1 Lasting Mission

Preparing breakfast, I woke in the middle of pouring the batter into the eggs. Stepping backwards in surprise as the stirring stick fell to the ground, I was caught by someone unfamiliar to me.

"Hey, you okay, Savine? "

Standing on edge as the boy reached to touch my shoulder, out of instinct, my body reacted as if I was possessed. Throwing him onto the ground and pinning him to the floor, I looked around and saw an open window. Rushing past the door and avoiding an elderly woman, I stepped out of the way as I slid in between her legs.

"Savine! Wait! " Hearing a voice that sounded all but foreign to me, I jumped over the railing and landed on the hard pavement in a fluid motion.

Taking off the moment I reached the ground, I made my way over a large, fenced off wall and wandered into the roads where dozens of luxury model cars passed me by.

Turning around quickly as the unmistakable police siren sounded ahead of me. Officers quickly got out and approached me. As they drew closer, I felt an uneasy feeling and reacted as I took them down while knocking them unconscious. Flustered, I decided in a split second while looking onto their sidearms. I then got into their cruiser and drove off to where I felt I needed to be.

~

As hours passed as I arrived at a run down airport where I used a shovel nearby to dig out a black duffle bag from the ground by a fragmented memory. Lifting it and placing it onto the back of the cruisers trunk, I began walking over the side as another car appeared behind me. Holding my sidearm behind my back, the moment the driver came out, I instantly hesitated as the moment I heard her voice, I subconsciously knew she was not a threat.

"Who are you?! Why am I here?! " Shaking her head as she was cautious with my behavior.

"Relax… You're a sleeper agent that has just been activated. I'll answer any questions you might have, but, could you put the sidearm away first, please-"

"W-what? " Cutting her off and then relaxing her shoulders, she showed no sign of bloodlust or hostility.

Approaching me slowly, she then gently took my gun and exhausted a breath as she continued.

"Okay… Hi, I'm Dr. A. However, I am sure you want to know what happened and why you are here, correct? "

Nodding, we walked over to the back of the cruiser where we sat down to speak.

"Well… You are a sleeper agent part of a covert group that was set to activate… Two years ago at your, sixteenth birthday. "

"What?" I felt my heart beat normally as being told all this didn't faze me in the slightest.

Taking out an envelope from her satchel bag, she handed it to me as I looked through it.

"You are 'Alissa Daisen'. Former member of a sleeper cell for the government under the, Triage Act, created in, 07. You and along with several others were set to actively participate in an experimental series of events two years ago. "

With a focused gaze, I looked up and met her light brown eyes as I asked to be sure.

"If that's true, then I must have been recruited at a young age? "

Paying attention to the slightest movement from her hand to her body gestures that would indicate she was lying, I found none as she continued.

"You are… In a technical term, still a child. An infant, if you will. Your age is currently… ten years old I'm afraid. Well, nine and three months with four days, and ten hours to be precise. "

Losing all my trust in her, I was quickly met with a picture of what looked to be baby with the same triple birthmarks in the back of her right hand. Turning my gaze from my hand the photo, I could only guess if I should believe her or not.

"W-what…" Staggering as it showed in my voice, I turned to her.

"You see… You aren't… Hmm! You aren't exactly… human-" Pulling out my other gun as what she said seemed to set me off.

"Hey! Wait… allow me to explain… hmm. " Tilting my head, she moved my arm down as she continued while I kept a vigilant gaze in her movements.

"Well… In a general term, you are… You're essentially a clone based of 'my' DNA. "

"I-Im a clone?! Sure, that makes absolutely perfect sence. "Sniffing whipe my hair strands fell over my cheek, she then raised her hand to clear my gaze.

"Behind your left ear, there are a set of symbols you may think are birthmarks… two of them are burning while one is flashing repeatedly... -"Curving my gaze towards her as I did fell the hurnibg sensation since I had awoken, I tried my best to believe her. "Listen, I want to help you. Okay. "

I lifted a broken piece of a fragmented mirror off the ground and checked to see as I touched and felt the sensation as while pressing the symbols down. Surprised when she said I was a clone, I began seeing similarities between me and her face as well as our bodies.

"So what… I have a few birthmarks under my ear, what does that have to do with me being a clone? With anythibg you are claiming. "

"Hmm… If you want, I can show you by activating your AI program I embedded into your cerebral cortex… "Creasing my brows, I smirked nervously as if to hide my expression.

Skeptical, I nodded lightly as I stood still while she spoke.

"'Activate, VARIE, AI program, Admin permission granted... Dr. Anellie Broke.' "In a wave of lights streaming across my eyes, I stumbled backwards.

"What-"Turning to meet her face and suddenly getting all sorts of pictures and paragraphs of text in my eyes, she then stood.

