EO3CB

Agent John and his new buddy JTF officer Lamar walk into the BOO. The mood of the place is very somber, word of their defeated plan and eventual loss of Rogue Agent Disavowed Torrex had already made it back to the others. John stops and takes a look around hoping to find at least one familiar face. Lamar stood by his side wondering what to do next himself. John turns to Lamar and asks “want to go for a walk? It’s a little too stuffy in here for me.” “Sure. Where to?” replied Lamar. Agent John did an about face and marched right out of there. Lamar following close behind. 

As they walked up the street from the BOO John was overwhelmed with emotion. He missed his daughter Grace, he missed his wife Christine but still very upset he failed the team earlier. “You have any kids?” asked John. “No sir. I joined JTF right after the dollar Flu hit, it was my senior year of High School”.  Agent John pulls out a locket from his inside jacket pocket, he stares at his family for a brief moment as they walk. Lamar looks ahead and notices a group of Riker gang members patrolling the street ahead they deemed “Their Turf”. Lamar pulls Agent John down into cover behind an abandoned SUV. Agent John realizing that they wandered way off course started formulating an escape route in his head. “We need to quietly turn back and hopefully these guys will not notice us”. Lamar turns abruptly in fear and knocks over an empty tin trash can. The sound of the metal hitting the concrete pavement echoed throughout the entire neighborhood off the tall buildings. The Riker gang members turn and notice the two in hiding. “RUN” Yells John.

Bullets start flying past them, the Rikers right on their heels. John pulls out his pistol and starts firing blindly behind him as he races for his life. Lamar reaches for the strap of his G36 and notices that the weapon is missing! He turns back quickly just long enough to see one of the Riker members picking it up off the ground where they were hiding behind that SUV. John looks up ahead and sees an LMB Squad patrolling the streets in front of them. John pushes Lamar to turn to the left as they race down the opposite street. The LMB members see the Rikers barreling down the street hot on the tails of Agent John and JTF Officer Lamar, so they join the Rikers in the chase. Lamar notices the two groups now chasing them, “Awe Shit! They’re working together now?” John looks ahead and sees it’s a dead end. The only thing in front of them is the large broken scaffolding built to contain the DZ. They both run up to the scaffolding and begin to climb, John hands a grenade to Lamar “Here, use this when I tell you”. John then reaches in his pack and pulls out a Seeker Mine, he pushes in the green glowing button at the top and throws it out toward the two groups of enemies. The seeker mine hits the ground and immediately start rolling toward the Rikers first. “Shit, Seeker mines take cover” Yells out one of the LMB Members. The ball jumps in the air and splits off into multiple little clusters above the Rikers and LMB. As the clusters explode the force of the blast knocks Lamar backwards and into the DZ, he drops the grenade and loses the pin. John jumps down in the DZ, grabs the grenade and throws it toward the enemies now trying to climb the scaffolding. The grenade detonates in midair next to the main support beam and the entire scaffolding starts to crumble onto itself. 

