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Killer
Instinct Revelations:16
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3 Years Ago
Tibet: Tiger Shrine Training Area
Evening at the Tiger Shrine was usually a peaceful
time. One third of the monks would be eating; all of the others would
be
in the great hall participating in a group meditation session.
This evening was almost no different. One third of the monks were
having dinner. The others were meditating. Two of the Tiger
Shrine’s guests, the secret agents known as Maverick and Recon were clumsily
fumbling through the group meditation session. Orchid had long since
taken off on her own; no one knew where
she went, and she would probably be gone until well into the night.
Julie had been eating dinner, but she left early, and no one
was sure of her whereabouts either.
The only monk who wasn’t inside of the Shrine
was Jago. He practiced his basic martial arts moves in the Training
Area.
He threw quick sets of jabs and short kicks at one of the red poles
that jutted out from the ground. Every now and then, he
would block an imaginary attack, then counter attack. Since he
started at noon, Jago had promised himself to take a break and eat dinner
when it was time. However, he was so absorbed in his practice that
he hadn’t even noticed that it was already
sunset. He also didn’t notice Julie’s approach. She watched
him for a full five minutes, without him noticing, before Jago
performed a roundhouse kick, allowing him to catch a glimpse of her.
“Oh, Julie!” he said, actually stopping
to talk, “I hadn’t noticed you.”
“Obviously.” Julie grinned.
Jago scratched the back of his head.
“I’m sorry, but now’s not a good time for that tour.”
“Big fight tomorrow, huh? I know.
Actually, I’m not here for the tour. I’m here to fight.”
Jago raised an eyebrow. For the first
time, he noticed that she was wearing red wrist guards, and had her long
blond hair
tied behind her.
“You owe me a sparring match, remember?
Besides, with your big fight coming up, you could probably use the extra
challenge. And I think I’m a little more challenging than that
pole you’ve been beating up.”
Jago smiled. “That may be. However,
are you sure about this?”
Julie took a fighting stance. “Absolutely
certain. I haven’t had a chance to push my skills to the limit in
almost two years
now. I’m looking forward to this. And hey, don’t worry
about hitting a girl and don’t hold back or anything like that.....”
Julie
batted an eye at him. “I like it rough.”
Jago’s face turned red. “Uh......okay.”
He assumed a fighting stance as well; this one was defensive in nature.
Julie took the cue. It meant “you wanted
it, you attack first.” So she did. She lunged at him with her
right fist extended.
Jago sidestepped it, grabbed her arm, and flipped her over. Julie
corrected herself in mid air, landing on her feet. She
frowned.
“What’s wrong?” Jago asked.
“C’mon, a shoulder throw?” Julie pouted.
“You had a great opportunity to attack me there. I told you not to
go easy on
me. I came at you with a beginners attack just to see if you
would counterattack and you didn’t.”
“Sorry......” Jago shrugged. “I’ll
hit you next time, I promise?”
Julie smiled. “You’d better.”
She lunged at Jago again, but this time with both arms pulled back.
Jago stood ready to
defend, and counterattack if possible. Julie suddenly threw her
left arm forward, but Jago caught it. Julie then pulled her arm
back, bringing Jago closer to her, then she struck him with her right
fist. Jago took a few steps backwards, holding his chin.
Julie didn’t give him an opportunity to catch his breath. She
charged into him again, with her left elbow pointed at the Tibetan
warrior. Jago did a quick backflip to avoid the maneuver.
Julie found herself going forward with no attack planned. Jago
stopped her with an open-fist palm strike into her chest, then a small
roundhouse kick to her head. She reeled, but recovered
quickly. She charged again, throwing a set of quick punches at
Jago. He managed to block them all.
For a few minutes, the two warriors exchanged
attacks; mostly punches, with a stretch or spin kick thrown in every now
and then. They both blocked each other's attacks, not landing
any good attacks at all. After a while, Julie backed off. She
was getting tired. However, she was being pushed to her limits,
and she knew an opportunity like this would probably never
come again. It was time to change her strategy a little.
She brought both of her feet together, and pressed her right fist into
her
open left hand, and did a slight bow. She then pointed her left
foot forwards, and put most of her foot on her right foot, which
was behind her and pointing right. She held her left arm out
towards Jago, and positioned her right arm across her chest. It
was a universal martial arts signal that Jago instantly recognized.
The bow meant that she wasn’t going to attack him.
However, going into a fighting position signaled that Julie wanted
the fight to continue. Jago obliged; he charged at her with a
jab punch. She blocked it, and the kick that followed it.
