Chapter 18: 2-2 Incident I

Five minutes after the Incident.

...

The security guards saw the entire event through the CCTV, but until the attack on the man, none of them saw anything disturbing about it.

Only when the woman jumped at him, striking him in the neck with her open hand and knocking him out, did they begin to react. A silent alarm was momentarily sounded and everyone was sent toward the lab.

However, by the time the first group arrived, it was all over and the attacker had disappeared, leaving two unconscious bodies and a flash drive plugged into one of the computers.

...

Twenty minutes after the Incident.

...

Police arrived at the incident site, followed moments later by the ambulance service.

Police officers began to secure evidence. Fingerprints, a flash drive, CCTV footage. Security guards were interrogated, but they knew nothing more than was recorded.

The two unconscious were taken to the hospital. Initial tests did not detect that their lives were in any danger.

...

Thirty minutes after the Incident.

...

The FBI arrived. They identified the participants in the incident and immediately took the case out of the hands of the NYPD. They also issued warrant for Nazeeha Pearce.

Although the agent who saw the video doubted it was real. Especially the moment the attacker got out of the facility. She looked as if she had teleported from place to place, which, after all, is impossible. As a precaution, he decided to keep all the information secret. Let that remain his supervisors' problem.

...

One hour after the Incident.

...

Investigators burst into Nazeeha's hotel room with the intention of searching, finding her in a disturbing state of catatonia.

George Williams and Jonathan Rees were taken in for interrogation.

The President and several other key people in the country were awakened and informed of the Incident. After which the President called an emergency meeting in the Oval Office for the morning. Ordering all information to be confirmed in the meantime.

...

Two hours after the Incident.

...

Beyond any doubt, the authenticity of the recording was recognized. Everything on the flash drive was also examined in great detail. Through which it was discovered that there was a security breach of the NYPD, from where the burglar got all the information.

At this time, Frank and Lexie began to wake up, followed shortly by Nazeeha.

They were immediately taken for interrogation, but it resulted in nothing but Nazeeha's acquittal. Investigators had too much evidence of her lack of involvement in the Incident. This included other fingerprints, the criminal's lack of knowledge of the lab's security features, and the fact that she was lying unconscious in her room.

Of course, that didn't mean they were immediately released. They were suspects all along.

...

Eight hours after the Incident.

...

Finally, the meeting did not take place in the Oval Office, but in one of the many conference rooms under the White House. All because of too many participants in the gathering.

"Since we're all here, let's start with a summary of recent events." The President began.

At his words, the young woman stood up and began her presentation.

"Good Morning. Director Redmond has asked me to prepare a report. Here is everything we have determined so far. A task force led by Frank Pearce, an FBI agent, has been assembled and sent to New York to investigate the recent arson in Central Park and an explosion on one of the streets, as analysts have determined that the cases are connected. Of course, I don't need to mention the video that has been popular online recently."

Everyone squirmed at her words. Someone decided that it would be a good idea to remove the footage of the explosion and the alleged fireball from the Internet. This was done so ineptly that copies began to appear like mushrooms after the rain which only led to an increase in its popularity.

"Information about the group is in appendix number one. A Shuriken was found at the site of the explosion, which, on investigation, turned out to have very amazing properties. PhD Lexie Mills, a high-tech consultant who was a member of the group, discovered its astonishing qualities. You can read the details in her report. Appendix 2B."

Each participant had a folder with many documents and tablets in front of them. And the various pieces of information were additionally displayed through an overhead projector.

"The phenomenon was so unusual that PhD Mills decided to move the research to a laboratory located in a facility not far from the hotel where the entire group was accommodated. After much research, PhD Mills discovered a whole new energy emanating from the tool. Appendix 2C. So it was decided to move the research to a more secure and isolated facility as a precaution. Unfortunately, there was a then-undetected hack of NYPD servers from which someone learned of these plans and decided to steal the item before it could be moved."

Another squirming. Lastly, if it hadn't been for the burglar's slip-up, it wouldn't have been known until now that some sort of hacking had taken place.

"A day later, an unidentified assailant, looking exactly like CIA agent Nazeeha Pearce, who was also a member of the investigative group, convinced Frank Pearce to drive her to the lab, under the pretext of a new discovery. According to Mr. Pearce, the entire testimony is in Appendix 6C, the one halfway there realized something was wrong, but then he was hypnotized and forced to open the lab door."

"Can we trust these words? How can someone go so long without noticing that someone is pretending to be his wife? And in that case, was the intruder Agent Pearce's twin sister?" Asked the questions by one listener.

"Mr. Pearce had suspicions, but they were so unclear that he initially had no reason to react. Her voice supposedly sounded exactly the same, and the only difference could be her fingerprints, which he had no way of checking. As for the idea of twins, all the information we have obtained indicates that this is impossible. We are probably dealing with a very advanced disguise."

"What about that statement about hypnosis? It sounds like a fairy tale."

"We believe that Mr. Pearce had nothing to gain by inventing such a lie. He would have been believed anyway if he had said that he didn't realize it until the end. However, the hearings continue, as does the determination of how this would have been possible."

"Shouldn't we..."

"Please end these questions. The time will come for them when we have heard the report to the end." The president interrupted. "Please continue."

"Ahem. Then Mr. Pearce was knocked out, as was PhD Mills, who was inside. After which, the criminal entered and plugged in a flash drive with a program erasing all information from the computer. Appendix 4A. After that he took the Shuriken, knowing that it should not be picked up with his bare hands. Here something peculiar happened, because for a moment it seems that the attacker felt incredible pain, starting to scream uncontrollably and fleeing the scene, probably forgetting the flash drive. We don't know what could have triggered this. The event itself was also unusual, and I think the video will better depict the whole situation. Please play Appendix 5B, on your tablets."

