Quantum Act I

On the sixth day, God created man in his own image. Now it's up to us to figure it all out. Right, wrong. Good, evil. In each of us is the capacity to decide what drives our actions. So what is it that makes some choose selflessness, the need to devote oneself to something greater, while others know only self-interest? Isolating themselves in a world of their own making? Some seek love, even if unrequited, while others are driven by fear and betrayal. There are those who see their choices as dark proof of God's absence, while others follow a path of noble destiny. But in the end, good, evil, right or wrong, what we choose is never what we really need. For that is the real cosmic joke. The real gift that God has left behind.

2008 Auckland, New Zealand

“Director McArthur, do you think that the Human and Fallen relations are strong now? Because if you ask me, it looks like things are only getting worse.” John Campbell.

“Well, John, you are right. Things are bad at the moment but with our new initiative and policies, we should be able to stop the hundreds of crimes that are being committed on both sides. Our job at the S.A.I.S is to ensure that peace is restored between Humans and Fallen. If that means arresting a few dangerous individuals then so be it.” Director McArthur.

The Campbell Live studio was dimly lit and slightly smaller than the Director of the S.A.I.S had expected, but he didn’t care. He was there to get his point across to the country. Fortunately John Campbell was asking the right questions.

“Now Director, what are your opinions on the situation in America and Britain? We have all seen the news reports and heard rumours about your international counter-part’s methods. Surely you must know more than we do, correct?” John Campbell.

“Yes I do know more, our international counter-parts have chosen different methods and unfortunately they prove useful. But because we are a small country and believe that we can establish some kind of peace, we won’t be using their methods.” Director McArthur.

“Well I’m sure that the New Zealand public appreciate that. Thank you for coming on the show. Up next we will see a story about a woman who lost it all and still managed to raise her four children. That’s next on Campbell Live.” John Campbell.

“And we’re out!” Camera man.

John Campbell clapped his hands together and stood up to shake Director McArthur’s. After the assistants had come along and removed the microphone from his suit, two agents escorted McArthur outside where he got into a black limousine and drove towards the city centre.

Dunedin Street, Redwood, Christchurch

It was late in the evening but that didn’t stop two lovebirds from getting comfortable with one another. The two teenagers were getting cosy on the girls bed. The house was two stories high and fairly large, the girl’s parents obviously had good jobs and salaries to back it up. The two had been a couple for a little over two weeks and had decided to take their relationship to the next level.

“Ashleigh, we’re home!” Father.

“Holy crap it’s my parents! You have to go!” Ashleigh.

“Okay fine, I’ll call you later.” Boy.

Ashleigh threw the boy’s shirt at him and he chuckled. He had a good smile and a nice laugh, and a hell of a body.

“Go Kyle.” Ashleigh.

Kyle teleported out of her room and reappeared in his own room, he quickly put his shirt back on and walked out into the hall. His house was like a mansion, it had eight bedrooms, four bathrooms and two kitchens. His parents were wealthy and ran a company called Quantum, he didn’t know much about it except for the fact that they manufactured weapons and equipment for countries all around the world. Kyle made his way to the living room and was surprised to see his father still awake and on the phone. He waved to Kyle and so Kyle made his way to the kitchen and took out a beer, Kyle’s father entered the kitchen and put the phone down. His name was Alec.

“So where have you been this evening?” Alec McKenzie.

“I was out visiting a friend.” Kyle.

“Well while you were out visiting, you missed the meeting.” Alec McKenzie

“Oh crap, I totally forgot! Did anything interesting happen?” Kyle.

“Well everyone is getting pretty jumpy because of the S.A.I.S. There are rumours floating around that they are going to try a nationwide sweep.” Alec McKenzie.

“Really? I bet Masters started up those rumours, he wants an excuse to attack the Humans.” Kyle.

“Maybe. Anyway, you owe me. The next meeting is on Friday, and you will be there.” Alec McKenzie.

“Sure thing. Night dad.” Kyle.

Alec walked off and made his way to bed. Kyle sipped at his beer and took out his cellphone, he had just received a txt message and quickly responded with a smile on his face.

S.A.I.S Headquarters, Auckland

Director McArthur marched into the building and didn’t waste time getting to the elevator that took him to the top floor where his office resided. Once he unlocked his door and took off his rain coat he walked over to his desk and placed a briefcase on it which he carefully unlocked. As he was emptying the contents into the draws of his desk, his secretary entered and handed him a few notes with messages that he had missed. Not long after sitting down and accessing his computer, he received a phone call from someone within the building and quickly turned off his computer then got too his feet and left the office.

