Prologue: A Tale of the Two Worlds
In a dark and ominous base, buried in the middle of the forest, Criminals were being apprehended by the police. And as the criminals were about to be put in the car, one of them tried to get out of their grasp, but the police grabbed his hair, forcing him to get in the car.
“Don’t move, Asshole!!” yelled the police.
At the side, there was a young police officer named Collen. He stood there among the chaos, watching nervously at the scene unfolds. Then his attention was snapped back by an authorized voice.
“What are you standing still for, rookie?” A voice of an old man pops up behind him.
Collen jumped slightly. He turned around and nervously bowed down.
“G-greetings sir. I was tasked to”
The man named Henry Thompson sighed, “Look, Collen... how many times do I keep telling you? Just call me Henry, alright?”
He noticed the poor rookie’s innocent puppy eyes. Then he looked away and mumbled, “Tch, young kids these days always so…”
Henry sighed, knowing that there was no point in changing that stubborn kid polite attitude, so he let it slide for now. Looking back at the scene, he whistled with amusement, “Would you look at that…”
He smiled in satisfaction as he looked at those gang criminals being put into justice. “They’ve been causing us lots of trouble lately,” he paused. “But they seem to just be normal goons.” He chuckled lightly in disappointment, “It’s a shame we didn’t catch the big fish. But I suppose it’s better than nothing.”
After Henry finished talking, he glanced at the young man beside him and asked, “I’m curious though, which crew managed to find and took them down? I’m impressed.” He continued, “Must have been a talented bunch to take on so many of ’em at once.”
Collen looked at the old man sheepishly as he tried to remember how the situation got to this point. “We received an urgent call to this location. At first, I thought it was a prank since it seemed too good to be true.” He paused with a voice of uncertainty. “But when we arrived... all the suspects were already down.”
Henry raises his eyebrow in shocked, “What?!”
Collen took a moment to think before something popped up. “Ahh, right! I remember there was a guy at the scene. I tried to question him, but... he didn’t say a word to me.” Just thinking back made Collen felt a little insecure. He took a deep breath and continued, “We didn’t want to press further without your approval. So, I just asked him to wait for you.”
Henry nodded in acknowledgment. “Did you manage to get a good look at him? What does he look like?”
“I think he’s wearing some type of white uniform and goggles. Quite a strange outfit to wear. So, it wasn’t easy for me to get a good look at him.”
Henry thought to himself, “White uniform huh? Could it be him?”
He then looked at Collen and smiled, “Let’s go have a chat with him to see what he has to say for himself, shall we?”
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Henry and Collen walked inside the warehouse and approached the mysterious man in white uniform. The man notices the presence of the two policemen immediately and shifted his focus toward them.
Henry was shocked. He could tell instantly who was behind the arrest of all the culprits. “Ry—” He caught himself, realizing his mistake, “Ahh, I mean... Lieutenant didn’t expect to see you here.”
The young man looked at Henry. Even with his black goggles that covered half his face, Henry could tell that the man was staring at him.
“Just my name is fine,” he finally spoke up.
The silence stuck inside the warehouse, making Henry feels unease. he tried to break this silence while his sidekick stood there watching. “Right... Anyway, we appreciate the help. We’ll take it from here.”
As the redhead was about to leave, Henry thought of something. “Actually, how about I treat you to dinner?” Henry smiles as he continues, “You deserve it after all the help you gave us tonight.”
“No need. I’m just doing my job.” The man responded immediately with indifferent. Then a notification popped up in his goggles. “Sorry, I have to go now. I have something else to take care of.” He walked away, leaving Henry and Collen stood there in baffle.
After he left, Henry broke the cold tension with a chuckle, “There he goes again. Always in a hurry.” He playfully nudged against Collen’s arm.
“Lemme tell you, kiddo, that kid never stays put in one place for too long.”
“Do you know him, sir?”
“No, not well enough,” Henry sighed, a mixture of amusement and dissatisfaction. “But you could say that he used to be a partner of mine. He’s one mysterious fella.” He started mumbling, “Always shows up out of nowhere and helps us out with our cases from time to time. Can’t ever get more than a few words out of him sometimes.”
Collen looked at Henry with curiosity, “So he is…”
“An Elite. He was assigned to work in our department for a while now. And what da you know; he made our job ten times easier.”
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In the middle of the busy streets of Holone Ave, the gleaming capital of Aureus, a news broadcast interrupted the city’s hustle and bustle, appearing on every billboard in the area.
The news broadcast announced: “Breaking news: we have received reports of another mutant infestation in the following areas.”