John and Lamar soon realize that although the threat of the LMB and Rikers chasing them has been neutralized, they are now stuck in the DZ and the nearest check point is over a mile away. As they start walking quietly down the street hugging the sides of the building doing their best to blend into the landscape. Lamar finally breaks the silence “I didn’t think we were going to make it back there, Thank you”. “We are not out of the woods yet kid” whispers John inviting him to keep his mouth shut while they are moving in stealth mode. They cautiously approach an intersection leading to a dark alley. John takes a quick look and doesn’t see anyone around. As he proceeds to cross the intersection, a single shot rings out and the bullet flies right past John’s nose. “Consider that a warning shot” yells out a familiar voice. Agent John’s heart starts pounding in fear, he recognizes the voice of his old friend Torex, the former agent that they just recently lost back in the DZ.  “The next shot is going right between your eyes John. No one locks me up and gets away with it”.  “Torex. Your beef is with me, let the kid go”. John yells out hoping to at least save young Lamar’s life. “You know what, honestly I would have honored your request, but I have about ten Rikers here that was promised a blood bath. You know I’m a man of my word John”. Suddenly the gang members start slowly walking out of the dark shadows of the alley. John knew they were now in serious trouble. He was the one that originally captured Torex, it was his idea to use him as bait and then eventually lose Torex again in the DZ. It seems that Karma has caught up with Agent John. They start moving in closer ever so slowly almost as if to savor the moment when they finally make their kill. All of a sudden John’s SHD tech device lights up with an incoming message, ISAAC system blares out “A NEW AGENT HAS JOINED YOUR TEAM”. A mobile cover is tossed in the air flying over John and Lamar’s head and landing right between them and the Rikers. The metallic clamps dig into the concrete and the mobile cover extends out providing cover to the two men. Then another rogue agent slams up against the mobile cover armed with two big Alejandro LMG’s. He slaps his SHD tech device to activate his Tactical Link, a huge surge of energy flows through his arms and weapons, he takes aim and unleashes the devastating power of these two weapons. Bullets start flying out faster than the eye can see, the raw power forcing the LMG’s to perform at super human speed and strength start melting the red hot barrels. The entire Alley way is covered in Bullet holes and dead bodies. Torex, the only one to survive yells “Damnit EO, What the Hell?! You almost killed me”. “Stop over exaggerating you pansy, if I wanted to kill you, it would have been a long time ago.” 

A thick fog started settling in around the area, it was getting difficult to see five feet in front of you. “Wait a minute” John says confused. “You are EO3CB? The guy we have been looking for since the start of the Dollar Flu?” EO trying to expedite their inquiries cuts off the questions from Agent John “Yeah it’s me, nice to meet you, now we have to go. Phoenix needs to talk to you about something important.” John doesn’t want to go anywhere with these two killers, he positions himself between them and Lamar as if he would try to shield him if they start shooting. “Look, with that much noise someone is bound to have heard it. Torex and I will protect you on the way to see Phoenix”. “What?” Torex exclaims almost spitting up his drink. “I am not protecting these bastards. Do you not remember what they did to me?” “Come on Torex, like you didn’t have it coming. I gave my word to Phoenix, anything happens to them, I will kill you myself.”  Torex storms off toward the end of the street in protest. “Alright fine, why aren’t we moving yet?” “We are waiting for backup” says EO. “They should be here any second now”.

Suddenly in the distance John sees two shadowy figures walking towards them. A twisted laughter fills the air as the two get closer. One was swinging a chain around his head, occasionally smacking himself with it on purpose just to see which one of the two would laugh first, the other was wearing a mask shaped like a Moose. “What the Hell is that? This is your backup” John asks as he stares at the two approaching laughing hyenas. EO looks over his shoulder and shakes his head “The one with the chain is Knuckles, the other is Moose. Think of them as your spiritual guide.” As soon as the two are in full view from the fog Moose yells out “Entrance pose!” and they both stop and pose like rock stars about to hit the stage for their final performance. Torex walks up from behind Lamar and says “I hope you brought a big bag of sanity pills cause it’s about to get weird.”

