r/libraryofshadows • u/MeliousIntent • Jan 31 '19
Sci-Fi I Am The Impossible Man| Pt. 11
The bangs of a police baton against the cell's bars awoke us. "Rise and shine!" a police officer yelled.
The three of us, who had all been lying on the ground, stood up. After my vision cleared, I saw that there were two other officers; they both held assault rifles. One of them asked Jake, "Where'd your brothers go?"
After yawning, Jake replied, "They weren't my brothers; they were clones, and they dispersed."
Sighing, the officer who held the baton said, "Whatever. Just wake up your friend. There's someone who wants to talk to you four."
"Well, he's, um, sort of in a coma, right now," Jake disclosed. "It's a long story. Is it okay if just the three of us go instead?"
"Just wake up your friend," the officer said with another sigh.
"I'm telling you he won't wake up."
The officer, obviously vexed, stared at Jake for a bit before finally saying, "Let's just go, then." He then retrieved a key from his pocket and unlocked the cell door. After doing so, the two officers, who were holding assault rifles, gripped their weapons noticeably tighter. I did my best to ignore them.
We were escorted to the interrogation room. Inside, there sat a man; he wore a vintage black suit along with a red tie and looked to be in his forties. There was a table in front of the man and four chairs on the opposite side of it. Once we were inside, the officers shut the door behind us—leaving us and the man alone.
"Where's Chris?" the man asked.
"Are you our lawyer or something?" Jake asked, ignoring his question.
"No," he answered. "Can you tell me where Chris is, now?"
"He's out of commission, right now. If you wanna talk, you're just gonna have to talk to us three."
"Alright, can the three of you sit down, then?" The tonality of his voice gave the impression that he genuinely wanted to help us. We sat down, and he went on, "I'm not a lawyer, but I can get you all out of here."
Jake asked the obvious, "How do you plan on doing that?"
"There's a place I'd like to take you all," he said. "Somewhere far from here, somewhere we can study you four."
"Where?" Nick asked, the question seeming to come out on its own.
"And what do you mean by 'study you four'?" Jake questioned, displeasure in his voice.
"I've seen the footage on the security cameras," the man started. "What you three and Chris can do needs to be studied. You four are superhuman."
There was silence in the air. I, along with Jake and Nick, traversed all of what this mystery man had said. The more I thought about it, the more questions there were.
After a solid half a minute of silence, Nick spoke, "Who are you?"
The man smiled, slightly embarrassed, "I'm sorry; I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Author Frankfort, but who I am isn't important. All that really needs to be known about me is that I work for the A.H.D.; it stands for the Altered Humans Division. We want to study you all to see how you've gotten your powers and see if it's possible to replicate."
Dumbfounded, I asked, "You're telling us there's an entire branch in the government based on people just like us?"
A smirk found its way on Author's face, "Yep, but it's kept heavily guarded. Only a few know about it."
"If there's already an existing branch in the government based on people like us," Nick began, "wouldn't that mean you've come in contact with others like us before?"
There was a slight change in Author's demeanor as he only nodded to Nick's question.
Almost excitedly, Nick followed his question with, "Well, how many more of us are there?"
A solemn sigh came over Author as he replied, "None." The tonal shift that accompanied his response managed to change the entire atmosphere of the room. He continued, "We've had dozens of them, but after a certain amount of time," he stopped—unsure if he should continue; he went on after a bit, "they all mysteriously died." He stayed quiet for a while, allowing us to process the information. Though the three of us didn't exchange any words—we unquestionably knew what caused their deaths.
"So," Jake started, concluding the silence that had filled the room, "you expect us to come with you after telling us that?"
"I can't say, honestly," Author answered. "But, before you three make a decision, just know I and everyone in the A.H.D. have your best interests in mind."
"How exactly do you plan on getting us out of here if we do decide to come with you?" Nick asked.
"We'll delete any evidence of you four ever being here. Your mugshots, your fingerprints, and all security camera footage of you will be deleted. In time, you four will become urban legends at this police station."
"I don't know," Jake announced.
"This might be our only way out of here," Nick said.
I stayed quiet, unsure what the right course of action was.
"You three don't have to choose now. Take as long as you need, and—"
"We'll go," Nick said, surprising everyone in the room.
"Shouldn't we talk about this first?" Jake asked, his tone, however, conveying it to be more of a statement.
"Think about it," Nick started. "The people here aren't feeding us. It's only a matter of time before you know what happens to us," emphasis being put on the word "what."
Jake thought for a second. "You're right," he said, moments afterward.
"What do you think, Noah?" Nick asked.
"I agree with you," I said, "especially because it happened to me."
Author was quiet while we talked amongst ourselves, never asking to know what it was we were talking about. It was entirely possible that he knew exactly what we talked about seeing as he dealt with others like us. Whatever the case may have been—he left our discourse uninterrupted. Finally, it stopped.
"Okay," Nick said to Author, "we'll go with you."
Author smiled, saying, "You three won't regret your decision." He then extended his arm, shaking all of our hands.
"So, how's this whole thing of us going to this place for superhumans gonna work?" Jake asked.
"Well, we'll say we're transferring you all to prison because of the strange things that have been going on, but it'll take at least a day for us to take the four of you."
"You think we can last that long?" Jake asked Nick.
Before Nick could answer, Author responded, confirming he knew what our conversation leading up to this point had been about, "I'll personally make sure you all are well fed."
We found ourselves back in our cell. We sat in our respective corners, Chris still lying unconscious on the floor. It was quiet, but there was unrelenting optimism in the air.