McArthur now found himself standing with his hands in his pockets inside an elevator taking him to the basement of the building. When the elevator pinged and the doors opened he walked straight out into a large office type area with dozens of monitors and agents working at them trying to track certain individuals. McArthur stood in the centre of the office and watched the largest monitor as it opened up three files on three different Fallen. Two were males in their mid forties and the third was a woman in her late thirties.

McArthur’s attention was soon diverted to a man wearing a gray suit with a white shirt and a black tie. He was an older man but had experience in tracking Fallen across country and bringing them in. He had just walked out of his office that had a glass door and now stood beside Director McArthur. His name was Troy Gibbs.

“We’ve tracked these three to Christchurch. We know that their kids go to a school full of Fallen, so we’re keeping tabs on them as well.” Gibbs.

“Alright, and what about our informant?” McArthur.

“He’s given us enough information for us to make a move. We’re just waiting on an American team to arrive who have experience in taking down high value targets. In fact they should be here by now.” Gibbs.

As if on cue, five tall and muscular men entered the basement and approached the two older men. These Americans were young but you couldn’t tell from the way they stood. Some had scars while others just looked worn out by stress and weariness, fortunately they had overcame these problems and were living to simply take down Fallen.

“Oh good you’re here. Director, this is Major Thomson and his team.” Gibbs.

“How do you do, Major?” McArthur.

“We’re fine now that we’re on the ground Director.” Major Thomson.

“Okay, let’s get straight into it, Major. If you’ll follow me I will take you to the Briefing Room.” Gibbs.

“That won’t be necessary. HQ already briefed us before we left the States.” Major Thomson.

“Oh really?” McArthur.

“And which Fallen are your targets?” Gibbs.

“All of them…..” Major Thomson.

Kyle’s alarm went off at some ungodly hour and persuaded him to crawl out of his pit. He stood up straight and stretched then followed it up by a very loud yawn. After that little exercise he grabbed some running shorts and made his way downstairs to the gym. Kyle flicked on the lights then turned on the stereo and mounted the bike which he rode for over thirty minutes then moved on to do some pull ups. After one hundred of them he cracked his knuckles and turned off the stereo then made his way to the bathroom where he had a quick shower. He wrapped a towel around his waist and then walked back to his bedroom where he put on a fresh pair of black jeans and a white button up shirt, he slipped into some white skate shoes and then put some product in his hair to make it look better.

The McKenzie mansion was quiet in the morning, no one was a morning person, and so his parents always heard Kyle coming down the stairs and walking toward the kitchen.

“Morning guys. Did you have a good night?” Kyle.

“Yes we did, the restaurant was great and the movie was bearable. It was all good until your father had to rush off.” Vivian McKenzie.

“I told you we had a very important meeting at the office.” Alec McKenzie.

Kyle smiled out of the corner of his mouth and shook his head while he prepared his toast. His father was the head of company called Quantum which manufactured weapons for all the major “players” who have joined the fight in the Middle East; it was also doing some interesting work on DNA manipulation.

“Okay guys, I’m off to school. God I hate Mondays.” Kyle.

“Have a good day sweetie!” Vivian McKenzie.

Kyle slung his backpack over his shoulder and exited the house; he took out his keys and unlocked his black and white Mustang then tossed his bag in the back.

Papanui High School was a co-ed school and had over sixteen hundred students attending. The school itself was quite large and several blocks of classrooms all spread around the grounds with a large field toward the back of the school. It resided in the Papanui district and was situated right next to the Northlands Mall which is quite handy for the students to go there after school. School starts at eight forty five and so everyone slowly starts to arrive at around eight thirty, drivers are forced to park down the street from the school because of the dozens of cars dropping people off. Several people stopped and turned around to see three cars roaring past the school and park two blocks away. One was a black and white Mustang, the other was a blue base Nissan Skyline with graffiti vinyl, and the third was a black Mazda RX8 with white flames on the sides. Kyle smirked as he stepped out of his car and joined his two friends. The three drivers walked across the road toward the school, Kyle was in the middle and walked slightly ahead of them. His two followers were Ethan and Alex. Alex wore a black hooded jacket with a white and green striped top beneath. Ethan had dark red hair and wore a beanie hat with flames around the edges of it. After stepping into the grounds the three disbanded and went to their form classes, a class at the beginning of the day before first period full of kids in your year.

Kyle stepped into the gym and saw some of his mates throwing a Rugby ball around so before joining them he went and spoke to everyone else.

“Hey Kyle, are you still going out with that Ashleigh chick?” Tessa

“Yeah but I’m going to break up with her today, it’s just not working out.” Kyle.

