My second story
Btw the MC's name Jan is pronounced "Yan"
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Jan leans against the window of the bus as he heads home. Staring at the many people that pass by and imagining where they could be going and where they’re coming from is one way of passing the time. Jan never did like riding the bus. The man sitting next to him has a strange odor and the man in front looks dangerous in more ways than one. While he does feel more independent he feels exposed to the people of the world that he’d rather not be around. Jan always feared his reaction to a future problem and what consequences may arise from it. Not only for his life but for everyone involved. Little does he know this will change sooner than he thinks.
Jan gets off of the bus avoiding eye contact with whoever is left and starts the long trek home. He sees a few stereotypically dangerous individuals heading his way and tries to look tougher and alert. He would consider crossing the street but he’s on busy road and has nowhere to go so he takes his chances and steels himself to walk past them. He walks in the grass to give room as they pass by. Sighing with relief he berates himself silently for worrying about nothing as always. Not ten minutes later as the exhaustion begins to hit him from the long walk and long day spent catching buses another figure approaches. This person turns out to be a girl around his age. He squints so he can see her better t no avail. He then thinks to himself that her appearance doesn’t really matter because she’s nothing but a passerby on the street and speeds up his pace to get this over with. He passes her with no problems as he begins to imagine how speaking to her might have gone. As he turns the corner to his last street he senses a presence behind him but sees no one when he looks. He turns back around and prepares himself for the worst. Not confident in his physical strength hundreds of battle scenarios pass through his head at once as he again speeds up his pace towards home. He walks up his driveway scanning the surrounding area as he begins to relax and opens his door. “Hey didn’t I lock this when I left?” Jan asks himself.
He cautiously walks around the house the way he sees cops when they raid a house on TV. Satisfied that no one is inside he relaxes again and takes a shower. When he opens the shower door he notices that the book on the kitchen table has been moved and the TV is off. He quickly enters his room and puts on his shorts just as a man appears behind him with a bat. Jan ducks the first swing as he grabs his box opener from his desk and hops backwards to put more space between himself and the assailant. Jan stares at the man silently as he runs scenarios in his head one by one. The man charges once more. Jan attempts to dodge again but is thrown to the ground dropping the knife in the process. Jan’s physical strength fails him as the man completely overpowers him and attempt to strike him with the bat continuously. Jan tries to grab the bat as the man swings to no avail. All he can seem to do is parry the bat with the palm of his hand thankful that the man has no room to swing the bat in the corner of the room. Jan eventually misses on one of his parries and the bat hits his face leaving it covered in blood as he closes his eyes. The man grunts his satisfaction as he turns away from Jan and walks into the living room to possibly steal something.
Jan lies in pain pretending to be unconscious as he hears a song in his head and remembers TV shows where the main character unlocks some special power in their defeat as he closes his eyes again. Suddenly Jan opens his eyes and smiles as his body begins to shiver and he feels stronger than ever before. The song in his head increases in tempo as he picks up the box cutter and peeks around the corner. Jan smiles again when he sees the man with his back facing him and ducks behind the couch to try and sneak past him. The man turns when he hears Jan’s knee crack while he attempts to sneak past. Giving up his stealth the songs tempo increases once again as Jan runs towards the kitchen throwing the box cutter towards the man who ducks and grabs his bat. Jan’s delay tactic succeeds as he grabs two large kitchen knives from near the sink and ducks into the laundry room. The man with the bat runs into the kitchen and stops when he doesn’t see the boy he’s looking for. Jan watches through the crack between the door and the wall as the man cautiously walks towards the laundry room door.
Just as he is about to enter Jan pushes the door into the man as hard as he can startle him. He then rushes him with the knives and stabs him in the bicep of his bat arm and stabs the other into his left shoulder. The man attempts to swing the bat as Jan slashes his wrist and kicks the man’s knee as hard as he can. The man stumbles as Jan stabs the back of his other knee and pushes him to the floor before stomping his head into the ground. The man begs for his life as Jan stands over him with the knives and presses them to the man’s throat. “Why shouldn’t I kill you? You attacked me and you know I’ve always wondered what happens when you lose this.” Jan gestures to the man’s adam’s apple with the knife as the music in his head begins to fade. “But you know what? I will let you live, if only because I don’t want to clean anymore blood off of my floor. If you ever come back. You die.” Jan then calls the police and sits with his knee in the man’s back as he waits. “Where did you learn to do that?” The cop asks Jan after he told the him his story. “TV.” He responds. “Really?” “Really. It’s like a power, I absorb and can do anything I see and copy.” “Interesting.” The cop says as he leaves. “Well, you have a nice day kid. Try not to be a hero next time. Just call us first.” The cop closes the door as Jan scoffs. “Yeah right.”