The video showed Nazeeha croaking and possibly starting to scream. Unfortunately, the facility's cameras did not record sound. Then, she teleported from place to place until she got out of range of the cameras.

"Preventing questions, Appendices 5C and following confirm the authenticity of the recording. It has not been edited in any way. At this point, the intruder disappeared and the police were called, who moments later were replaced by the FBI. This concludes initially my report."

"As you can see, we are dealing with a very unusual situation, in which a lot of unknown high-tech may have been used, which is very dangerous from the point of view of national security. We have already delegated a team of scientists to unravel the mystery of the disguise and this, for lack of a better word, teleportation. You may now ask questions." The president concluded.

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The questions and discussions went on for hours. In the end, it was agreed that if, in the course of further interrogations, Frank's team was cleared of all charges then they would continue to investigate the case. After all, they were designated from the beginning as the best for this type of unusual Incident.

...

One week after the Incident.

...

Finally, the interrogations of Frank and the rest of the group ended. Without finding out anything new. They met today at the new building that is to be the center of their operations from now on.

"Some good shit has been spilled, since the heavyweights decided to allocate so many resources to us." Frank commented.

"Should we..." Nazeeha began shyly.

Since the Incident, their relationship had become even more complicated.

"There's nothing to talk about. Everyone knows what happened and we are fully aware that it is not the fault of any of us. It's time to roll up our sleeves and get to work. We've already wasted a week on foolishness." She was interrupted by Frank. "From now on, we can recruit whomever we want into the investigation from wherever we want. The top is very anxious to solve this case. Lexie you will coordinate the team of scientists. Understand what we are up against."

"What about my research? Have you been able to recover anything? I'm sure the energy discovered had some connection to what happened there." She asked.

"A little bit. I've already taken it over and I think I'll be able to recover the whole thing eventually. Evidently the intruder was not an expert in this field and something interrupted him from completing the task." Jonathan replied.

"Good. Besides, you have to help me and Nazeeha track the information, there's not much we can do now, we have to wait for their next move. George will eventually join us, but for now he has problems with his family. His son has been unconscious for a week, and his wife is struggling with this strange phenomenon that has appeared in more than a dozen other women around the world and has been pregnant for ten months. In both cases, the doctors have no clue what is going on." Frank said.

"Could this be somehow related? There are a lot of strange and unprecedented things happening around us lately." Commented Nazeeha.

"Rather unlikely, but it's not like we have much to work with. Lexie could you examine his son and wife?"

"I'm not a doctor, but I can try."

"Okay. That's every..."

At that moment someone knocked and opened the door.

"Hello, I'm Major Tom Wolski of the DIA. I've been delegated to help with the Incident."

Fuck!

...

One month after the Incident.

...

"This is no longer a statistical error. Crime in the city has increased by 11%." Presented George.

Eventually, he had to go back to work. His wife didn't really have anything wrong. It was just that the baby didn't want to be born, for some reason. Doctors preferred not to do anything forcibly until the mother's condition was in danger. With his son, too, everything seemed fine. It was as if he was just sleeping. Apparently a girl in Japan was in a similar condition, but woke up after several hours. So he had to wait and hope that everything would be okay.

"One can distinguish the two most active groups that contributed to this. One was a gang that people labeled the Ghosts because of their professionalism. They carried out all the burglaries flawlessly, having every detail calculated. Without causing any casualties. They robbed everything and disappeared. The other is the kids, who are seemingly unconnected, but all the ones who were caught told that they didn't really want to do it and someone was controlling their movements. This could be ignored if it weren't for the fact that many of the isolated cases involved the same line of defense, and the possibility that a similar thing happened to you Frank."

"You mean to tell me that somewhere a hypnotist is flying around the city turning ordinary children into criminals. Is that the plot of a comic book?" Frank was not in a good mood.

"Well, I'm just presenting the facts. Another thing doesn't make it any easier for me either. Apparently, some guy who hunts criminals has recently appeared."

"Oh great, we still missed Batman."

"He doesn't have a costume, and the thugs eagerly described his person to us. Most interesting are their statements about how his skin reflected bullets."

"The world has gone crazy..."

"Anyway, I sent a warrant after him." He showed a draft to Frank.

"It's strange that no one has spotted him yet with so many specific signs. Anything else? Some flying guy with lasers in his eyes?"

"That's all for now."

"Okay let's try to find him. Maybe a hero and a villain fought each other on that destroyed street. That would give us a clue."

"That does just sound like a plot from a comic book."

"It's not my fault that the world has decided to go crazy."

"I have amazing news!" Lexie, who had spent the past weeks doing a health check on George's family, rushed into the room.

"Do you know what's going on with my family?"

"In your wife I detected nothing new, but from your son emanates the same energy I detected on the shuriken!"

Fuck!

...

Three months after the Incident.

...

Frank managed to save Philip from being confined to some isolated facility, but still many scientists studied him every day, heedless of objections. Heads - in the persona of Major Wolski, who instantly became Frank's least favorite military officer, and there were many - decided it was necessary.

Finally, the matter was put to rest by Lexie, who made perhaps the most important discovery of the century. For she realized that the energy coming out of his body was being produced in him. And more importantly, she discovered that everyone, to a greater or lesser degree, was producing this energy, it's just not clear how to use it. Except that in Philip's case there was surprisingly a lot of it.

The news was deeply hidden. And the government officially banned further research on Philip.

...

Six months after the Incident.

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Philip woke up.