“Okay cool.” Tessa

Kyle left his bag beside the large group of girls and then ran in to intercept the ball being thrown across the gym; he caught it and pointed at the guy who threw it. He passed it to the guy next to him and looked back at the girls to see if they were watching; when a certain girl was looking at him he winked at her and continued to pass the ball around with the guys.

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Director McArthur sat in his comfortable chair with a phone attached to his ear. He was talking to his American counterpart who seemed to be taking over all S.A.I.S branches, well trying to anyway.

“With all due respect, we can handle this on our own. Our methods are working. We don’t need to go around the country arresting every Fallen in sight. There is a small group of Fallen that cause trouble here and we can easily take them down, in fact we have just acquired all the intelligence we require to make a move!” Director McArthur

“This is bigger than your little gang problem, McArthur. You and I both know that the Fallen in New Zealand are becoming far more powerful than we could have anticipated. Our alliance with Quantum Industries has given us more insight to these abilities. We know about ALMOST every one of these abilities. That includes the more dangerous ones such as Induced Radioactivity.” American

“There hasn’t been any sighting of the high profile abilities here!” Director McArthur

“You clearly don’t pay attention to what goes on in your own country my friend. Alistair Davey, George Roberts and Sandra Kingi. Those three are members of an international “Fallen Clan”. They are leader figures and are connected to dozens of other Fallen that we have been searching for. And just to top it off, they are all in your country. We also believe that “Alec McKenzie” ties into this somewhere but we can’t find solid proof.” American

“So what would you have me do?” Director McArthur

“Give Major Thomson and his team full access to your system, names, profiles, locations, equipment. Anything. We are also sending over another man to help. I think this one might come in handy.” American.

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Ethan, Alex, Ben, Tim, Mikaela, Haley, Adam, Maddi and Allanah all sat on the field eating their lunch. They were discretely watching Kyle who was breaking up with Ashleigh in front of the field.

“Seriously look at this! Every time I break up with a girl there is yelling and pain! Every time HE breaks up with a girl, he gets a Goddamn hug and they part ways like nothing’s ever happened.” Tim

“It’s because he’s not an asshole about it, like you.” Ethan

“Fair call there.” Alex

Kyle and Ashleigh hugged then Kyle walked toward the group, he dropped his bag on the grass and sat down.

“How was it?” Maddi

“Not too bad, it could have been a lot worse were it not for Allanah’s ability though.” Kyle

“So who are you moving onto now?” Tim

“Shut up Tim! God, you’re such a dick!” Maddi

“If you must know, I might stay single for a while.” Kyle

“Good idea.” Mikaela

“Oh yeah guys, I’m throwing a party at my place tonight. So you better be there!” Allanah

“Your folks out tonight?” Kyle

“Yeah, chances are your dad will be out as well.” Allanah

“Most likely.” Kyle

Then the school bell rang and the group paired off, all going to their different classes.

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McArthur stepped out of the elevator and into the basement where the agent’s high priority meetings, targets and plans were held. Many came to call it “The Overwatch”. The Director stopped and stared at the large monitor in the centre of the room; it was connected to a large server and was linked to an S.A.I.S satellite.

“What is this?” Director McArthur

“This is how we have been tracking our targets over the last few months. You, Director, are looking at the future of satellite surveillance.” Major Thomson

“How does it work?” Director McArthur

“Simple. We search the name of a target and the satellite scans the planet for a specific genetic marker that is unique to the target. Now the satellite can’t obviously scan the WHOLE planet at once, we have to scan each continent one at a time until we find who we’re looking for.” Major Thomson

“I wasn’t aware that the S.A.I.S had access to this type of technology.” Director McArthur

“It didn’t, at least not until a few months ago. It was designed and manufactured by Quantum Industries. They kindly gave it to us as a measure of good faith.” Major Thomson

“Satellite is online!” Technician 1

“Beginning search for target.” Technician 2

“Who are you searching for?” Director McArthur

“A boy who has eluded us for the past two years. He is considered highly dangerous due to his ability. The US Government wants him brought in ASAP.” Major Thomson

The Director watched the screen as it locked onto a specific point in the South Island. It zoomed in to reveal a street in Christchurch. Once the satellite had a final lock and location of the target, a window popped up displaying the identity of the one they were looking for.

“We’ve finally got him….” Major Thomson

Alistair Davey and Sandra Kingi were waiting in a board room on the top story of the Quantum Industries building. The two had been married for twenty two years and were the so called "leaders" of a gang that operated within the country. The gang of course was made up of Fallen who were all loyal to a cause which saw Fallen as the dominant figure in our world. Sadly for the couple, they were only instruments, tools even. Both being used like several other figures around the world by a single man. The couple knew they were being used like the others but unlike most they weren't being exploited and the remained in complete control of their organisation which is funded by their wealthy friend and business partner, Alec McKenzie.