The next morning it suddenly occurs to Jan that it was pretty strange how the police didn’t question him as much as he expected. Or maybe he just doesn’t know the system as well as he thinks. Jan lies in bed with his laptop on his chest trying not to go back to sleep and become even more lethargic than he already is. Just as he is starting to drift into the abyss a loud knock startles him back to world of the living. He puts the laptop on the floor and sits up as quietly as he can manage before peeking through the blinds to see who’s at the door. Try as he might there is no angle he can look from where the knocker won’t see him as well.
Jan sits back on his bed and patiently waits for the man to walk away as he did when he was a kid. After another minute the man at the door sighs as he seemingly gives up on someone answering the door. He takes a quick look around and heads for the side entrance. As he walks past the window Jan takes in the man’s attire and slinks into the living room to follow the man from inside the house. The man makes his way to the side door and knocks loudly as he peeks through the curtains just as Jan sidesteps into the kitchen.
“I can hear your footsteps.” The man calls from outside as Jan freezes in place. “****ing crawl space.” He whispers to himself. The man takes a breath as he prepares to speak. “Open up. I am Eustace Strauss from the USF.” Jan decides to talk back against his better judgment. “Well if you can yell through the door why do I need to open it?” “Because this is classified information.” Jan thinks for a second. “Fine.” He grabs a knife and places it on the counter behind the door as he opens the door. Eustace glances at Jan and his position behind the door and takes a step back. “You know…” ZZZTT.
Jan wakes up in the back of a moving van. “Seriously.” He sits up and stretches. Surprisingly enough he doesn’t have any handcuffs on. He rubs his eyes as he tries to look for a way out or a way to disable the driver. Finding none he makes himself comfortable in the corner and readies himself for when the door opens.
The door opens and Jan fires himself towards the girl who opened it tackling her to the ground. “Wait a girl.” He turns too late as he’s hit from behind. “You fail” Strauss says as he rolls Jan’s limp body off of the girl.
“Wake up and stand up.” Strauss says as Jan opens his eyes slowly and tries to fight but gives up upon realizing he isn’t outside anymore and he’s handcuffed. “Move it boy.” Jan moves as Strauss drags him to his feet and pokes him in the back with a mysterious foreign object. He looks around the hallway and takes in his surroundings. ‘Great, a white hallway.’ He thinks as he’s lead to the end of the hallway and towards the door on the left. “In here.”
Eustace pushes Jan into a small office with 3 chairs on the outside of the large desk where an important looking man sat. He is dressed in a suit and had a beanie on his head for some reason. In the chairs surrounding his desk one was occupied by the girl he saw in the parking garage earlier. She’s an attractive brunette with short brown hair and brown eyes dressed in black cargo pants and a hoodie. Jan flops into the chair farthest from the girl and tries not to look at her too much as both she and the men seem to stare into his soul for a second.
“I am commander Cairo.” The man behind the desk begins. “Welcome to your new home.” Jan raises his eyebrow. “Home?” What are you talking about?” The man leans back and shoots a look at Strauss who suddenly decides it’s safer to look elsewhere. “It seems this idiot here hasn’t told you anything. Cairo begins. “You have talent Jan, and I want your talent. You took out that burglar with no problems and we need someone like you to join our team.” “So you kidnapped me?” “Think of it as relocation. I can see the fire in your eyes Jan. Simply put you like to hurt people, why not put that to good use? We the Underground Security Force are like vigilante teams. We send agents out to stop crime and steal from the criminals at the same time. For every dollar you find during your missions you keep half. Sound good?” Jan hesitates struggling to take all of this in at once and looks at everyone in the room. “Yeah it does. It’s better than any job I could get in the real world but it seems too good to be true. Are we allowed to kill those bastards or is it morally wrong here too? If it is I want no part of your pretend police force.”
The commander smile sadistically. “We are not police or government affiliated. We kill, we steal and we destroy but never without reason and never against innocents.” Jan ponders for a minute. “Fine, but I don’t want to be thought of as property. You will let me leave when I want to.” Commander Cairo stands and holds out his hand. “I hope we have a deal then. The only catch is you can’t leave during a mission or you will become a mission. Understand.” Jan nods as Cairo continues. “Now, your new squad leader here will tell you the rest of the in and outs of this place. I am far too busy at the moment.” He gestures to the girl who leads Jan out into the hallway where Strauss frees him of his handcuffs. “Finally.” Jan whispers to himself. The recruiter gives him a mean look as he walks off towards who knows where.
Jan turns to the girl and almost forgets to shake her hand when she shoots him her dazzling smile. “Hi” She says a little too enthusiastically. “My name is Reno and I’ll be your new squad leader.”