She clicked on a remote and the whole list of locations appears on the screen.
“We urge the residents of the areas above to stay indoors at all costs to avoid any contact with the mutants. The Elite units from Special Forces have been deployed to handle the situation at this very moment. So, rest assured, everyone is safe.”
Most of the city’s residents took notice of the news as their eyes glued to the screen, feeling restless and worried. Among them, one person seemed unfazed. He walked through the crowded streets and did not even bat an eye on the broadcast.
The mysterious man with crimson red hair had changed his clothes from the government’s uniform to a more casual style hoodie to blend in with Aurean citizens.
The broadcast continued, “I repeat, we advise against venturing outside at this time, as it may compromise your safety. Trust that the situation will be resolved swiftly by the Elites.”
While walking past one of the screens, he glanced at it with his dark-circle eyes. “Stay tuned for further updates regarding this incident.” The news broadcast turned dark before it went back to normal.
The civics moved on with their day after, and so the red head walked among other bypasses, blending in with them.
“As members of the elite special force, we were tasked to protect everyone from mutants that threaten our world. Doing whatever it takes to bring them down. Keeping everyone safe and protecting those who are dear to us.”
The redhead walks into the pit of snowfall, surrounded by the joyful faces of people around him. “But...”
Through the bustling crowd of joyful smiles and laughter all around, his thoughts went back to that very cruel, fateful day.
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The scene played out in his mind like an old film reel:
His mother, lying motionless on the cold, hard floor… the mysterious men in the room… his own voice, painfully crying out…
“MAMA!!”
And lastly... his parents’ coffins were a stark reminder that he was completely alone. The same old thought that haunted him. He knew it too well that…
ɥʇoq Ɯǝɥʇ ʇɔǝʇoɹd Oʇ Pǝʅᴉɐɟ Ǝh
It was not certain who the killers were even now. However, the one thing he remembered was the symbol on that man jackets, ‘the sun and moon’ crossed.
After that day, he was determined to catch those murderers and bring them to justice. His resentment for them burned bright until now.
The last word he promised to himself. “I’ll find them all one day...”
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He lost track of how long was it that he lost in those memories again. But at least now, he made it to the scene. A new mission he received a half a minute ago. He walked through the restricted zone. Not a single soul could be seen in this place as the whole area was blocked by police tapes.
As he arrived at the scene, he saw the other Elites already fighting the mutant. “Position to the right! Block its escape.”
He took a deep breath, calming himself from those memories. His eyes glowed bright blue as he prepared to assist them with the situation.
[Despite popular belief, not all of the Evolve are heroes. There are always a few bad apples among them, just as in any group of people. So, let’s take a closer look at this story from another different perspective....]
A door opened from the outside, and there was silhouette of a girl entering an old base that seems to be broken in. Police tapes were everywhere as well as the tear up documents scattered across the floor. Everything seemed completely destroyed.
She stands motionless, taking in the eerie silence of the place before she spoke in a cold, authoritative tone. “Theo”
After calling the name, the figure of a man appeared from the shadow and bowed down behind her. “M’lady...”
She stared at the man in silence, watching him continued to bow before her in submission. She then spoke again in an emotionless tone, but one can tell that she was pissed about how her base had been infiltrated like that. “Care to explain what happened here.”
“One of the elite broke into the base this morning,” her right-hand man replies while still bowing down.
“Only one?” She chuckled in frustration. “How pathetic can we be for them to make a mockery out of us like that”
“My apology, M’lady I—” He tried to find a way to explain the situation.
“Forget it! There’s no point in this discussion any further” She decides to change the topic.
The silence was suffocating the whole room before the man spoke up again, “This base is strictly hidden from outsiders.” He continued, “For them to find out about this place means that there can only be one possible explanation...”
He glanced at his lady, and before he could finish his sentence, she interrupts. “There’s a spy among us.”
The atmosphere goes quiet again after that.
She sighed in irritation as she could not believe that someone dared to make a mockery out of her like that and messed with her gang of all people.
“Change of plan,” She glared at her right-hand man and continued, “Plan a base in the North, and inform all the members about it.” She started to walk off. “Get it done by morning.”
“Understood, M’lady,” he turned to face her direction. “What are you going to do M’lady?”
While walking out, she noticed an unusual ice shard that seemed so out of place. It was still radiance with power. She thought to herself “Ice... So, it’s those elite fools.”
She stepped on the ice and crushed it. “I’m going to burn those rats into ashes.” She proceeded to walk out as her jacket blew in the wind, showing the symbol on her jacket of the ‘moon and sun’ crossing path.
