Blog # 9 - A second time

The day started with the familiar screams of Just: "AhhhhhHHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"

And Leit ran away from him this time. He ran past the storefront that looked as if it had been looted. He ran past the sign that confirmed his suspicions. He ran. He ran past townfolks who had little idea the dilemmas Leit faces. He ran past the mysterious blue van that he had not seen before - not that it concerned him. He ran past his familiar bar - his newfound home and tranquil life that he had hoped to go on forever. 

But then, he stopped. And he turned back. He rushed into the now deserted bar and he barricaded the door that he entered from. Not that this act of defiance against the world would return his life to normal, Leit pondered: 

Why had I gotten involved with The Organisation?

Leit had forgotten. He had chosen to forget his past in order to bid for a brighter future, alas, willful ignorance does not mend the deeds of the past and their repercussions.

What was, will be.
What will be, was.

Disillusioned and apathetic, Leit walked up to the roof. As he closed the door to his bar one last time, he lamented ever joining his line of work and even laughed at his naivete for believing he could just wash his hands clean and quit.

He walked to the edge of the roof, and with slight bemusement, Leit watched a detective, Linh I believe was her name, calling someone while examining a dead body. Leit had no idea who the person was, but he did not care much either.

Leit jumped.

And landed on the roof of the adjacent building.

He jumped again.

And landed on the roof of the adjacent building. 

Leit kept on doing that until there were no more buildings to skip. What was in his vision was instead the bridge and the banks of the river that courses through Maitland. The same bridge that he had thrown his equipment down when he renounced his past. 

Leit walked to the spot where he vividly remembers his delusions about a new life. 

And he jumped. 

This time he did not land.

Leit just kept on falling. 

Until Leit hit the water. Now he wasn't falling anymore, he was sinking instead.

And he sank. 

No there were no flashbacks or forbidden memories that appeared in Leit's mind. 

In fact, Leit's soul gave up on him before he even jumped. 

What was left of him in the river was merely the carcass of Friedrich von Leitmeritz, who lived in illusions, and never left.



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"So the projected failed huh?"
"Unfortunately, the subject was not able to resolve his past despite the memory wipes."
"How many times must we repeat. HOW MANY before this lunatic would stop and realize soul replication is impossible?? They all end in the same way: death."
"Listen here you Mother Teresa, my livelihood depends on this job, and if you do anything that terminates this project, I will remember you."
"I've had enough, I am quitting right here and right now."
"Bold of you to assume you can quit."
"Whaat-t ar-e you talking a-about.... don't co-me any clo-ser.... I swear.... I will sho-"
"The project must continue. Recommence in three days with a new subject."
"""Yes Sir!"""

Blog #8 - Mirror

The double doors on the back of the van popped open, and like the movies, smoke poured out from within, gracefully descending down onto the crushed storefront and disappear into the wind.
Of course, Leit was unable to witness any of this as he was still blinded, and Just, who was inside the van, could care less about it.
Just exited the van and walked up to Leit who was laying on the ground defencelessly. He held up Leit by the hair and forcefully lifted his head up so as to be face to face with him.

"Yo! Long time no see, Meritz, told you it wouldn't be pretty after all the trouble you have caused to me. Guess life ain't gonna be easy eh? You want a medal or something? Thanks to you the Organisation has lost out on so many jobs that only you could do."

"What do you want, Just?" Leit was still blinded, but years of experience has made him indifferent to most physical maluses.

"I want you to return to the Organisation and actually do your job."

"I am never going back into that wicked profession again.  You'd have to kill me before I carry out another job."

"You know how it is with this line of profession, Meritz, once you enter, there is no leaving it."

"And here I was starting a new life, living comfortably..."

"And here you are in front of me."

"Huuuuh... Do I really have no other choice?"

"Unfortunately, yeah, the Organisation demands you back. Keep in mind, had you not been so good at what you do, the moment you mentioned 'retiring' is the moment you get killed. So in a sense, it is a miracle you are still alive..."

Before Just was ready to finish his sentence, with lightning haste, Leit drew his handgun
But Just had mirrored his action and he too was pointing a gun in Leit's face.

"Got me once, it's on you. Got me twice, it's on me."

Leit had no choice. His finger is on the trigger, and he knew the only way he was going to get his new found freedom back was to fire the gun.

So he made a choice.



BANG



He shot Just's right hand, forcing Just to drop his gun in pain.

"AhhhhhHHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"

Blog #7 - A Flash

As Just's beat up van approached where Leit was, Leit himself was prepared for the worst. Not willing to risk being captured, Leit immediately put a magazine into his oversized handgun designed for anti-armor purposes and swung his left arm in the direction of the van. He quickly pulled the trigger.

And again.

And again.

And again.

Before the spent shells could find solace on the concrete sidewalk, two small holes appeared on the windshield of Just's van. Despite the bad weather condition, Leit had hit the driver and the shotgun position twice with perfect accuracy. 

This might seem impressive, but what was more unconventional was instead the van. The windshield itself did not crack, despite being hit by high caliber bullets, and there was not a trace of blood on the windshield, Perhaps it was unmanned. 

The van continued to rush toward Leit unhindered, and that was all Leit could care about.

As the van accelerated to almost twice the speed limit, with all of his strength, Leit hurled his body mass to his right, towards a fashion shop that was closed due to the fog. It worked, to a degree, the van did not crush Leit, in fact, it did not even scratch Leit. Although the van had slammed into the shop next door, a jewelry shop, and destroyed the display, the frame of the van was still intact. It was a great van, having served its owner for ages only to be trashed for a final mission. Such shame. 

Feeling a little adventurous, Leit readied his weapon and slowly but steadily approached the seemingly ruined van. Oh, how rookie that was... As Leit stared intensely at the van in the fears of possible hostiles, an object shaped like an aluminum can dropped from the exterior of the van onto the sidewalk and it rolled.

It rolled and 

rolled and 

rolled 

By the time Leit realized what it actually was, it was too late.

"Flashbang" Boom....

Bright light that pretended to be the heavens shined upon Leit and blinded him before he can fully cover his eyes. 

Leit was defenseless, and sensing this weakness, the back of the van opened... 

Blog #6 - First Strike

Leit was tired from all this running and hiding and not tending his bar so, seeking a return to normalcy, he tried to change things up a bit. Instead of evading them, Leit is now seeking a confrontational approach to Just and his gang.

“The best defense is offense eh? No one ever mentioned the part where I have to find my enemy first,” said Leit as he loiters on the roof of his bar, just waking up from the first full sleep night he had in a while.

The reason for Leit’s comment was not a profound observation on society’s values but on the weather today. [heavy fog, low road visibility] is what Leit’s weather app said. But Leit could not care less as he had better things to do, like finding Just and silencing him.

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Perhaps it was due to the thick and obstructing fog, or simply because of the chance for rain, there was no one on the street except Leit. Slowly shuffling down the street, Leit was looking for any traces of Just and his van.

As Leit walks and walks, he began to develop this unsettling sensation in his guts: something feels wrong. And indeed, there was something very wrong about Leit’s situation. Leit looked at the familiar traffic sign beside him, and he sprang to action. He took out a black marker and marked the red octagon with a small but noticeable X and he ran. He ran. He ran. He ran as if his life depended on it (it did).

When he stopped, he was at the same place as he was before. It was a loop. Leit was stuck in a loop. Just as Leit realise the sticky situation he is in, Just’s van appeared on the road behind him not that far away.

“The past never goes away does it?” sighed Leit as he prepared himself for what is to come.

Blog #5 - There's no reason to doubt

Justice Taft, who is called "Just" within the Organisation is not having a nice week at all. The Organisation ordered him to get Alpha back into operation when the guy quiz over a year ago, and Alpha is just not having it. During the time when Alpha was gone, the Organisation really suffered in terms of operations and revenues.

"He was the best we had."

Just exclaimed to himself sitting in his van.

"If only he didn't have that attitude of his..."

Beta, Gamma, Delta... these guys together can't do what one-tenth Alpha was able to achieve.

"Yeah they are really bad, I recruited them after Alpha quit."

That's a fourth-wall break, you aren't allowed to that!

"Don't tell me what to do."

No.

"Hey, hey, reader, I guess five blogs in you still don't know what the Organisation does eh?"

No.  

......................................................................................

Let's get back to the story, shall we?

The night was dark and Leit was on the roof his bar. The sky was filled with the cosmos but Leit was not feeling particularly happy with such. Because of everything that happened to him in the last week, he was still classified as a "missing and suspicious individual". During this time, Leit was not able to operate his bar. Leit especially loved mixing cocktails for clueless clients, serving up the most shitty abomination possible, and watching their faces as they force the delicacy down their own throats. But I digress.

Leit’s purpose for being on the rooftop was simple: he had set up a temporary shelter here the day before and he intends on spending the night here.

“Finally a good night of sleep awaits me!” Leit whispers to the heavens.

