>>>~~~~<<<
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Winchester shook his head. “The radar doesn’t even register her location. I don’t think she’s an anomaly.”
“According to the guys upstairs, she is,” Marriot replied as she turned the car into the Burger King parking lot.
“Are you sure we have the right woman?” Winchester asked. “I don’t need a false containment on my record.”
“I thought so too, but then I realized,” Marriot tapped the radar, “the radar doesn’t even register her location.”
“Yeah, that’s what I said,” Winchester rolled his eyes.
“It doesn’t register her location,” Marriot emphasized. “Not even background noise.”
“Huh?” Winchester looked at the radar again. “Well, what do you know? It looks like a hole in the radar’s readout. Think she’s masking her signal?”
“Maybe, but I think if that were her goal, she’d do a better job,” Marriot suggested. “No, I think her anomalous property is that she has no property. A literal nothing-burger. Speaking of which.” Marriot saw someone walking towards the Burger King. It was the plainest, plain jane she’d ever seen. If there were an opposite to main character syndrome, this girl would be its picture in the dictionary.
“There she…is,” Winchester felt his eyes glaze over for a second, “crap, Donavon was right. It is a struggle to keep track of her. My brain is desperately trying to ignore her. We’re losing her even if she walks into a small crowd.”
“She won’t get the chance,” Marriot parked the car, and the two hopped out. They beelined for the boring woman, using every ounce of their willpower to focus on her. Thankfully, the woman seemed lost in thought, not even bothering to move out of the way of incoming people. Instead, everyone else seemed to be unconsciously giving her a wide berth.
“Hey,” Winchester confronted the woman right as she took her first step into the parking lot. She didn’t react. “Yes, you,” he grabbed her shoulder. The woman nearly jumped out of her skin, looking back at him with a mixture of confusion and terror.
“You actually see me?” She asked.
“Yeah, you’re coming with us,” Winchester declared.
“What’d I do?” The woman asked.
“Nothing, we just want to talk,” Marriot approached her with a softer disposition.
“Okay,” the woman sighed, “just don’t blame me when you forget about me in your backseat.”
\________________/
The drive back to HQ was largely uneventful. Winchester felt proud of a job well done, while Marriot tried to shake some post-mission nerves. She wouldn’t feel right until they were back within HQ’s walls.
“Easiest containment of my life,” Winchester boasted.
“Yeah, yeah, let’s not celebrate until we’re back,” Marriot shook her head.
“Don’t you worry, who’d even come after us?” Winchester pointed out. “It’s not like we’re carrying anything dangerous or abusable.”
“Yeah, but when you think it’ll all be good, that’s when shit goes wrong, you know that,” Marriot countered.
“Right, right. Look, the HQ entrance is right up ahead,” Winchester gestured. “At this point, no one would risk bothering us unless we had something world ending in our trunk.”
“Don’t jinx it,” Marriot rolled her eyes as they turned into the hidden entrance. Flashing their badges to the invisible guard before rolling through the illusionary wall. They were finally home free and, after five minutes of driving, slid right into Marriot’s reserved parking spot.
“See, nothing happened,” Winchester laughed. “Let’s get back in and write that report. I don’t want to miss the game tonight.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Marriot rolled her eyes as they exited the car and headed inside. “I guess I’ll write the observation report. You can record the anomalous properties.”
“Sure,” Winchester nodded and hummed to himself for a moment. “What were they again?”
“You idiot, it was…” Marriot paused. “What was it that we were supposed to bring back again? We did bring it back, right? It was…”
“Crap, Donavon was right. It is a struggle to keep track of…um, déjà vu,” Winchester scratched his head.
“Great, now there’s an anomaly loose, either out there or in HQ, that no one can keep track of,” Marriot groaned.
“I guess we’ll put up an alert to be on the lookout for…what did Donavon’s report say again?” Winchester sheepishly asked.
“Shit, I left it in my backseat,” Marriot nearly smacked herself, “come on.” They rushed back to the car and opened the backdoor. “Where is it?” Marriot looked around momentarily before it was handed to her, “oh, thanks.”
“So, what’s it say?” Winchester asked.
“Anomaly properties are that it is unnoticeable and blends into the crowd,” Marriot read. “Takes the form of a plain-looking woman with no distinctive features. The subject seems to have taken being forgetful to a weaponized level, as it takes serious conscious effort to even keep track of her for longer than a few seconds. The subject can act, speak, and do whatever else she desires, and most would take no notice unless she said or did exactly what you wanted to hear or see. This effect doesn’t seem to apply to technology detecting her, but results are spotty.”
“Back on the road then?” Winchester asked.
“Assuming we actually found the anomaly, that might be a bad idea,” Marriot shook her head. “Let’s get some radars out and search the facility. We have to find something. You know what, let’s check right now.” She activated the radar in their car. “Shit, damn thing is on the fritz, it’s not picking up anything. Call Donovan’s team. We need more people on this.” The two stepped away from the car to find a phone. Completely oblivious to who was in the back seat.
“I told them, but no one listens to me,” the boring woman sighed. “That’s me, Mary Brown, the most normal girl in the multiverse.” She stepped out of the car and began to wander the facility. “What’s this, the third secret society to ‘capture’ me? Oh well, at least they have style. I wonder if there’s a cafeteria around here. I never got to eat lunch.”
>>>~~~~<<<
It's always pertinent to be thorough in a job well done, you don't want any unexpected surprises disrupting what should be an easy end to your day.
Author’s Note:
Hey anyone remember The Beginner’s Guide to Everything series I wrote two and a half years back? Probably not, but here’s it’s “main” character back in another story. I’ve wanted to write a sequel to Beginner’s Guide for a while, but I could never commit to it. Think of this as a practice or a rough draft to a first chapter for a theoretical sequel. For now it’s just an idea, but maybe one day I’ll return to this story and we could explore The Broom Closet at the Beginning of Time.
Until next time, Read, Comment and Enjoy.
No comments:
Post a Comment