The couple turned around as Alec walked in wearing his nicely pressed suit. Alec had a certain look about him that suggested he had seen more than he had wanted too in his life and that he was seeking for a way to change things.

"Sorry to keep you waiting. I had just been talking to our friends in China. It seems that things have escalated there." Alec McKenzie

"How so?" Sandra Kingi

"The S.A.I.S are sweeping the outskirts of the country and arresting Fallen." Alec McKenzie

"How long is it gonna be before they decide to start "sweeping" this country?" Alistair Davey

"I'm afraid I don't have the answer to that question. What I do have though, are some documents that I need the two of you to hold on too. Just for the mean time." Alec McKenzie

"What type of documents are these?" Sandra Kingi

"They contain names, locations and descriptions of certain Fallen in this city. These Fallen have trusted me to keep them safe from the Government but I can't do that here. Take those documents and see that they get placed somewhere safe." Alec McKenzie

"Consider it done." Sandra Kingi

"Now I believe we all have to attend a meeting, correct?" Alistair Davey

"Indeed we do...." Alec McKenzie

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A hooded figure stood in the bushes watching the McKenzie mansion. The only lights on were the ones around the outside of the mansion, inside was dark. It was obvious that no one was home. The figure snuck around the mansion and scaled the wall, he managed to climb through a window that was left open and found himself in a bathroom. Our mystery friend wore a leather jacket with a tattered hooded sweatshirt underneath. His jeans were ripped at the knees and his shoes were old and dirty. The man walked around the mansion taking it all in and then decided to get to work. He made his way to one of the bedrooms and stood in the doorway staring inside. The man pushed the hood off his head to reveal a scruffy face. His hair was white and long, indicating that he hadn't had a haircut in a long time. He had a small beard across his face and a rebellious look in his eye. He entered the room and picked up a picture from a table near the window. Kyle and his family were in the picture, he knew these people all too well. The scruff didn't know how long he stood there staring at that picture but eventually something forced him to continue. He searched the room for a bag and found it under the bed, it contained a few school books and a lunch box. He emptied the bag and left the room with it, if he was going to continue his little trek across the country then he would need supplies. So he went around the house filling the bag with food, water, bandages and eventually he found a gun. A Beretta 92FS. This man had been through some troublesome times and so now he decided he needed to take certain steps to stay alive.

He zipped up the bag and put it on his back, he decided to keep the gun close to him so he tucked it into the back of his jeans. The scruffy man began to walk back toward the bathroom where he had entered but stopped when he heard faint footsteps coming from behind him. He slowly reached for the gun and spun around aiming it down the hall. To his surprise, there was no one there. He chuckled and realised that paranoia had finally set in. As he turned back around toward the bathroom, he was thrown against the wall behind him and found a hand tight on his throat. The scruff dropped his gun and grabbed the hand around his throat. He looked at the man before him. He was dressed in full tactical gear, bulletproof vest, camo pants, army boots, the works.

"I got him, bring in the extraction team." Soldier

Our scruffy friend heard chatter coming from his captor's radio, they had finally caught up to him. Well, he had eluded them for this long so he wasn't going to go down without a fight. He groaned and yelled as his body started glow ferociously and burned the man in front of him. The soldier fell to the ground and groaned in pain, he looked at his burnt arms and could feel the right side of his face burning as well. The scruff picked himself up off the floor and made a dash away from the soldier, he ran down a flight of stairs and stopped in his tracks as three more soldiers entered the house carrying assault rifles. He turned around to go back but found himself being lifted into the air by an invisible hand. The soldier he had burned walked in front of him with his arm outstretched and an evil grin on his face. His burns began to heal in front of the Scruff's eyes. The last thing our scruffy friend saw, was the evil look on the soldiers face. Then, nothing but darkness.

The soldier lowered his arm and the man dropped to the stairs and rolled down to the ground floor of the mansion. Two other soldiers wearing balaclavas and riot helmets secured their prisoner and placed a bag over his head.

"Well done Taylor. You just bagged us another prize." Major Thomson

The soldier on the stairs was Corporal Dean Taylor, former Delta Force. He had been enlisted into the S.A.I.S for the simple fact that he was a Fallen and a very useful one at that. His primary ability was Spontaneous Regeneration but over the years he had managed to acquire more and more from working with the agency. Major Thomson approached him on the stairs and congratulated him while holding a modified shotgun that fires sedative rounds.

"We've finally caught the bastard. Thanks to you." Major Thomson

The Corporal didn't say a thing and simply walked out of the Mansion.

To be continued.