Btw the MC's name Jan is pronounced "Yan"
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Chapter 1
Jan leans against the window of the bus as he heads home. Staring at the many people that pass by and imagining where they could be going and where they’re coming from is one way of passing the time. Jan never did like riding the bus. The man sitting next to him has a strange odor and the man in front looks dangerous in more ways than one. While he does feel more independent he feels exposed to the people of the world that he’d rather not be around. Jan always feared his reaction to a future problem and what consequences may arise from it. Not only for his life but for everyone involved. Little does he know this will change sooner than he thinks.
Jan gets off of the bus avoiding eye contact with whoever is left and starts the long trek home. He sees a few stereotypically dangerous individuals heading his way and tries to look tougher and alert. He would consider crossing the street but he’s on busy road and has nowhere to go so he takes his chances and steels himself to walk past them. He walks in the grass to give room as they pass by. Sighing with relief he berates himself silently for worrying about nothing as always. Not ten minutes later as the exhaustion begins to hit him from the long walk and long day spent catching buses another figure approaches. This person turns out to be a girl around his age. He squints so he can see her better t no avail. He then thinks to himself that her appearance doesn’t really matter because she’s nothing but a passerby on the street and speeds up his pace to get this over with. He passes her with no problems as he begins to imagine how speaking to her might have gone. As he turns the corner to his last street he senses a presence behind him but sees no one when he looks. He turns back around and prepares himself for the worst. Not confident in his physical strength hundreds of battle scenarios pass through his head at once as he again speeds up his pace towards home. He walks up his driveway scanning the surrounding area as he begins to relax and opens his door. “Hey didn’t I lock this when I left?” Jan asks himself.
He cautiously walks around the house the way he sees cops when they raid a house on TV. Satisfied that no one is inside he relaxes again and takes a shower. When he opens the shower door he notices that the book on the kitchen table has been moved and the TV is off. He quickly enters his room and puts on his shorts just as a man appears behind him with a bat. Jan ducks the first swing as he grabs his box opener from his desk and hops backwards to put more space between himself and the assailant. Jan stares at the man silently as he runs scenarios in his head one by one. The man charges once more. Jan attempts to dodge again but is thrown to the ground dropping the knife in the process. Jan’s physical strength fails him as the man completely overpowers him and attempt to strike him with the bat continuously. Jan tries to grab the bat as the man swings to no avail. All he can seem to do is parry the bat with the palm of his hand thankful that the man has no room to swing the bat in the corner of the room. Jan eventually misses on one of his parries and the bat hits his face leaving it covered in blood as he closes his eyes. The man grunts his satisfaction as he turns away from Jan and walks into the living room to possibly steal something.
Jan lies in pain pretending to be unconscious as he hears a song in his head and remembers TV shows where the main character unlocks some special power in their defeat as he closes his eyes again. Suddenly Jan opens his eyes and smiles as his body begins to shiver and he feels stronger than ever before. The song in his head increases in tempo as he picks up the box cutter and peeks around the corner. Jan smiles again when he sees the man with his back facing him and ducks behind the couch to try and sneak past him. The man turns when he hears Jan’s knee crack while he attempts to sneak past. Giving up his stealth the songs tempo increases once again as Jan runs towards the kitchen throwing the box cutter towards the man who ducks and grabs his bat. Jan’s delay tactic succeeds as he grabs two large kitchen knives from near the sink and ducks into the laundry room. The man with the bat runs into the kitchen and stops when he doesn’t see the boy he’s looking for. Jan watches through the crack between the door and the wall as the man cautiously walks towards the laundry room door.
Just as he is about to enter Jan pushes the door into the man as hard as he can startle him. He then rushes him with the knives and stabs him in the bicep of his bat arm and stabs the other into his left shoulder. The man attempts to swing the bat as Jan slashes his wrist and kicks the man’s knee as hard as he can. The man stumbles as Jan stabs the back of his other knee and pushes him to the floor before stomping his head into the ground. The man begs for his life as Jan stands over him with the knives and presses them to the man’s throat. “Why shouldn’t I kill you? You attacked me and you know I’ve always wondered what happens when you lose this.” Jan gestures to the man’s adam’s apple with the knife as the music in his head begins to fade. “But you know what? I will let you live, if only because I don’t want to clean anymore blood off of my floor. If you ever come back. You die.” Jan then calls the police and sits with his knee in the man’s back as he waits. “Where did you learn to do that?” The cop asks Jan after he told the him his story. “TV.” He responds. “Really?” “Really. It’s like a power, I absorb and can do anything I see and copy.” “Interesting.” The cop says as he leaves. “Well, you have a nice day kid. Try not to be a hero next time. Just call us first.” The cop closes the door as Jan scoffs. “Yeah right.”
