She Looked For Him, He Found Her

[Frank Rook]

Civilization.

It was a thing that a lot of people took for granted. The ease in which you could do something like piss in a bowl full of clean water, instead of having to dig a hole to hide your scent from wandering predators. Where the press of a lever could clear it away and make it seem like nothing had ever been there.

Or the metal nozzles that sprayed out more clean water, and the bar of soap that let you wash your hands.

All things that people took for granted. Things that Frank had to admit he'd missed in his isolation. When he'd been in seclusion from the rest of the world, he had gone into seclusion. He'd taken a bag full of supplies and a rifle, and nothing else. The fact that he knew how to trap and hunt and forage, how to leave no trace that you were ever there, how to use something as omnipresent as the sun to start a fire. They were all skills that he'd exorcised. And they were what had kept him off everyone's radar for months.

And he'd missed the little things in life. Even when he'd been in the Army and going around the asshole of the third world, he'd always had some small comforts. He'd never fully appreciated them like he did right at this moment.

He walked out of the restroom of the gas station, the only building for miles. His car was parked about half a mile up the road, concealed under a tarp from prying eyes. He looked at the selection of snacks on the shelves, the drinks in the line of coolers. Food and water, pure and clean, just sitting around. Another thing a lot of people took for granted, even after the food shortage that seemed like a distant memory.

Pulling a few packs of chips and corn nuts from one shelf, he then walked to the cooler. He had a good walk ahead of him, he'd want to increase his salt intake so that his body retained the water he picked out of the cooler.

Two gallons of water and four bags of food in his hands, he walked to the front of the store to see a blonde talking to the clerk. She looked familiar from the back. Like someone he knew. Or used to know. He had no idea how many people even cared if he was alive or not. But he acted like the whole world wanted him dead. It made for a paranoid lifestyle, but it had helped once or twice in the past.

He heard her speak when he actually started to listen. She was looking for someone. Showing the clerk pictures of the person. Her voice was unmistakable. He did know her. And she was looking for him. A small tug pulled at his chest while he wondered if he should duck out the back door. He debated for another few seconds when he finally decided. If there was one person in the world he trusted anymore, it was Alice Taylor. Now to announce himself, because the clerk clearly didn't remember his face from three minutes ago, and he wasn't even looking at Frank. More likely looking at the young woman's... Assets.

"Would you hurry up? You're holding up the line," Frank said, a small amount of humor in his voice. It was forced, because he rarely felt humor about anything anymore, but he was getting increasingly good at forcing emotions these days. Faking was more the word, and even if he had to fake it, he wanted to seem like he was glad to see her.

Whether she was glad to see him or not was a whole other animal...

[Alice Taylor]

It had been many months since that dreaded battle in Kingston against the Dominion. The Allies called for the most elite forces, and the Company answered the call by sending some of their most well-trained veteran agents. For Alice Taylor, exempted from field work due to her new obligations as a mother, fighting for her nation was an honour, but more importantly, she chose to embark on her own free will instead of commanded into war like the slave that she was in her youth. It was in that bloodbath where Alice tasted the power the Company had imbued their former weapon with. Certainly, she understood how easy it was for her to take lives, but the surprising part was how easy it was to do so without hesitation nor remorse, like something inside her triggered and turned off her compassionate side. The good works of the Company's science division of old, Alice figured. Psycho-conditioning, to ensure super-powered children would not falter in time of war, a game played by adults. The blonde wasn't invincible, however. Alice had the poor fortune of coming across another powerful special, Dr. Adele Couteau, who had sided with the Dominion in the conflict. They were very close to completely destroying one another, and Alice's battered body was retrieved after the battle was over on the shores by Allied rescue teams.

Not every agent the Company sent out had reported back from that horrendous battle overseas, and it wasn't until after the battle of DC, where peace reigns once again, that the Company made serious attempts to locate their agents that went MIA. At the top of that list was former Director Frank Rook, missing since Kingston. There were other agents already tasked with tracking the man down, but to very little avail. Rookies, Alice thought to herself. Frank Rook was Alice's mentor, and she knew full well they could set every agent on the very task of finding him, and anything other than a special that had the specific power to track people's whereabouts would end in utter failure. If Rook did not want to be found, he will not be found, not by an organization he understood like the trigger of his pistol.

