcus had in mind, he meant why hadn't he seen the anomalies themselves, or even rifts for that matter?
"Ok I get that, but that's not what I meant exactly, I meant anomalies themselves, what I haven't seen any of them?"
Kenji had an expression of brief realization. "Oh, the majority of that information is classified for now."
Marcus sighed, "Of course it is." He said in a disheartened voice.
Kenji chuckled, "How about I give you a rundown about what a rift is?"
Marcus nodded, "Yeah that'll be great actually."
"A rift is essentially a distortion in space that allows anomalies to cross over from the space between reality, now despite being called a rift, these distortions in space can take on many shapes and forms, such as spheres, disks, or even holes in the ground."
Marcus placed a hand on his chin as he leaned closer toward Kenji. His curiosity had been piqued and he wanted to know more.
"Continue."
"There are three classifications of rifts, the first case scenario is a rift simply opening, if that happens then it's as simple as just closing it back up."
Kenji then held up two fingers, "The second case scenario is if a rank-six or rank-five anomaly exits the rift."
Kenji then took a quick cough before continuing.
"These anomalies are generally harmless and small, however, if left unchecked they can cause disturbances. An example would be an anomaly burrowing through yards, or local pets going missing, with these you need to close the rift as fast as possible."
Kenji then paused for a second while taking a deep breath.
He then held up a third finger, "the third scenario is if a rank four or higher exits the rift, they can range from large beast-like creatures that can level entire blocks or even cities, to reality-altering entities that can change physics themselves. When dealing with these it's always a game of minimizing damage and destroying the anomaly quickly."
"Are these common?" Marcus asked nervously as a sense of unease began growing like a lump in his throat.
Kenji shook his head, "No, most of the time it's just scenario one or two, but if a scenario three does happen, it's usually just a class four or three, which is still dangerous but the anomalies aren't reality-bending, as the damage is more physical."
Marcus nodded, feeling a sense of fear and excitement, "So, you mentioned anomalies can cause disturbances, but what are they, are they like physical creatures or inanimate objects?"
"Both kinda, most anomalies are indeed physical creatures, some of them even look human. Some are like cursed objects, my favorite of which is a titanium shard that changes shape based on the user's will, it's my primary weapon."
"I see, is that also how you teleport?"
"Hmm, I can't go into detail about that at the moment, but kinda?"
Kenji then leaned forward and placed a hand on his chin, "You'll have to talk to the research and medical team leads, it involves surgery and placing foreign objects in your body." Kenji said as he chuckled.
Marcus shivered at Kenji's words, the idea of surgery was never appealing to him even before he learned about anomalies, so the idea of putting some random object on your body was just straight-up nightmare fuel for Marcus.
"So, what happens now?" Marcus asked.
"Well, there's still a lot we need to go over, but we'll deal with that tomorrow if you're interested in becoming a cadet that is."
"A cadet?"
Kenji nodded, "yeah, all officers start as cadets, it's like your trial period where you're evaluated by a fourth-rank officer or higher, if you pass your evaluation period then you'll move on to the entrance exams, but if you fail, we'll wipe your memory."
Kenji then raised an eyebrow almost like he remembered something, "Speaking of which, do you want to opt out of all this?"
Marcus was taken aback but Kenji's words, "Wait, I can leave?!" He asked in disbelief.
"Uh yeah…?"
"Elissa said I'd be killed if I tried to leave, she said I knew too much."
Kenji snickered as he covered his mouth, "Well that explains why you looked so lost earlier."
"So you mean I had a choice this entire time," Marcus said in realization.
"Yeah, if you wanna leave I can have it arranged to get your memory erased, but don't take Elissa's intuition for granted, she sees something in you and honestly I'd like to see your full potential myself."
"I see…" Marcus took a deep breath as he considered his options.
All of this information was unnerving and strange, and not only that but he'd been dragged into it against his will all because some strange woman had a "hunch", the logical choice would be to opt out and never look back.
Marcus closed his eyes as he tightened his fists, "My whole life has been dictated by my gain and self-isolation and if I'm being honest I'd like to return to that."
Marcus then opened his eyes and stared at Kenji with a determined expression, "But now I know there's an entire unexplored world right underneath my nose, I'd be an idiot to turn it down."
Kenji clapped his hands together as he stood up, "Excellent, but we should probably get you home before your folks start wondering where you are, same time tomorrow Marcus?"
Marcus stood up and nodded his head, "Yeah."
Almost as if on cue, Elissa had returned, "Kenji, I'm back!"
"We're just finishing up in the dining room, how was your mission?" Kenji asked before teleporting into the living room.
There was a passing moment of silence as Marcus walked from the dining room to the living room, as he entered, he noticed Elissa pulling at one of her pigtails, "uhm, about that…."
Kenji sighed as he grabbed at his forehead, he then chuckled, "I should've known, there wasn't a rift. You just sat in your car and listened in on our conversation, then ya waltz on in like nothing happened."
Elissa raised he hands up to her chest in resignation, "ya got me, but what do you think about Marcus?"
Kenji smiled as he looked back at Marcus, "I think he'll do just fine."