Chapter 2

Jake woke up to the sound of someone knocking on his cell door.

He opened his eyes and saw a man standing outside. He was wearing a black suit and sunglasses and had a briefcase in his hand. He looked like a typical government agent.

"Who are you?" Jake asked suspiciously. "What do you want?"

The man smiled and showed him a badge. "My name is Agent Smith. I'm from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. I'm here to offer you a deal."

Jake frowned. He didn't trust anyone who claimed to be from the government. He knew that they were all corrupt and greedy, and that they had no interest in justice or truth. He also knew that they had nothing to do with Project Lazarus, which was a secret operation funded by private investors and hidden from public scrutiny.

"What kind of deal?" Jake asked cautiously.

The man opened his briefcase and took out a folder. He slid it under the door and into Jake's cell.

"Take a look," he said. "You'll find everything you need to know inside."

Jake picked up the folder and opened it. He saw several documents and photos that made his eyes widen in shock.

They were about his killer.

Jake felt a surge of anger and fear as he recognized the face of his killer. It was the same man who had shot him in the head and left him for dead in an alley. The same man who had been hired by Jake's former boss, who wanted to silence him for knowing too much about Project Lazarus. The same man who had escaped justice and was still at large.

"Why are you showing me this?" Jake demanded. "What do you want from me?"

Agent Smith smiled again. He had a cold and calculating expression that made Jake uneasy.

"I want you to help us catch him," he said. "You see, we've been tracking him for a while, but he's always one step ahead of us. He's a professional assassin, and he's very good at what he does. He's also very dangerous, and he has connections in high places. He's not someone we can take down easily."

"So what do you need me for?" Jake asked.

Agent Smith leaned closer to the door and lowered his voice.

"We need you to bait him," he said. "We need you to lure him out of hiding and into a trap. We need you to make him think that you're still alive, and that you're coming after him for revenge."

Jake shook his head in disbelief.

"Are you crazy?" he said. "That's suicide! He'll kill me again!"

Agent Smith chuckled.

"Not if we have your back," he said. "We'll provide you with protection and support. We'll give you a new identity and a new appearance. We'll transfer you to a high security prison where he'll be more likely to find you. We'll make sure that he gets a tip about your location and your plans. And when he shows up, we'll be ready to catch him."

Jake stared at the agent in horror.

"That's insane!" he said. "You're asking me to risk my life for a bunch of crooks who don't care about me or anyone else! You're asking me to trust you, when I know that you're lying to me!"

Agent Smith shrugged.

"It's your choice," he said. "You can either cooperate with us and get a chance to settle the score with your killer, or you can stay here and rot in this cell for the rest of your life. At this point I don't think that your powers will be of much help to you in this cell. Either way, you have nothing to lose."

Jake felt a pang of despair. He knew that the agent was right. He had nothing to lose, but he also had nothing to gain. He was already dead, after all. He was just a walking corpse, a product of Project Lazarus, which had brought him back to life using nanotechnology and genetic engineering. He was an experiment, a guinea pig, a freak.

He had no family, no friends, no future.

He had nothing.

Except maybe revenge.

He looked at the folder again. He saw the name and the face of his killer.

He felt a surge of hatred and determination.

He made up his mind.

He would do it.

He would play along with Agent Smith's plan.

He would go to the prison.

He would face his killer.

And he would make him pay.

Jake woke up in a hospital bed. He felt groggy and disoriented. He tried to remember what had happened.

He remembered being taken out of his cell by Agent Smith and his men. He remembered being injected with something that made him lose consciousness. He remembered being put in an ambulance and driven away.

He didn't remember anything else.

He looked around the room. He saw machines and monitors that beeped and flashed. He saw tubes and wires that connected him to the machines. He saw a window that showed a cloudy sky.

He saw a mirror on the wall.

He got up from the bed and walked towards the mirror.

He gasped when he saw his reflection.

He didn't recognize himself.

His face was different.

His hair was different.

His eyes were different.

He looked like someone else.

Someone he didn't know.

But not exactly like him.

There were subtle differences that made him more attractive.

His face was more symmetrical and refined.

His hair was glossier and more styled.

His eyes were more piercing and expressive.

He looked like a movie star version of his former self.

He looked like someone who could charm anyone with his looks and charisma.

He looked like someone who could get away with anything. 

The hospital door opened and for the first time since he woke up he had to say "fuck." The most attractive woman he had ever seen entered the room and left him speechless.

She was tall and sexy, had long blonde hair cascading down to her back, vibrant green eyes and the longest legs he had ever seen. " Welcome to the bureau agent jake, I am agent Sarah your trainer and possibly your future co-worker." she said in a very cold voice matching her face.