Due to the lack of success, Alice was added to the mission of locating Frank Rook. Instead of working with the other junior agents, she simply took what information and clues they've gathered, and left without another word. They followed standard Company procedures to find a Company man. Had Rook known this, he would've personally fired them all. Luckily, Alice was trained well enough by Rook to know you don't fish by swinging the hook directly into the fish's mouth.

The drive into the middle of nowhere was so long, Alice had to turn off the radio in her car, because the sound of her engine's roar was more refreshing than the music being repeated over and over again. She kept driving down the same highway, making a stop at every gas station she saw. At every stop she did the same thing: Alice got out and asked the gas station attendant if he or she had seen Frank Rook, and show them the man's photo. Everyone thus far had not seen Rook. She would then take a gander at the magazines for exactly five minutes, and depart for the next gas station. She didn't really care whether anyone had seen him, really. Alice used herself as bait to reel Rook in, purposely standing out in the open and making it known that she was looking for him. But, just like real fishing, it took infinite patience, and as Alice drove deeper and deeper into places unknown, and far from the comfort of her own home, even her patience was starting to wear thin.

Alice walked up to the gas attendant's counter, exactly like all the times before. She greeted the young man the same way, and when he asked why she looked so familiar, Alice shrugged while her telepathy suppressed his memories of Alice the actress. And, just like most time when she questioned a male attendant, the thoughts streaming back from his brain were quite perverted and offensive. He said he didn't recognize Rook, but going through the attendant's recent memories suggested otherwise. Before Alice had the chance to put it all together, a man spoke up behind her. A man whose voice Alice hadn't heard for months. Her search was over, and she was found.

"I'm done, geeze..." Alice mumbled as she turned around to face her former mentor. Instead of saying another word to him, she walked over to the magazine stand, feeling the gas attendant's eyes scoping her out like some kind of prey. She wondered if this forgetful man would say anything when he had to ring up Rook's water and food, moments after seeing his picture.

Agent Frank Rook, you were a hard man to locate. If you wish to be found, meet me 500 metres north-bound on the highway, and I can pick you up, and we'll go from there. I'll wait for ten minutes. If not... then I guess this is goodbye, sir. I trust you know what you're doing.

After sending her telepathic message, Alice exited the store, and drove up to where she'll meet Frank. She had the feeling her mentor didn't wish to disappear without a trace once again.

[Frank Rook]

Frank watched the woman that he'd taught so much play along, moving out of the way with an annoyed huff while he piled all of his purchases onto the counter. He reached into his wallet and pulled out a few bills, tossing them on the counter as well while he looked at the selection of cigarettes on the wall behind the clerk.

"And two packs of reds," he added. The gas can out front was also his, his proffered method of filling his gas tank so he didn't need to drive his car up to the station. He waited a few more seconds, eyeing Alice out of the corner of his vision, when he heard her voice. The clerk didn't respond to her, so he knew she had to be talking to him in his head.

"Agent Frank Rook, you were a hard man to locate. If you wise to be found, meet me 500 metres north-bound on the highway, and I can pick you up, and we'll go from there. I'll wait for ten minutes. If not... then I guess this is goodbye, sir. I trust you know what you're doing.

That was the Alice he remembered. Trusting, at least to people like him. She probably didn't even suspect that he was here because he'd lost his way, so to speak. She probably thought that he knew what he was doing. He didn't even know what he was doing. He was just... Existing.

Watching her walk out of the station and to her car, he took note of which way she drove off and then turned back to the clerk. The clerk whom didn't so much as meet his gaze. Frank collected everything in front of him, stuffing most of it into the pockets of the long sleeved shirt he was wearing, and walked out the door.

Picking up his gas can, the gallon of water in his other, he walked out to the road and hung a right. His car was parked in the opposite direction, but he could have Alice drive him there if he needed. If she wanted, after she heard what he had to say...

