. : . The Killer Trigger . : .

[X]

Codename: X

... 6 Months Ago ...

... Somewhere In Cuba ...

"All Operatives turn to Surveillance Mode, possible breach on the chambers, all Operatives turn to Surveillance Mode, possible breach on the chambers"

Several men and women were running to different parts as the alarm was activated, blue strobo lights were enlighting the underground facility, a man was walking down the aisle, surrounded by several guards, one of the men accompaining him, was a doctor giving him several notes and explaining the graphics to him

"I just don't understand what happened Commander Kern! When we got him here, he was exhausted! There is no way he could have just got up and ran away!"

Commander Kern, a man around his 60's with white hair, and the facial expression of a proper marine, stops suddenly, and looks at the man

"This is X who we are talking about, Doctor, in case you didn't know, he was the only one who survived to the strength enhancement experiments we ran on him 15 years ago, we lost contact with him for 2 and a half years, he assumed his cover as his real world, and even used the Killer Trigger several times, he made himself a well known celebrity out there, he's been close to be killed several times and he was still standing, he survived the "Treatment" he underwent on that "Clinic" on Puerto Rico, are you telling me that after all that happened before and after we retrieved him on that facility, you had no way of knowing what he could do?"

The doctor just looks down, as the Commander keeps on walking, his was a very fast paced walk, his face would show that he was highly concerned about what could happened if the man they were looking for wouldn't be found

"Excuse me, sir"

The Commander stops as he looks at one of the guards who is receiving a radio transmission

"What is it?"

"A team was found"

"I am not interested into that, I want that man to be found!"

"Sir, a team was found... Taken out"

"What did you say?"

"I've been informed that The 3rd Team was completely wiped out on Level B"

"Jesus Christ... He's moving fast... Alright, Red Alarm, I want this place in total lockdown until we find him, I can't afford to lose him again, especially now that he seems to remember everything and is aware of his capabilities"

The guard nods as the group is divided, the Commander remains standing, soon, the movilization of Operatives is even more, now, red lights and a louder alarm sounds in the facility

"Red Alert, Red Alert... All Operatives to your positions, Lockdown in T minus 3 minutes"

The Commander turns around, the doctor was still behind him, the Commander, almost 5 inches taller than the doctor, stares at him

"X is the only one who survived, both the experiments and the training, he was the man who would be used should an assignment would turn into a negative impact, he never used a gun, but rather what he learned from the one on one combat... He's here, he's a potentially dangerous threat to the outside should he manage to escape, he's the only man I know who has ever returned from No Contest Missions, and now, you tell me you admitted him in the Chambers, left him with no surveillance at all, therefore, allowing him to escape, and you have the balls to tell me that there is no possible way he could have done that?"

"Commander, please, if you would just listen to me, his organism and immune system..."

"I'm not interested into excuses or vague explanations, Doctor, we are facing an emergency in this moment, emergency we need to contain as soon as humanly possible, no one knows about us, and I intend to keep it that way, when no other agency can handle a situation, we interfere and we do what we do best... Making those agencies look great even if they are failures... We are the last line of defense, and I can't allow that this gets out of control because of a man I trained myself, I can't allow this organization to be exposed, do you understand, Doctor?"

"But, Commander, you have to listen to me!"

"You're dismissed, Doctor"

The Commander turns around, walking back to his office, as the loudspeaker announces lockdown in 1 minute and 45 seconds

"If I were you, Doctor, I'd look for cover as soon as possible"

The Commander keeps on walking to his office, as the countdown continues, he gets into an elevator as he is directed to Level A, the closest level to the surface and where his office was located, as the elevator reaches his destination, The Commander gets out and walks to his door, as he uses his intercomunicator

"This is Commander Kern, the Lockdown is 15 seconds of being implemented, to all units, track down X and knock him out if necessary, but I want him alive, I repeat... I want X alive"

He slides his card into the slot and the door opens with a buzz, immediately after that, the office comes to life, the screens near the wall are also turned on, giving the Commander a full vision of what is going on, even before reaching his desk, he stares at the screens

"Lockdown in 10... 9... 8... 7... 6... 5... 4..."

"Where are you, X?"

"... 3... 2... 1... Lockdown"

The door of the office was secured, as The Commander sees in the monitors how several segments of the facility are separated by shields, he runs a full scan of the whole facility, Operatives looking in every level, as The Commander was about to head to his desk, something in the screens makes him uneasy

"Wait a minute..."

He returns to the screens and scans them again, The Commander rubs his eyes ni disbelief, and runs a third scan

"Im-Impossible..."

For the first time in 3 years, Commander Thomas Kern, a family man when not working in the facility, was sweating, communications were impossible due the Lockdown, what he could do was only watch... And he was watching were several artifacts on several parts of the facility with a digital indicator that was going on and off

"He.. Planted bombs?"

"Quédate aquí... En mis brazos... Quédate aquí, para mí..."

The Commander slowly turns around, his seat was turned around, facing the wall behind his desk, the man on his seat was singing, The Commander wouldn't dare to move one inch

"... Y no me digas que me amas... No me digas que me adoras..."

The man he was looking for, the man the entire facility was looking for, was in the same room The Commander was, out of that room, a whole contingent was being movilized to find him

"... Dime sólo que te quedas... Una vida junto a mí..."

The seat slowly turns around, as the man on it was still singing, his voice was piercing on The Commander's ears, the man had a device on his right hand, with also an indicator that was flashing at the same rhythm than the ones on the bombs

"... Llévame por ahí... Llévame en tus ansías a un lugar... Donde ya no tenga que jurar, donde ya no tenga que mentir... Donde sólo exista para tí..."

