January 4th

Mr. Bishop could not account for what compelled him to pick up the phone and call. It wasn't his style to go to such lengths just to get an immediate response. But after all, he hadn’t seen him in days. And even though his letter specifically asked him for some space, he just couldn’t help himself.

Maybe something just didn’t sit well with him. He knew his son could sometimes be difficult; this sort of behavior is not entirely farfetched or unbeknown to Nick. But still…

“Yes hello, I would like to speak with Fay Shaw please?”

“May I ask who is calling please?”

“Of course, it’s Austin Bishop.”

“Okay, please hold for a minute.

As he drummed his fingers on the coffee table outside the restaurant, he impatiently waited for her to come to the phone.

“B?” Fay called out.

“Hey...”

“B, I thought we agreed that you wouldn’t phone outside of restricted hours.”

“Yes, I know. But with everything’s that happening you should understand my need to disregard those terms.”

“No, I don’t. Why is that?”

“Well, he’s been gone a couple of days now. And I know this is supposed to be covert and all. But I am an old man after all. I get worried. I mean, a simple phone call would have sufficed.”

He sighed as he said this, feeling a bit guilty for possibly bringing this upon himself. Maybe he had pushed him too hard, and this was his punishment. But what came next was something that he was not prepared for.

Fay paused then stuttered as if from confusion, “B, what are you saying? Who’s been gone and what does that have to do with me and Gram?”

His glances at the beautiful park across from him came to an abrupt halt as his lips stumbled over words.

“Nick, he came to see you, did he not?”

“No.” she immediately shut down. “I mean, after our talk, I was expecting you to be able to convince him.”

He clenched his fist around the paper coffee cup until it had completely caved in.

“Wait, what’s going on? Do you not know where Nick is? He supposed to be here already?!”She began to scream her questions, obviously forgetting the position she was in.

“B, answer me! What’s happened to my son?”

Time stopped… he said nothing. He knew his silence would murder her, but every additional second spent with her is a second wasted.

He’s made his decision…

“I gotta to go.”

“Don’t hang up on me!” she begged, “B!”

Beep….

Beep…

Beep…

PRESENT

I can’t hold out much longer. I am outnumbered and out powered. I lack sufficient Intel on these guys to determine the extent of their super-powered arms. But by the force of these punches, I am guessing they will hurt really fucking hard.

Probably break a few bones.

My powers of foresight are linked to my premonitions. When I am in danger, my mind can slightly predict the stimuli of my surrounding. I use that to my advantage in a fight, in order to determine my opponent’s hits. It’s almost like being able to see glimpses of the near future, but not exactly.

Like right now, Jason is trying to hammer me with his right fist but I anticipated it seconds before he does so with every strike and duck or move sideways. He punches through the wall, and I get in a couple of hits to his stomach.

Dude, are you even feeling these? My knuckles fucking hurt.

Oh shit!

Todd is coming at me from above. He punches down from the left, and I just manage to miss.

It’s a good thing these guys are heavy. Their movements, though powerful, are much slower in comparison to mine. But all it takes is one good hit and that would be it for me. My mind may be power but my body is still just flesh and blood. I would break like a toothpick.

I got to hit em where it hurts.

I have to go for the head, since clearly nowhere else works.

I need a weapon.

I block the follow-up attack from Todd and hurdle over a shipment.

That’ll do…

He tosses it aside and comes at me like an angry bull. “You’re wasting our time, you little shit. Do you think this is some kind of game?”

“No, I don’t.” I fired back trying to create a small distraction, “Look, I don’t care who you’re working for but I won’t let you have your way. You’re not taking that pod and you’re going to tell me how to disable the bomb.”

He cackled mockingly at my demands, then stepped forward boastingly “We’ll see about that.”

He reaches for me with his metal arm, just as I anticipated. I’m going out on a limb here… but here goes nothing.

I let him grab me. “Gotcha!”

Doing so gave me the opportunity to stab him in his human hand with the piece of metal I’d just found, making him drop me. I jumped up and grabbed his bed immediately, and hauled it down to meet the strength of my right knee, knocking him out.

But out of nowhere, I start to choke. Jason had snuck up behind me and caught me in a headlock. I forced both hands between his grip, trying to prevent him from crushing my skull or breaking my neck. We struggled back and forth the room, crashing into tables and packages for about 30 seconds.

Todd was not out for long. He slowly got up from the ground.

“Bro, are you all right?” Jason called out while still attempting to strangle me.

“Get up and get over here!” He called out to him.

I could feel the blood swelling in my head. I was losing oxygen, and I was losing it fast. He didn’t need any help. If this continued, I would surely die.

This can’t be the end…

Todd looked up. Saw the position I was in and responded. “Just a second, he’s not going anywhere.

Then he looked directly at me, “I will make you pay for that.”

He went over to the pod and placed his hand on the screen.

*Access Denied*

I could feel Jason’s grip around my neck slightly loosen from shock.

He went again. This time outright confused.

*Access Denied*

Jason’s grip once again loosened, this time completely. He tossed me aside like a piece of garbage and went straight for the machine. My vision and hearing were distorted, and my neck was numb. My body was weak from the struggle; I could hardly move. The only thing I made clearly was…

*Access Denied*

*Access Denied*

*Access Denied*

And then an infuriated outcry “What is this?!”

He started thrashing the pod with brute force, back and forth until the screen cracked right down the middle.

I came to it. I realized what had happened and took a chance. Slowly, I wobbled my way across the floor. I came upon them and they hesitated to attack. I raised my bruised fingers towards the screen and Jason twitched, ready to reach out and break my hand.

Todd, with his head hung in what appeared to be rationalized panic, reached out and stopped his grasp.

I desperately strained and lifted my hands to touch the screen.

Just a little bit more…

Almost there…

*Access Granted: Welcome Agent Nick*