The walk there was uneventful. Hot, but it didn't faze him. He trekked along at a good pace, clearing the near mile distance in no time. He saw her car long before he arrived, hard to miss as it stood out against the dull brown of the desert around them. He set the gas can down next to the rear door of her car, slipping the pack on his back to the front as he opened the door. He took a seat in the passenger seat, resting the pack on his legs, and took a deep breath.

"Did they send you or did you come on your own?" he asked her. He supposed it didn't matter, he just wanted to know what her intentions were.

[Alice Taylor]

The wait along the highway felt like a lifetime. Alice had no idea whether Frank would even come see her. All of her efforts wasted, and she would have to respect his decision... to a degree. Whether Alice found Frank to return him to the Company was of little concern to the blonde. What mattered was that he could help her one last time before he decided to disappear again. Alice pondered how she would track Frank again should she lose him this time, with the chances being slim to none. Then, in her rear view mirror, the rugged soldier marched up the road.

Alice cranked up the air conditioning, knowing how hot Frank must be, lugging all of his supplies up the road. When the man entered the passenger seat of her vehicle, his first words were almost expected, but Alice wished it would've been less accusing. She didn't turn to face him, her gaze wandered around the stretch of dusty road ahead as she spoke calmly.

"I was tasked with finding you by the Company, yes. They were able to provide me with some vital clues to your general location. I have brought no other agents with me. They would have slowed me down anyway. As of now, the Company still has no idea that you are with me."

Alice pointed to tiny blinking cube attached to her dashboard.

"That is a signal jammer, courtesy of Ark Industries. It currently renders us completely off the radar, even from the Company. Rest assured that we are all alone out here."

Alice finally turned to face her former mentor. She smiled, and put her hand on Frank's shoulder.

"No one can force me to do what I don't want to do. The Company wanted you found. I just wanted you to find me."

There was also something that Alice needed badly from Frank, something that only Directors would have had access to. Best figure out why the man chose to disappear first...

"... but, why are you hiding from the world?"

[Frank Rook]

Frank looked at Alice for a moment, doing his level best to stare into her soul through the blue of her eyes. She did her best to put his at ease, using non-threatening body language, touch, tone of voice, and words. If he wasn't essentially a functional paranoid schizophrenic, it probably would have worked. She was good at that. Using the jammer did more than anything else to put him at ease, and with a quick glance at his watch he saw the display flicker slightly at the electric fields the device employed. She was telling the truth. No one would ever be able to find them, unless they hit the one odd that was greater than being struck by lightning with a winning lottery ticket in your pocket.

Why... She just wanted to know why. He didn't know if he could put it into words, why he was hiding. But he owed her that much.

"I ask myself that sometimes. I wonder why I don't want anyone to find me. Why the world has lost all of it's appeal. But then I check the news through the bursts and I remember. Kilvayne in office, Dakari and her gang living large, Moynaham still at the top of Ark. The monsters of yesterday are the leaders and celebrities of today. If that doesn't make someone want to go hide under a rock, I don't know what does." He sat in silence for a moment, a spark of what was most likely disgust and contempt forming. Though he didn't have it in his heart to actually be disgusted at the current turn of events.

"I served my country since my eighteenth birthday. I watched friends die beside me, and then I led them to their deaths. I took a job to put monsters in cages. Taught people how to kill them. I missed my daughter growing up. Missed my wife dying. And what do I have to show for that life of service? People, my people, marrying and fucking monsters. My people using what I taught them against me and mine. The monsters who were trying to destroy the world are running it now. That's the new world, and it doesn't have a place for me in it," he said. His voice never left the same monotone it began at. He was very calm about what he had to say. He'd accepted it, and accepted that he couldn't change it. He'd tried for years.

[Alice Taylor]

Alice listened intently as Frank matter-of-factly explained why he would rather be lost than be in a world ruled by those he fought against. It was true in a way. Alice and Frank both fought for the Allies, and in that war they were the defeated, with the Dominion leadership now in firm control of the nation Frank love and bled for. She understood why the outcome was so hard to live with, having also been there on the killing floor that was Kingston. Good men and women from both sides died in a meaningless war, just for those who thought themselves gods to have ultimate power. As Frank spoke of his sacrifices, Alice could see the man's memories vividly. She did not mean to tap into his thoughts. His thoughts and emotions were just that powerful, that Alice wasn't able to ignore them even if she tried.