In that instant, my vision abruptly became a complex screen of information as I was overwhelmed by all the functions I could control simply by thought.

"What… what did you do to me?! " Collapsing to my knee as I looked to meet her firm gaze.

"Its VARIE. An AI program that had been implanted into your brain to help you on your missions. To he completely honest, I had a very terrible time trying to control VARIE. That artificial woman can be... 'Unique' at best. I had no choice hut to shut her program down in order to keep you sane for your missions. "

"'Missions'? AI? What-what are you talking about? " As I lowered my face to hear her talk, she looked at me as if I was some precious piece of food. As I stared her down, she spoke.

"Please, if you would stop being so threatening, I can tell you. " Gulping while holding my head, I stood back up as the sophisticated screen dimes from sight only slightly.

Putting the gun over on the trunk of the car, I opened my bag and began changing outfits.

"As I said before, you are a sleeper agent the government forced me to create, using advanced nanomaterial in order to protect the nation... 'Yada-yada-yada'.But-Your real name is, Alyssa. "

"If what you say is true, then, why am I here now? Is there a mission, will I have to fight? "

She gazed at me while I straightened my shirt, she offered a hand and continued talking.

"That's a bit more complicated… you… sort of... went rouge after we released you back into society two years ago for your first mission in a groug… Something went wrong and you... disappeared. We had officially marked you AWOL however, that doesn't seem to have been the case. "

"What mission? " Turning to her as she met my focused gaze, I lifted my pants and zipped them shut.

"Two years ago, you were taking point in a covert mission to steal a black box from a foreign embassy in secret. Things went south after completing the operation… The ending result, you just vanished without a trace with the black box you had recovered. "

"I… vanished? That's, impossible. If I know myself, I wouldn't have easily defied orders when they were given... I think, my instincts tell me that much. Well… didn't I have a tracker or something? "

"Well… " Lowering her gaze, she eased her eyes to mine.

Reaching around her neck, she removed a light, silver necklace and handed it to me as she continued.

"Apparently, you ripped the tracker out from your neck before you took off that day… It was all that was left of you before you disappeared. "

Touching it and feeling a slight prick on my finger, it suddenly lit up and showed a holographic video of what happened. As I watched through my own eyes, my suspicions were dissolved as I saw and did everything I would think of on the spot.

"Why carry this around all this time? If I was a traitor, how come I was never found? "

"Hmm… Simple, you were the very first of a long line of clones that I created… I couldn't easily let you get captured after those first three month. The project was then deemed a failure as I was restricted from creating any more clones. "

"What do you mean? " After I spoke, she lowered her gaze as if she remembered something that brought her unease.

"As you know, I made clones for study and used in covert and military service operations under the radar… It was all going well, until after I created the tenth clone. His behavior... was unstable, as his mind was confused in his distinction of 'friend or foe'. He ended up losing it and went on a rampage that killed a total of twelve guards five scientists at the compound before being sedated and pinned down. All the clones after him were forced to have their emotions contained for 'our' and 'their' safety there afterwards. "

Leaning back on the cruiser, I chuckled as I asked her where the others who came after me were like.

"Hmm… there are only five of you left, including you. There's Ava and Chip… Julia and Jon… Hector and of course, you. However, when the project first began, you were all assigned code names. You, as the role of leader, were called, A-1… From there on, up to A-11… Also, I should mention A-3 to A-6 have been put on ice under orders of the new leading Commander of the project.

A-8 and A-9 are under lock and key as they both present the most trouble after you left. I'll be glad to know they will be overjoyed to be set free again if I am being honest. "

"What about A-10?" Her expression soured as his name was like venom to her ears.

"Hmm… yeah… A-10. Well, he… He's sort of under twenty four hour lockdown for what he did. "

"What did he do? " Ignoring my question, she looked out of place as she shivered from the setting breeze.

Grabbing my coat from the bag, I walked to her and wrapped it around her slender shoulders. She blushed and as I picked her up, she only gasped at her situation.

"Uh… hmm. " Setting her onto the passenger side of the seat, I strapped her in and closed the door.

Walking over to put my things away in the trunk, I got inside and asked her where to go.

Flustered, she nodded and began giving me instructions as she said when my description showed up on the local police chatter.

Though, with my current state of mind, I still held suspensions in whether this woman was telling the truth. Keeping it to myself, I simply trusted her for the time being as I had no clue what to make of my life at this point in time.

I believed she would hold the answers I was seeking. Possibly more as I kept having passing flashes of strangers I've never seen before.

"Savine… " Shaking my head lightly, I pushed the thought back and focused in driving as the AI was still running simulations as they played out everything and everywhere I looked.

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