Rise of the Phoenix

EXT – Dusk 

Ominous dark clouds weighing heavy on the atmosphere, they look ready to unleash a sudden down pour of torrential rain. John can’t shake the feeling of loneliness and a deep chill in his bones that just seem too much to bear. He looks up at the sky wondering where the hell he is. Then suddenly the clouds become still and begin to part revealing a beautiful sunshine. The Sun Rays touch his skin and warms him to his very core, he sees his daughter across the grassy field; her head and shoulders barely visible above the flowers surrounding the both of them. The wild blue, red and yellow colors playing with the cool breeze and forming a path leading up to their favorite park. “Daddy I missed you so much” she says as she embraces him. “Where did you go this time?” “Oh honey, daddy missed you too, I am back now and that is all that matters. Hey, you want to go for a push on the swing?”  She shakes her head with delight in agreement.  John starts pushing his daughter Grace on the swing, her long blonde hair gently brushes his face as she flies up to meet him and then swings off really fast as she giggles with sheer joy and excitement. John, finally made it home after his last assignment and can finally breathe in a sigh of relief. As he takes in the moment he notices a woman badly injured across the park staring at him. She looks war torn, her head bandaged up and a fresh cut across her check still in need of stiches. As the blank expression on her face almost puts John in a trance he hears the voice of his daughter fading away as she is calling for him to come back to her. He begins to walk towards the woman and cannot find a way to stop himself as he moves closer and closer.  “JOHN!!” he hears ringing in his head, “JOHN GET UP!” He looks down at his SHD tech watch on his wrist, an orange pulse shoots out from his wrist in all directions. The ring spreads across the park and reveals to him the true terrain this dream world has been hiding. The grassy fields once covered in flowers are now all covered in Concrete and pavement, the trees reveal themselves as the massive buildings they actually are. John finally realizes he never left his assignment in New York City.  John now recognizes the woman in his dream, it was Lieutenant Faye, and she screams “Get up John we have to go now! We lost the prisoner, Fall Back!” John tries to get up on his feet as one of the JTF officer drags him back to safety. They open the checkpoint doors of the DZ and the team of twelve pile in as fast as possible, the door seals up behind them as bullets and fire turrets whiz past them. 

“What the Hell happened out there?” asks one of the JTF officers addressing Faye. You can see the anger in his face as he sneers toward Agent John and his inability to help in the fight at that crucial moment. “It’s no one’s fault” snaps Faye, “We were ambushed by Rogues, and we should have known this was going to happen considering the circumstances.” “Circumstances?” Asked the JTF officer. “When the Hell were you going to inform us that we were using a Rogue Agent as a Prisoner for bait in the DZ? Maybe if you shared that little bit of Intel we could have been more prepared!” The JTF officer now so upset he can’t even catch his breath. His name tag had fallen off in the gun fight, he picks it up off the ground and stuffs it in his pocket. “Well, now what Agents?” Ramirez says snidely. “We had one of the most dangerous Rogue operatives in custody and you lose him because you were trying to dangle bait for a bigger catch. Now who knows how many more JTF officers will die at the hands of Agent Torex.” Faye angrily stands up to Ramirez “You know damn well this Rogue group is our problem! We need to cut the head off the snake if we are going to have any chance of gaining control of the DZ again.”  Ramirez starts to snicker at Fayes remark. “You telling me you thought this little plan of yours was going to get you Phoenix?”  The look of disgust and disappointment is written all over Ramirez’ face, some of the other JTF men find it just as delusional, the other SHD Agents don’t. After the sarcastic huffing had died down Ramirez turned to Agent John “You are damn lucky we survived that little skirmish with Agent Eagle Eye today.” The rest of the men became silent and they all had a look of worry on their faces. “Don’t they call him Phoenix sometimes?” Asked one of the younger JTF members. “Yes they do” answered Ramirez. “Would you like to know why son?” the young man forces his head to signal for a yes. “Faye, why don’t you enlighten our young JTF officer here about who Agent Eagle Eye is and why they call him Phoenix?” Faye reluctantly standing up on her one good leg to address the room struggling to find a good starting point.  “Agent EagleEye1298 was part of the second wave of SHD Agents that came to NY to help eradicate the LMB and Cleaners that have taken control of the Dark Zone. He was very cunning In his method of fighting, rather than focusing on dealing out damage to the enemy he was more focused on healing the group and keeping them alive long enough to endure any battle. Over time word spread around of his amazing revival abilities and he quickly became very popular among the other agents. No one wanted to patrol the Dark Zone without him because they knew that their only chance of survival was going in only with him. Well, because of his unique talents and my need to fill the void of patrolling the DZ, I assigned him to strictly DZ patrols only so I could get more Agents into rotation in there. We were actually making good progress until one day Eagle ran into Disavowed Torex, another former agent that recently turned rogue. Something happened that day, no one really knows what or why but he turned on the agents he was patrolling with. We found their dead bodies hanging from the rooftop of the Police station never to have heard from him again.” 