And just as Leit was hypnotising himself into sleep, a shooting star darts across his vision. Remembering the urban legend of a wish upon a star, thinking why not, Leit said a wish.

“I wish to bury my past.” He asked.

Little did he know, that wish would be fulfilled. In the worst ways possible.

Blog #4 - The Instrument of Murder and Its Peculiarities

It has been a week since Leit's encounter outside his bar and he has been skipping around town ever since. Leit is currently sleeping in a different hotel every single day, only coming out at night to reposition himself and buy some non-perishables and daily necessities. He wasn't worried about funds: Leit's retirement fund consists of three hundred million dollars, but that did not mean Leit lived comfortably. Leit pondered every day about his life choices and how it led to his current position, and he reached this unpleasant conclusion:

"Frick, Just was right, there really isn't permanent retirement in this cursed line of work."

Leit finally accepted his fate and walked towards the riverbanks. It was there one year ago that Leit dumped his professional gear and vowed to not follow down the dark path, but now it looks that vow was another con. Just like everything about Leit himself.

Leit dived down deep from the banks into the cold waters and found his old briefcase. He quickly grabbed it and resurfaced. He donned the black trenchcoat, fixed the gloves, equipped the night vision goggles, holstered his handguns, and reassembled the sniper rifle.

"Friedrich von Leitmeritz, code name Alpha, repor... well I guess there's no one to report to now."

As Leit adjusted his goggles to get used to his newfound ability to pierce into the shroud of darkness he saw something strange next to where he was sitting. It produced an unnatural glare in his field of view that he saw countless times before - the distinct colour resulting from hard metal caked in dried blood. Leit picked it up, careful not to leave any identifying particles on it.

"Isn't this... the murder weapon?" No duh.

Leit immediately connected his acquisition to Mr. Evan's murder case, but before he could acquaint himself with this knowledge he noticed something, no someone else walking near the river bank. Leit knew of him as Bradley Bennett, the local electrician, but Bradley did not recognise Leit in his current outfit.

"Hey, aren't you the electrician Brady, or Benley or something like that?"
"Y-yeah? What do you want?"

Leit carefully wrapped the knife with some cloth he found his suitcase and handed it to the electrician.

"Here, take this."
"W-what is this? W-what do I d-do with it?"
"Take it to the police or something, it's Mr. Evan's murder weapon. I think."
"B-but why?"
"Because I don't want it."

Leit hastily grabbed his briefcase and ran into the shadows, as usual, leaving the troubles for someone else to clean up.

Blog #3 - What Did Leit Do to Deserve This

As Leit walked out of the bar with Conrad's guitar on his back, he noticed something strange. Leit saw Just's delivery van parked across the street, and he was a bit irked. Just missed his usual delivery this morning, and that meant Leit will probably not be able to offer his full menu tonight. Leit walked across the street with a light jog, and his mind was conjuring up the harsh insults he was about to use to interrogate his untrustworthy driver. He never got to use those clever words.

Although Leit did not clearly see the driver's face, the familiar outline was enough for him to knock unhesitantly. What happened was not the driver lowering his window, but was instead the sound of the back door being slammed open and Leit saw three masked figures rushing out and cornered Leit with only the van door behind him.

"Em, hello there? What would you guys like today?" Leit nervously negotiated despite not being in the best position to do so.

The masked figures did not answer, but instead, they looked behind Leit. The van window rolled down, and Leit turned around to check out this new development. What appeared out of the window was not Just's scummy face, instead it was Just's scummy face pointing a jet back handgun straight in Leit's face.

"Long time no see Leit. How are you doing today?"
"Is this why you missed my deliveries this morning?"
"Organization safety regulations, can't do much about that."
"So, Just, what do you need today?"
"You, Meritz, you. The organization needs you back again to do some jobs, and this time I'm not asking."
"What if I say no?"
"Then I'd have to dispose of you, painfully I might add, as required by organization safety regulations."
"Fine, fine, fine. It doesn't look like I have a choice anyway."
"Beta, Gamma, Delta, get back in the van. Meritz, you get in with them too."
"Alrigh-"

Leit did not finish his sentence because he was busy swing the guitar (not his by the way) in a semi-circle, knocking out the three masked figures. As Leit ran away from the van, he could hear Just getting out of the van, and out of sheer desperation to not get shot, Leit threw the guitar at Just. Leit ran away hastily, and as he sought refuge back in his bar, he locked the doors and bolted the windows and muttered to the heavens:

"What did I do to deserve this."

A lot. Friedrich von Leitmeritz did a lot to deserve this.