On that prose note...
It was a beautiful night, and the stars burned bright above as Mern strode through the double doors out onto the porch of the house. Quickly scanning the barren landscape visible through the posts, she silently cursed, checking her pistol's ammunition before stepping out onto the sparse grasslands.
Walking slowly as she searched for a glimmer of light or movement, she began to shake a bit as she moved away from the house. At first it was just a mere tremor in her hands, a simple insecurity of grip. However, before long, it reached a point where her hands were full on shivering, almost unable to even hold a basic grip.
She cursed again, tightening down her grip on the weapon and taking a step forward. Her brother was nowhere in sight, and they hadn't heard from him for a while now. In all honesty, she didn't really think that the opposition would range this far out, but with the country as it was, she really didn't want to risk it.
Not with what had happened to their parents.
She ducked behind a car and pulled out a phone, giving it a call against her best judgment. She had tried before, but received only voicemail, and no response from that. But, she didn't want to venture out into the grasslands with only a pistol in full view of potential snipers, so she figured it was the better choice. Dialing the number, she put the phone to her ear.
And it picked up.
Unfortunately, it wasn't her brother. No, it was a different voice, deeper, smoother, and slightly more menacing. "Am I speaking to Mern?" he asked.
"Yes, that is me. Where's my brother?"
"Don't worry. He's somewhere safe- we need to have a talk with you, and we needed someone to make sure you would all show."
"That makes no sense."
"Exactly. Now go back in the house. I'm getting tired of waiting."
"Why should I?"
"If you see your brother again, you will. Now go."
"And how do I know he's even alive?"
"One second," he said, the phone going mostly silent as they handed it around. Finally, she heard a voice crackling through the line.
"Sister. I'm alive. Come up. You need to hear what they have to say," her brother's voice said.
She put down the phone- the mystery speaker had hung up on her. Sliding it back into her pocket, she shakily stood up. What did they want? Could she trust them?
Did she have a choice?
Well, yes, she did, but that choice could result in some very bad things happening to her brother, should they be telling the truth. Steeling
herself, she took a step back towards the porch and marched inside.
The bottom floor was empty, so far as she could tell, and while she didn't see any lights on upstairs, she didn't see anywhere else they
could be- the house didn't have a basement, and the storm cellar was a good thirty feet from the house.
Problem is, they weren't upstairs. Every room was dark and empty, her panic-stricken search showed. Strained, she sat down on a chair in the master bedroom and pulled out her phone, intending to redial the number.
The rifle pointed at her face discouraged her.
Snapping her vision back up to see the threat, she found herself dissuaded by a tactical light shining directly into her eyes. She considered diving to the side, but the man's steady hold on the rifle showed that it probably wouldn't end well for her. Frozen, eyes focused at the ground and blinking, she heard the voice from the phone say two simple words, "Wait here."
He, however, didn't move. Seeing how she didn't have much chance to disobey, she decided to wait and see. A minute later, she heard footsteps walking into the room, and as her captor glanced to check who it was, she went to the side, letting the chair hit the ground behind her as she went for her pistol.
Problem is, it wasn't there.
Another problem, her captor was now pointing it at her.
"Don't move. And please don't try anything else for a while. I'd hate to have to shoot you. Not when you have such potential," he said,
before handing the pistol back to her, grip first.
Confused, she took it, holstering it, her eyes still on her captor. "Your brother is this way," he said, gesturing for her to follow.
He led the way down the stairs, his companion falling in behind her, shotgun in hand. They exited the house, and turned towards the storm cellar. His companion opened the doors, and her captor led her through into the cellar proper and into an interesting scene.
Her brother was standing with three other soldiers dressed the same as her captors, all holding rifles. His hands were not tied behind his back, and he actually had a rifle similar to that the others were holding slung over his right shoulder. The overhead lights were on, and the furniture and shelves were undisturbed.
"Hello," her brother said, nodding towards her.
She ran to hug him, but was intercepted by one of the soldiers next to him. She struggled for a moment, then realized what she was doing and stopped, taking a step back and brushing herself off.
"Why are you here?" she asked, turning to the man who had brought her here.
"I'm glad you asked. I am Agent 7, and we're here to talk to you about your parents."
She paused at this, gritting her teeth before slowly replying, "I don't want to hear anything else about my parents. They're dead. They were assassinated in broad daylight and nobody noticed their very obvious bodies for five hours, and now everyone's afraid to associate with us, even our supposed allies and the agency they worked for."
The agent nodded to himself for a moment, then carefully spoke. "Well, who do you think killed them?"
She rested her hand on the grip of her pistol and answered, "Argonoi."
"That's a lie," he said.
She drew the pistol and pointed it at his head, taking careful aim. "And why do you say that? Are you an agent of theirs? Well?"
Her brother answered her question. "Because it was Thern that did it," he said.
She paused before turning her head to speak to him, "And they have you believing this too? Well? Are you working for Argonoi too?"
"Well, the email they showed me, as well the picture of the person who killed them was rather convincing. I suggest you take a look."
She looked back towards Agent 7, only to find that he was offering her a small packet of papers. "What are these?" she asked.
"Your parents' case file. From the security breach we caused a month ago."
"So you do work for Argonoi."
"Yes. Please just read it."
She thought it over for a second, turning to her brother for feedback before shifting the pistol to one hand and taking the stack of papers.
He eyes opened wide, and she sat down at the table, spreading the papers out before her. Thirty minutes passed as she read the documents, the evidence of her parents' entire life. By the time she was done, she was calm again, but it wasn't a very angry kind of calm.
She stood, having long since holstered her pistol. Letting out a long breath, she looked Agent 7 in the eyes.
"I believe you," she said.
"Good. Jim, would you do the honors?"
She perked at her brother's name, and turned to look his way. "Well, it seems you understand now. Are you going to join me? In doing justice?" he asked her, meeting her eye.
"Even if I wanted to, what could we do? What would the point be?"
"Doing the right thing. You know there are ulterior motives at play in the Thern government. You can help fight that."
"Are you sure?" she asked, unsure.
"I am. I've seen the work these men do. You can make a difference, help us out."
"Then I will. When do I leave?"
"When you're ready. They'll take you. I'm not safe here anymore, though, so I've already left, he said, flickering."
Her eyes widened. He nodded. "That's right, I'm already in transit. Will you join me?"
She closed her eyes for a second before opening them and looking him in the eye. "I will."
"Good. God bless. And god speed," he said, before waving and disappearing into the now-visible image projector.
She looked to Agent 7. "Are we leaving?" she asked.
"When you're ready. Bring what you need."
She was ready thirty minutes later. They left that night.
And thus, it began.
Feedback is welcome. I did very little editing, and while I'm not entirely happy with the execution of the piece, I like the feel and the general ideas behind it- this is a world-building piece, in a way.
Space Australians- I like the piece, it reminds me of what I've done before in some ways, and while I'm not sure what universe it's from (It sounds like an existing one, but I'm not exactly sure.) Also, I can't really tell if the main character is supposed to be an immortal or not- that part of the passage is fairly vague.