The man remains quiet for a few seconds, a sarcastic smile is drawn on his face, he resumes his singing, now toying with the detonator on his hand

"... Y no me preguntes si te quiero... Que no te preocupe lo que pienso... Que yo soy completamente tuyo... A mi manera..."

The man places the detonator on the desk, and begins to spin it around, looking at The Commander, in the meantime, The Commander is trying to figure a way to prevent a massive disaster

"... Pero a cambio quiero ser tu sueño... Yo no me conformo con tus besos... Quiero darte todo lo que siento... Y más que eso..."

As The Commander was about to approach the desk, X holds the detonator and looks at him, X laughs softly and places his legs on the desk as he toys with the detonator still

"You know... The mind is an awesome thing... I recall during an assignment in Mexico... A girl would sing that same tune every single day while I was in hidding, waiting to be called in case your people would fuck things up and I had to go up there and save their asses... Fortunately, your people didn't fuck things up and I had the chance to keep listening to that tune... Unfortunately, one of your people decided she "Probably Saw Too Much" and decided to take her out... So correct me if I'm wrong... We went to that God Forsaken City, because we were told that we were saving people and we were doing a greater good by killing the bad guys... Commander, was that girl one of the bad guys? I've been waiting 5 years to ask you... What made your Operative think she was one of them?"

The Commander remained in silence, as X would rub his chin, seemingly amused by the whole situation

"X, the risks were too big to take any chances, all Operatives had the authorization to minimize all risks and---"

"I still don't understand how a 10 year old girl is a risk"

The Commander remains in silence, as X places the detonator near his chin, toying with it still

"I guess I'm labeled as a risk too"

"X, you planted bombs on the whole facility"

"Yeah, that's kind of a big risk..."

"Why don't you hand me over that detonator? You're at home, X... You're with us, what you're doing makes zero sense, just stop doing this, and we can manage to give you complete rehab and admit you back with us in no time, you'll be doing what you do best again... Saving the world"

X stands up, still behind the desk, he places the detonator on the desk and looks at The Commander

"I have a better idea... Why don't we play a game, Commander?"

X folds his arms on his chest, looking at The Commander, who has his eyes set on the detonator

"Alright... What do you have in mind?"

"I'll give you the detonator, therefore, you'll be able to save the lives of hundreds working in this place"

"And what's in it for you?"

X smiles, still folding his arms on his chest

"You let me go"

"I'm afraid I can't accept that"

"Why is that? I'll be out, unprotected, I'll be a marked man, and you could easily find me... If you manage to find me again, I will simply rejoin you and you can control me on any way shap or form you want... You know this is an "Once In A Lifetime" kind of opportunity, Commander, you have the resources to look for me, to capture me, and bring me to this place, all I want is you stopping your men, let me go, and I'll let you have the detonator, you could have me back in 4 or 5 months, this time, permanently"

The Commander hesitates, as X spins the detonator on the desk

"I know where "X" comes from, Commander, in my cover to get Jakub Lee, I'd say that was short for X-ecutioner, and also, conveniently, a refference to the variable X, that is used to point the unknown, but between you and me... X is a roman numeral, I'm the last of 10 subjects to your experimentations and training, and the only one alive... You let me go, and you can have me back, you know not even 100 regular Operatives can replace me, what do you say, Commander?"

The Commander knew what X was saying had a lot of sense, he could be found anywhere on the globe at anytime, and they could retrieve him at any moment, what X was asking him was for a chance to run away, for a chance to try and see if he could make it on his own... Finally, after several minutes of thinking about it, The Commander approaches his desk, takes the detonator and cancels the Lockdown, he then takes the communicator

"All Operatives are required to head to Level M immediately, an important communication will be sent to all of you there"

A few minutes pass, and The Commander checks on the monitors that all the Operatives have headed to Level M, several levels underneath them

"Alright X, you have what you wanted, you can go now"

"Thank you Commander, between you and me, I always thought you were the less fucked up person in the facility, just so you know..."

Without saying a thing, X leaves the office and heads to the exit, disappearing from the monitors in a matter of minutes... After 10 minutes, The Commander decides to head to Level M as well, he had given X enough time to run and hide, now it was his turn to play, he would organize all the Operatives so they could find X as soon as possible.

In the meantime, X was out, feeling the cold breeze of the night, he puts his hands in his jacket pocket

"Man, it's cold out here..."

He keeps on walking, looking at the starry sky, he starts whistling a song, walking slowly, the trees surround him, and the breeze is still caressing his face, X stops and turns around, looking in the distance

"I think I'm far enough... It's still cold here..."

X smiles with a sinister grin, he seems to be waiting for something to happen, but in reality he seemed like he was enjoying his moment

"I think what this night needs are some fireworks..."

X gets something from his pocket, a second detonator, still functional, a cruel, sadistic smile appears on his face, as he approaches his finger to the button and presses it...

It happened really fast, in less than 2 seconds, a majestic set of columns of fire were seen coming from the facility, immediately after that, a loud explosion was heard, the sound was so powerful that it was only overpowered by X's sinister laughter

"I hope you liked my games, Commander... From this moment on... I know who I am... And I know exactly what I'm going to do..."

He takes a piece of paper, there was a name written on it, again, his sinister smile appears on his face, the name was written on blood

"It might take me a while... But you and I have something to settle... Something that needs to end with a clear score... Cover or not... Fantasy or not... A lie or not... This ends now..."

X crumples the piece of paper as he walks off laughing

"... Dark HalO..."