Previous documents:
Proxy 11: https://www.reddit.com/r/nosleep/comments/b42jl3/proxy_11_entry_1/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=2
The Kiss of Evil: https://www.reddit.com/r/nosleep/comments/afd2nk/the_kiss_of_evil_chapter_1/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=2
jab-76842: https://www.reddit.com/r/nosleep/comments/a1npxe/jab76842_chapter_1/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=2
Hello everyone
It’s been a while, but since I’m the last one to remember, I suppose it’s my duty to relate to you, the last days of the best days of my life.
Its true, I complained a lot in the past about immature garbage, I misremembered a lot of shit that made things almost seem silly because of head trauma, I tried to get a solid retelling out of my friends before everything went south but now it’s too late.
Far too late.
Those stories have been redacted.
As Wolf related to you in the last post, once we’d gotten free of the Pandora Society’s clutches, freed some ancient fear deity and made our way back to base, Edge, Wolf and I demanded to be retired from the Organization we’d devoted so many years of our life to.
Love, after the whole ordeal agreed with us wholeheartedly, but not for reasons I initially believed.
She said she was tired if being used, she was tired of being considered last, and that she was tired of me going after who I damn well pleased when she was right there the whole time.
She said she would no longer be there as my fallback, my plan B if another girl was kidnapped by some creature or decided she was sick of me.
She said she wished she’d never met me, and that she never wanted to see me again.
The words rang hollow in my body and mind as the realization hit me that I had been treating her exactly that way.
I didn’t say anything as she turned back to Commander Pilum, who had just gotten off the phone, having heard everything, “There is procedure for this, you know, each of you is being discharged with the option to forget.”
Edge blinked, “Forget?”
Pilum nodded, “Yes, indeed, your Service to this organization must never be disclosed to anybody, at any time, and we know your work here has left you with scars, both mental and physical, there is an injection we administer here that each of you can volunteer for in the wake of your resignation, that will purge your memories of this whole nasty, years long buisiness, during the resulting 4 hour long coma, new memories will be inserted to give you a healthier reintroduction to society.”
I blink, feeling a bit insulted, that they’d even offer me something so simple and cowardly, “But Commander what if we refuse the injection?”
Commander Pilum looks over at me, “Then you will have to live with silence, signing an NDA and never, not once, speaking of this buisiness again.”
I looked around at my team, what had been my team, each of them looked to be honestly considering it.
“Guys you’re not seriously going to go through with this, are you?? This is our WHOLE lives!!”
Wolf turned on me, her teeth bared in a snarl, “And for WHAT!? More pain, more suffering, more death!? waking nightmares you can deal with on your own…I want to see my parents again.”
I looked at Edge, his grim stare caught me by the throat, “No…” i whisper as Love consults Pilum again, “Can we get it done now?”
Pilum stands from his desk, “Follow me.”
I trail behind them, feeling utterly lost, Green had receded again, I was alone to deal with this….treachery! They were abandoning me for lives that never existed.
And what was I going to do?
I couldn’t forget, not after all this, not with everyone and everything I know to he true.
I watched them be put under as the syringes slipped in, blue liquid coursing through them, robbing them of their powers, their memories, their other selves, their very identities.
A death I could not abide for myself.
I turn to Pilum who thrusts an NDA into my arms.
“Sign it and you are free, Green.
I start to tear up, unable to control the pain welling up in my chest, “Will they at least remember me? In some capacity?”
Pilum sighed, patting my shoulder in a hollow sort of way, “They will remember you…as an old friend…perhaps from school…if it will stop you blubbering.”
I look up at Pilum who’s face was a mask of stern disappointment, “You were a great team…you accomplished such marvels, I had such high hopes for you.”
The NDA was signed and I handed it to him, “I must send you home to your parents now.”
I sighed, not altogether ready to embark from here without my crew, when Pilum turned back to me with a smile that made my spine crawl, “oh there is still one simple matter…that of removing your clone.”
He then proceeded to tell me EVERYTHING.
There was no 2nd splinter organization.
No Agency
The Agency and the Organization were the same entity.
Seemingly separate, for deniability, at least where we were concerned.
“You see Green…” Pilum sneered, “In certain cases there was competition between our two departments, but we were never truly enemies.”
I couldn’t do much but shake my head, “What about the other Agents I killed??”
“Fodder.” Pilum spat, “All they were was fodder, hollow clay soldiers, Children, shaped to the Organization’s whim to serve the purpose of killing others like them, be they beasts or other Agents like yourself.”
