Remember the Name: Chapter Four

A Chapter by Anonymous

Written by me!

“Um, sir?” came a rather mousey voice.

“Hm?” I mumbled, spinning around in my chair with my legs crossed. I tilted my head to one side when I saw who was standing at the doorway. “Yes?”

“I-I have something for you,” said the woman standing by the door, holding out a brown paper bag. It was literally steaming hot. I got out of my chair and my bare feet slapped the cold tile floor as I walked over to her slowly, hunching my shoulders and taking the bag delicately in my fingertips.

“Is this what I ordered?” I asked her, looking up at her. She flinched when my gaze met hers and nodded.

“Y-yes, it is,” she said. I stared at her while my mind whirred around.

“What’s your name?” I said, leaning into her face to get a better look at her facial features.

High cheekbones, dulled hazel eyes, widow’s peak, upward curved nose…

She looked deathly familiar, but I, for some reason, couldn’t put my finger on her name. The woman backed up a few steps uncomfortably.

“I’m K,” she stammered, “don’t you remember recruiting me, s-sir?”

My mind clicked and I felt my eyes light up. I shook her hand and beamed; she still looked extremely nervous as her arm was flung around by my grip.

“Ah, K!” I exclaimed. “Trained for twelve years in England as a computer hacker, was it? Of course I remember you. It wasn’t a mistake recruiting you, for sure. Good luck with your part of the team, K.”

K was trembling and her face was red as a tomato. I also recalled that she wasn’t one for taking fame too well.

“Yes, sir,” she said, “I’ll do my best.”

I smiled at her and shuffled back to my seat, crossing my legs again and opening the edges of the bag ever-so carefully. K looked as if she thought the bag would explode at any second. I glanced up at her. “What’s the matter?” I asked her, pausing my hands.

“N-nothing, sir,” she said quickly.

“You don’t need to worry, there’s no nuclear bomb in this bag.”

“B-but, the bag is steaming, sir…”

I reached into the bag and pulled out a hot, steamy takeout box. I opened it up and showed K the curried noodles with soy sauce and orange chicken that I’d ordered. “It’s my lunch,” I sniggered. “C’mon, some of you recruits think I’m purely diabolical.”

K stared at me like an idiot, standing awkwardly by the doorway, as if she wasn’t sure what to do here. I glanced up at her, slurping up noodles with my chopsticks, and licked my lips.

“Would you like some?” I asked, holding out another box of food.

“N-no thank you,” she said. I put down my food on the desk and held the bag in my hands.

“Do you want to know what’s really in this bag?”

She looked surprised, but I could tell that she had a strong feeling that she didn’t have to hand-deliver this bag to me for Chinese food. I smirked and removed all of the food, then reached into the bottom of the bag and pulled out a small vial, hot and brightly glowing white.

“Wh-what on earth is that?” K said, stiffening. Her eyes widened. “Is that… That’s it?”

“This,” I whispered, gazing at the vial, “is our key to immortality.”

We were lined up at the edge of the wall, in the order that the kid has put us in. The kid stood (more like crouched) up on the giant machine that towered before us all. He was so… Strange. He wore dark skinny jeans and a striped black-and-grey hooded sweatshirt; he could hardly be the age of fifteen. He had messy, un-brushed hair, dark circles under his eyes, and was barefoot. He looked like he just hopped out of bed and smeared ink under his eyes. Despite that, he looked completely awake and prepared to make some speech to us. He’d spoken to each of us in private in the past month or so, and we were all informed about his plan. We’d all be recruited into the team.

“Recruits,” said the young boy, “I welcome you here today. I appreciate that you took time out of your busy schedules to be here.”

The boy smirked a bit and several of the other 25 recruits chuckled.

“Busy schedules,” echoed a woman beside me sarcastically. “As if.”

“I’ve brought you all here to discuss a very important matter on my part, and soon to be yours,” the boy said to us. “As you all may know, every single one of you has some kind of past experience with criminal affairs or some kind of un-law-abiding career.”

Everyone, including me, shifted positions.

“However, I am not a criminal,” said the boy. “And you will soon be on my side.”

I stood transfixed on his dark eyes and listened.

“You see, there is no good and evil. There is no right and wrong… There is only Justice, and those who choose to disobey it. My friends,” the boy said, standing up, “I am Justice. And I’ll provide for all of you for the rest of your natural lives if you choose to fight for Justice, unless I’ve been killed in the process. If that will happen, my Other will take over in my place as my successor.”

“Justice?” called out one of the recruits. Dark red-brown hair, green eyes, and a blazing look in her eyes. Recruit R, I suspected. “Why would we fight for Justice? What’s in it for us?”

“Immortality,” the boy said, his bulging eyes glimmering.

“He’s bluffing,” muttered the recruit on my left, rolling his eyes. The boy smiled and turned to the recruit who just spoke, his eyes fixed on him.

“Am I?” he snickered. “You’ll be rich beyond your wildest dreams for your entire life, then die a happy and peaceful death of old age, never forgotten by the world. You’ll be immortal in everyone’s hearts. If you 26 work together with Justice, we’ll be unstoppable.”

Everyone went silent. The boy bit his thumbnail.

“We’ll rule this world. We’ll create a new society filled with the pure hearted and righteous of spirit. There’s no way this plan could go wrong, and all of you know it. Now, my dear friends, join me in our quest to purify this world.”

The room roared with cheers and whistles from the recruits. For some reason… I knew that the boy was true to his word. We really would succeed… I knew it.

I watched them through the screen, the headset over my ears and a stick of chocolate pocky in my mouth. I decided that I didn’t care whether they talked to each other anymore, because they seemed persistent enough to talk even though I’d already sent X to threaten them.

Oh well, I thought, biting the cookie end of the candy. It still amuses me to listen to them.

I glanced at the three captives that were in the room. I’d allowed them to have their binds taken off, and they were also allowed to walk around the room. The furniture was now back in place, making the room seem as if a regular old apartment room with a bed, couch, kitchen, and even a television. I figured that they wouldn’t be so rambunctious if I let them have as much freedom as possible. The first one, sitting on the couch, was the blonde, Amanda Douglas.

A government agent. Huh; typical. Always wanting to save the day, I thought scornfully. The second, who stood drinking a can of hard liquor in the kitchen, was Vincent Brander. His eyes looked glazed over and his black hair hung greasily in his face.

A bounty hunter. God knows how he got mixed up in this.

The last, the brunette girl that sit at the kitchen table, her eyes in her palms, was Annabelle.

Annabelle… I’m sorry, I thought, slowly putting my fingers against the screen. You were always my friend… Always so caring and selfless… I’m so sorry you had to be dragged into this. You never needed to be part of this… But I suppose that now, you’re in for good. I never wanted you to know about this whole thing, but now I have to tell you everything. Over time, you’ll understand…

I swerved around in my chair away from the screen, took off my headset, and opened the door. I walked down into the hallways, past a few of my recruits, who nodded as I passed, and to another door. I inhaled deeply and entered. There, inside, was Amanda, Vincent, and Annabelle…

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