"I may be young, but believe me when I say I know what it's like. Maybe I haven't served my country as long as you have... still, I went to battle with everything I had, to protect the nation I loved from destruction. People from both sides met their ends needlessly, all for the amusement of the few. Sparrow.."

Alice tried to continue, but the words were caught in her throat. The death of her friend was still fresh in her mind, as were all the horrific scenes flickering in her memories from all the bloodshed. It was so easy to go into battle, so easy to take lives without a second thought. Even as she was moments away from death at the hands of Adele, Alice felt no fear. She felt nothing at all. Killing and being killed was of little concern in the moment when even war veterans would contemplate on their actions. It wasn't until monsters ruled the world that the intense trauma caught up to Alice. Even in her dreams, the faces of dead Allied soldiers haunted Alice, their bloodied faces disapproving of her and those that now serve the ones that sent them to unmarked graves. From time to time these memories flood to the surface, and it terrified the young woman. Alice was visibly shaking, but she did her best to remain as calm as Frank's voice, and continued.

"... the important thing is the monsters are not tearing the world apart. I would rather let them conquer us, than to let them burn everything I love to the ground. The Company once took everything from me, and now I serve them. On that beach when it all began, on your orders I was this close to crunching Dakari Johessman's skull like an egg, and now she is my First Lady. We can't all control the course of history. We can't all conquer Gaul like Julius Caesar. But times change, and so do regimes. Caesar was the master of the Roman Empire, and died on its Senate's floor. The only constant in history is change. Like our genetics, all we can do is adapt, and evolve. My daughter Sharon will live in this world now. The demons we seeked to vanquish will be the guardians that keep my family and everything I love safe and sound. Just for now... is that not worth living for? We don't have to destroy the monsters, if they have no desire to destroy us. Yet, we need to keep a keen eye on them, to ensure they continue to serve the people. Come back to us, sir. Return to the Company. The people will need your dagger should the monsters that rule us decide to devour us after all."

[Frank Rook]

"I've done a lot of things I didn't like when it was ordered of me. I killed people I didn't want to kill, stole things, prevented or caused rebellions. I've done things that I'm sure I'll burn in hell for, if there is such a place. But going back, working for them. It would be the same as spitting in the face of everything I ever stood for, and the people who died on the way. I can stomach a lot of things, but I can't stomach that," Frank said. There was no way he'd go back to the Company. Not just for it's new masters, but because of what it had eroded to over the years.

"If I came back to the Company... If I came back and 'watched' the monsters from their approved tower... Do you think it would do any good? Do you think we'd ever see the moment they turned on the people? Do you think whoever they allow to be in charge right now would sanction any action against them? I don't. It would be a cage that faces the other cages. I'm not going to go back there. But I am going to come back to the world. I am going to watch, from where they cant control. And I'm going to be ready for when they turn on us. Because I know them. It's going to happen. Whatever sham they put on the rubble that was the Company, it isn't going to do anything," he told her.

"I'll keep in contact. I'll do anything I can for you. Right now, you're the only person in the Company I can trust. The other..." He trailed off when he thought of Sparrow. He had heard of her death, read about it in the reports. It was one of the last things he could remember feeling, regret and sorrow and rage. But by then, he couldn't think of any reason to come out of hiding. She was already dead...

"You're the only one," he repeated. "One of two people in the world," he finished. He put his hand on the door handle and looked her in the eye.

"Tell them you didn't find me. I'll announce myself in due time," he said. "If you need me, I won't be far. You'll know the number," he said. He thought about it, knowing she'd pick up on it and take it from his mind into hers. Even if she was jamming, he had made a habit of not saying things aloud if they were sensitive.

Pulling on the door handle, he creaked open the door and he almost imagined that he could feel the heat invading the cool interior of the car. He couldn't, of course, but he liked to pretend sometimes. Like the good ol' days...