My eyes were filling with angry tears as he seemed to swell with pride, silently laughing at the horror dawning on my face, “And you four were to be our end result, the perfect group of killers, utterly disposable, perfect killing machines, but it seems the whole project was a wash, top to bottom.”
Im fighting the urge to attack him and he knows it, his smile only widens, “Oh all that rage will have to wait, Green, because you’re still able bodied, unlike your ex teammates, so instead of dealing with the clone we made to replace you ourselves, you will have to deal with it in order to return to your civilian life.”
“You’re going to make me kill myself…” I was shaking with rage, Pilum nodded eagerly, “But Don’t think of it like that, think of it as killing Agent Green, felling the wolf so that you may rejoin the sheep.”
I couldn’t control myself any longer, I leapt at him as a rabid yell tore itself from my throat, grabbing for his smug face, when the iron grip of a super strong female hand grabbed the back of my neck, pulling me away as a familiar, breathy giggle made my head swim.
“Not so fast there, Fucko.”
MAL dropped me, I landed flat, unable to feel my arms or legs, “Don’t worry Green, we’ll drop you right where you need to be, right after you pass out.”
I gasped for air as I felt my body slowly shutting down, my heart pumping wildly as I felt my rage trying to pull me out of this fog MAL had me in, “Kill you…” was all I could growl, when I wanted to say much more, but my anger was truly burning in my chest and I could think of nothing else.
MAL snickered, “Doubt it, sweetie.”
Her look momentarily changed to shock as I finally managed to lift myself on to my knees, Blasphemy ripping apart space and time to appear in my hand, I tried to do more, but that was all I had. Exhaustion was taking hold, “Kill…” was all I was able to muster before losing my muscles, Dropping Blasphemy and falling back over, unable to even really breathe as I faded from thought.
I woke up to the sensation of hot pavement beneath me, I groaned and sat up.
I was in the parking lot of an apartment complex, a very familiar complex.
My family lived here, in room 1109.
“Come on, you weenie.”
My attention was caught by the sound of wood clashing on wood, I turned to see him.
My double, 19 years old, chubby, unathletic, the scrungly beginnings of a beard growing on his chin and neck, play sword fighting with a few other young adults, I assumed from the adjoining apartments, using sticks.
It was only when one of his friends noticed me that I realized it was time to get out of sight.
As I walked behind one of the apartment buildings, I began to check my faculties.
Bulletproof Coat, wide brim hat, nomex suit, all check, with plates still intact, pouches on my belt had a single frag grenade, some throwing knives and the scabbard for Blasphemy, which I summoned to sheathe.
I couldn’t do it out in the open, I had to wait.
So I watched him.
they played like children, laughing as they clashed “blades” and hopping around, yowling in pain when this idiocy resulted in them getting hit in the fingers, then continuing as if nothing had happened.
Finally they seemed to be wrapping up, when I heard my clone say, “Ok so, Javier and I found this cool new trail down in the woods, you guys wanna see it? It follows the river all the way to Lake Worth itself.”
One of his friends piped up, “Yea! And it’s getting dark so we might see the goatman!”
My clone laughed, holding his stick up, speaking in a goofy voice, “And we shall SLAY him!”
The group busted out laughing
This was my chance.
The pit in my stomach was growing larger as I began to map out the route I’d take to intercept them at the right angle.
Could I do this?
He was obviously human, not some weird body snatcher.
Could this just as easily have been my life?
Green chides me, “he’s keeping you from your life, Mom, dad, Grandma, we can see them again, he’s in our way.”
He was right, I’ve killed for less.
But why does this feel so wrong?
Nevermind, on to planning.
The apartment complex my family lived in, was at the top of a massive man-made cliff, above this Gorge that held the woods he was talking about.
I watched them hop the massive privacy fence and begin their trek into the woods.
I followed behind them, just within earshot, careful to stay out of view.
“So guys, did you see the new episode of Soul Eater last night?”
“DUH, I had to watch it in my room, mom thinks it’s porn because of that stupid cat Witch.”
“I mean she’s basically the best part of the show…except for Tsubaki.”
“Man I don’t know why I hang out with you weebs.”
“Because, Terry, ya boi gives you free weed.”
“Fair enough…Holic is a better show tho.”
“Two different Genres my friend, they’re both great, you can’t compare the two.”
My double seems to be a grower, not exactly a bad choice of side hustle, but I may have to get rid of it once he’s dead.
God if I wait much longer, I’m not going to be able to do this.
Finally we end up at Lake Worth, the murky water seeming to excite the group.
“Dude, we should take a dip! Its so hot out!” Says one of the others, to a mixture of hearty and tentative agreement.