The next morning it suddenly occurs to Jan that it was pretty strange how the police didn’t question him as much as he expected. Or maybe he just doesn’t know the system as well as he thinks. Jan lies in bed with his laptop on his chest trying not to go back to sleep and become even more lethargic than he already is. Just as he is starting to drift into the abyss a loud knock startles him back to world of the living. He puts the laptop on the floor and sits up as quietly as he can manage before peeking through the blinds to see who’s at the door. Try as he might there is no angle he can look from where the knocker won’t see him as well.
Jan sits back on his bed and patiently waits for the man to walk away as he did when he was a kid. After another minute the man at the door sighs as he seemingly gives up on someone answering the door. He takes a quick look around and heads for the side entrance. As he walks past the window Jan takes in the man’s attire and slinks into the living room to follow the man from inside the house. The man makes his way to the side door and knocks loudly as he peeks through the curtains just as Jan sidesteps into the kitchen.
“I can hear your footsteps.” The man calls from outside as Jan freezes in place. “****ing crawl space.” He whispers to himself. The man takes a breath as he prepares to speak. “Open up. I am Eustace Strauss from the USF.” Jan decides to talk back against his better judgment. “Well if you can yell through the door why do I need to open it?” “Because this is classified information.” Jan thinks for a second. “Fine.” He grabs a knife and places it on the counter behind the door as he opens the door. Eustace glances at Jan and his position behind the door and takes a step back. “You know…” ZZZTT.
Jan wakes up in the back of a moving van. “Seriously.” He sits up and stretches. Surprisingly enough he doesn’t have any handcuffs on. He rubs his eyes as he tries to look for a way out or a way to disable the driver. Finding none he makes himself comfortable in the corner and readies himself for when the door opens.
The door opens and Jan fires himself towards the girl who opened it tackling her to the ground. “Wait a girl.” He turns too late as he’s hit from behind. “You fail” Strauss says as he rolls Jan’s limp body off of the girl.
“Wake up and stand up.” Strauss says as Jan opens his eyes slowly and tries to fight but gives up upon realizing he isn’t outside anymore and he’s handcuffed. “Move it boy.” Jan moves as Strauss drags him to his feet and pokes him in the back with a mysterious foreign object. He looks around the hallway and takes in his surroundings. ‘Great, a white hallway.’ He thinks as he’s lead to the end of the hallway and towards the door on the left. “In here.”
Eustace pushes Jan into a small office with 3 chairs on the outside of the large desk where an important looking man sat. He is dressed in a suit and had a beanie on his head for some reason. In the chairs surrounding his desk one was occupied by the girl he saw in the parking garage earlier. She’s an attractive brunette with short brown hair and brown eyes dressed in black cargo pants and a hoodie. Jan flops into the chair farthest from the girl and tries not to look at her too much as both she and the men seem to stare into his soul for a second.
“I am commander Cairo.” The man behind the desk begins. “Welcome to your new home.” Jan raises his eyebrow. “Home?” What are you talking about?” The man leans back and shoots a look at Strauss who suddenly decides it’s safer to look elsewhere. “It seems this idiot here hasn’t told you anything. Cairo begins. “You have talent Jan, and I want your talent. You took out that burglar with no problems and we need someone like you to join our team.” “So you kidnapped me?” “Think of it as relocation. I can see the fire in your eyes Jan. Simply put you like to hurt people, why not put that to good use? We the Underground Security Force are like vigilante teams. We send agents out to stop crime and steal from the criminals at the same time. For every dollar you find during your missions you keep half. Sound good?” Jan hesitates struggling to take all of this in at once and looks at everyone in the room. “Yeah it does. It’s better than any job I could get in the real world but it seems too good to be true. Are we allowed to kill those bastards or is it morally wrong here too? If it is I want no part of your pretend police force.”
The commander smile sadistically. “We are not police or government affiliated. We kill, we steal and we destroy but never without reason and never against innocents.” Jan ponders for a minute. “Fine, but I don’t want to be thought of as property. You will let me leave when I want to.” Commander Cairo stands and holds out his hand. “I hope we have a deal then. The only catch is you can’t leave during a mission or you will become a mission. Understand.” Jan nods as Cairo continues. “Now, your new squad leader here will tell you the rest of the in and outs of this place. I am far too busy at the moment.” He gestures to the girl who leads Jan out into the hallway where Strauss frees him of his handcuffs. “Finally.” Jan whispers to himself. The recruiter gives him a mean look as he walks off towards who knows where.
Jan turns to the girl and almost forgets to shake her hand when she shoots him her dazzling smile. “Hi” She says a little too enthusiastically. “My name is Reno and I’ll be your new squad leader.”