The air of the room was so thick you could cut it with a knife, every Agent in there hung their heads low listening to the blistering reminder of what a losing blow the Agents took that fateful day. The young JTF member then humbly asked “But that still doesn’t explain the name Phoenix where did that come from?”  Agent John jumped up to explain that part of the story. Eager to show that this last encounter didn’t shake him at all he proceeded to say “One night long after Eagle defected as a Rogue, we were patrolling the DZ looking specifically for him. We came across some Rogue agent lead by their newest officer StonR. StonR happens to be another Rogue Agent at the top of our list to capture. We had eight agents that night and StonR was putting up one Hell of a fight, he had already taken out four of the eight agents single handedly with only one other Rogue agent with him. We finally had the perfect opportunity, the other Rogue agent died in the fight and StonR was finally put down. The remaining four agents went in to capture him when out of nowhere a single Defibrillator shot came down and landed right on StonR, when I looked up, Eagle was standing on a nearby rooftop monitoring the whole street the entire time. Before we realized what had just happened, StonR jumped up fully revived from the Defib and killed another agent. We fought for another hour, each time we thought we were going to get the upper hand on StonR, Eagle was right there with a revive. It was almost as if no one could kill anyone that was under the healing care of Eagle. I barely got out of there alive when Eagle threw out his seeker mines to assist in the final blow to our team.” The entire room was now completely silent, John finished by saying “That day agent Eagle died and through the ashes arose the Phoenix.” As John Started walking towards the exit of the checkpoint to head back to the Base of Operations the young JTF officer asked “Are there other Rogue Agents out there just as dangerous?” Agent John smiled at him and said “I think we need a drink first, then I can tell you about another former agent you will not want to run into. He goes by the name of EO3 Daddy.”

Thursday, January 25, 2018 1216 Hours

Thursday, January 25, 2018 1216 Hours

People sometimes say that life has those little moments that stand out, make an impression, and really define who are.  After the dollar flu swept the nation on Black Friday, everyone found themselves making quick, sometimes rash decisions, where instead of being defined or memorable, every waking moment includes decisions that will often lead to life or death.  This is how it is now, this is the way things have to be.  It's the quiet, peaceful, or otherwise dull moments that are now memorable, simply because they come so few and far between the clutches of evil and violence. 

I used to take the LIRR into Penn station every day to work.  Catch the 5:30 am train, grab myself a coffee and grind out long days on construction sites working for a local carpenters union.  All of that seems like a distant past now, a separate reality.  Instead of worrying about hearing from the boss about what needs to get done and in what amount of time, I found myself now carrying out technical sabotage for a government agency, and almost always in a deadly scenarios. 

Everything is more calculated now, do I override the LMB's command post main computer terminal to shut down their security cameras? If I fail and get caught, me and whoever I am with will certainly die or get caught and then who knows what.  Calculated risk, that is the name of the game now, judging if things or supplies are worth dying for. 

And sometimes they are.

I had an engineering background, and a degree in Information Security, and was eventually interviewed by a Division Agent Recruiter (DAR) and asked to meet a facility for a fitness test.  I passed the test, and was then given a watch with a GPS coordinate to perform a field test at an unknown time.  I was told that no matter what was going on, I needed to drop what I was doing and show up, as that is what is required in order to maintain continuity among a disaster.  I will describe further my experiences in training when I have time and my eyes are not closing on me.  There aren't many nights nowadays when I can get solid shuteye, but Steve has watch tonight so I will try to get some. 

For anyone that cares, or anyone wants to put some of the pieces together, I will be writing in this journal some of my experiences.  Maybe it will help someone out there with what works and what doesn't because I am still learning on the fly.  Even with my division training I was not ready for the destruction of society as we know it.  Here's to a solid nights sleep for once and hopefully this gets out to someone and can help them keep pushing on as the good guys are all in this together.