“One sec guys lemme go take a leak, I’ll be right with you.” My clone stepped off the path and into the woods.
I followed.
I stopped at the edge of the clearing he chose, unzipping his fly so he could relieve himself.
I decided that now was the time.
I unsheathed my sword and walked up to him, I placed the blade on his shoulder, he gasped, jumping a little, “AAH! WHO…”
“Shh.” I whispered, “Don’t scream, or move, or I’ll kill you immediately.”
He clammed up, facing away from me, still holding his junk. “Look man…I live up the hill, my friends and I are down here for-“
“Shh.” I hushed him again, “Turn around slowly, I need to explain how things are going to go down.”
Foot by foot he turned around to face me, I take off my hat, and watch his eyes widen in confusion, “w-what the fuck!?”
I sigh, “Zip up and I’ll tell you everything.”
After he had a chance to sit on a nearby log, I expoused to him the circumstances of my predicament and his being.
He was teary eyed when it was all done, another nail in the coffin of my confidence in this kill, he was an empathetic, sweet man, he doesn’t deserve this.
“I can’t believe it…well I wouldn’t believe it…if you weren’t right here…you poor guy…”
He gasped in fear as I raised my sword again, “So now you understand why you have to die.”
He began to stutter as more tears began to flow, “B-but we c-could go back home together! Explain everything to mom, to…to everyone! And I’d have an extra me! Someone to play video games with, to finally have someone on my level for Mortal Kombat…We could pull MAD pranks…once I lose the weight…we’d be like brothers! Please think about this, if I’m a clone, I don’t know what happens after I die!!”
Damnit now im tearing up too, he made lots of good points, and it would be relatively easy…but then Green cuts across my optimistic thought process, “you know that’s not how this works, they won’t leave us alone if he lives!!
He stands up, wiping his hands, “Hey man, this must have fucked you way up, you need a hug…”
Without hesitation I pulled him into a hug, he’s crying still, “Its ok now, you’re safe, we’ll get you a bed and ev-GGGH!!”
I step back, horror seeping down my scalp and stabbing into my brain as I see the hilt of Blasphemy sticking out of his fat belly.
He grabbed at me with fear in his eyes as Green spoke through my mouth, “I explained it to you perfectly, the terms of the agreement, the consequences of inaction, but still you whine and bitch about the consequences, like you didn’t STEAL OUR LIFE!!” with a quick tug, Green pulled the blade from my clone’s stomach and he fell to his knees.
Before I could protest, Green had savagely stabbed the blade through his face, pinning his twitching corpse to a tree.
After he stopped moving, I pulled the blade from the tree, wiping the blood off on my sleeve, allowing the body to fall over with a wet splat.
I don’t know why, but I half expected him to shrivel up or disintegrate, an easy out from the horror I had just endured.
But he didn’t.
He laid there like a big fat bloody, dead lump.
So I did the only thing I could, I dragged him deeper and deeper into the woods, into the thicket full of brambles and vines, I lifted a bush and hauled him under it, going through his plus sized pockets, pulling out his phone, his inhaler, his wallet.
All things I needed if I was to become him.
I turned around with a start to see Grandmaster Benz, who looked expectantly at the items I had in my bloody hands.
“Your side of the agreement has been observed, Agent Green, your mother will not notice your difference in apperance, as to her knowledge, you were always this way.”
I shudder with adrenaline as I sheathe Blasphemy, “leave before I kill you…this was too much.”
Benz huffed, “Too much? My boy this was the minimum, if Pilum had it his way, you’d be filling out the paperwork too, be happy this is all we asked of you.”
I go for Blasphemy but he seemed to simply step into air, vanishing before my eyes.
“Remember, Boy, not a word to anyone.”
And he left me there, to walk back up the trail to my home.
Mom was as Benz had said, so was my little brother, both of them acted like I’d always looked this way, acted this way.
However each of them acted surprised when I burst into tears when I saw them, and I didn’t elaborate, I couldn’t elaborate.
I sat down in my room, full of nerd merch, covered in anime posters, good god there were even some Warhammer minis on the shelf above the sleek ass gaming computer.
I had done it. I was home, and things could finally go back to normal.
What IS normal though?
I laid down on my bed, puzzling over it all, when I got a phone call.
I opened it and the name said “Edgelord.”
I open it, it’s Edge, however sounding particularly stoned, he chuckled, “Hey Jake…you got the time? Im feeling a little Chronic.”
I laid there in silence for a minute, taking in the words, said in a way I’d never heard him speak.
Agent Edge, now Blake Edge, civillian weed fiend, no dount the Organization had made that connection, so I could see him again.
“Sure man, come over.” I smile