Jago continued to unleash a vicious flurry of attacks at Julie; it was
difficult, but she managed to keep up in blocking them all. During
this process, Julie regained some of her strength while Jago
started to become fatigued.
Jago felt himself getting tired and finally
realized that he had fallen victim to Julie’s trap. He decided to
try to end this match
before he embarrassed himself and lost. He pivoted forward, forcing
himself into a no-handed flip. His left leg was ready to hit the
ground again from the moment it left, but he kept the right leg extended
for an overhead ax kick. Julie reacted quickly; she
took a backstep to avoid the kick, then took a shuffle step forward,
putting her in a great offensive position. Jago was still
recovering from his missed attack. Julie led into Jago with her
left shoulder, crouching down as low to the ground as she
could. She let her energy build, then thrust herself up, driving
her right arm up. She hit Jago in the chin with her uppercut, with
such a force that both fighters were lifted off the ground. Jago
sailed backwards while Julie spun once in the air, then landed on her feet.
Jago hit the ground hard, but flipped up quickly. He wiped a little
blood from the corner of his mouth and smiled.
“What was that?” he asked.
Julie smirked. “Just a little move I’ve
been working on. Pretty effective, huh?”
“Huh. Well then, I’ve got a move to
show you.”
“Bring it on.”
Jago assumed a basic fighting stance, then
moved in slowly. He threw a few weak punches, the purpose of which
was to
get Julie into the position he wanted her in. He then tossed
a moderately strong roundhouse. It wasn’t a powerful kick, but
had just enough power to prompt Julie to take a backstep instead of
blocking. With his left shoulder pointing towards Julie, he
pushed off his right foot, sending himself forwards and in mid air.
He turned his body to the right, until he was flying forward
with his right leg outstretched. It was a move called the Wind
Kick that he had been learning. He wasn’t very good at it yet,
but he was hoping that his basic skills would be enough. He had
seen several ninja masters, in doing this move, launch
themselves over ten or twenty yards with the single push off.
Jago could only get a few feet at best, but it was enough to make
for an effective attack against Julie. Jago’s foot buried itself
into Julie’s stomach, and she tumbled backwards awkwardly. In
doing so, her left leg slammed into one of the metal poles that were
sticking out of the ground. She yelped in pain. Jago landed
from the attack, and quickly saw that Julie had been injured.
“Julie!” He said, rushing over to her.
“I’m sorry, are you okay?”
“I’m fine, it’s just my leg.” Julie
moaned. She tried to stand, but her leg couldn’t support her weight.
She stumbled, and
had to grab the very pole that assaulted her to keep from falling down.
“Great, that’s just great. I can’t afford to get injured.
Not now.”
“Is it broken?” Jago asked.
“I don’t know. Probably not. But
I won’t be able to tell until I see it.” Julie began trying to limp
back to the Shrine.
“Are you insane?” Jago went over to
her and stopped her. “You can’t limp all the way back. Here
– I’ll carry you. We’ll
go back to my room, since it’s closer from here.”
“Well, I won’t argue.” Jago scooped
Julie up and carried her in his arms. Although he was feeling tired
from the fight, he
did manage to carry her all the way from the Training Area back to
his room in the Shrine. As he sat her down on his bed, Julie took
a look around. The room was extremely simple; the bed was in the
center, with a table and lamp to the left, and a dresser drawer to the
right. The room had no windows, and except for a lit torch, nothing
was on the walls. Thanks to the torch, the
room was moderately warm, with evening like lighting.
“Let me take a look at your leg.” Jago
requested.
“Are you a doctor too?” Julie asked.
“No. But warriors have to be able to
deal with field injuries, especially during a fight. I may be able
to help if the injury isn’t too serious.”
“I hope so.” Julie rolled her left pant
leg up as far as she could, exposing her leg. Jago began to look
at the injured area,
about midway down the thigh. While he examined her, Julie
untied her hair, letting it flow freely behind her.
“Well,” Jago said, finishing his impromptu
exam, “looks like you’ve only bruised it. You should probably stay
off of it for a
while, and it’s going to hurt for a couple of days.”
“No, no, no.” Julie sighed. “That’s
not acceptable at all. I can’t afford to be slowed down. Maverick’ll
kill me. I can’t
believe I was so stupid!”
“Is it really that important?”
“Yes.”
“Well then, maybe I can do something about
it. The bruise is still new, so if we get the blood flowing normally
in your leg,
you should be one hundred percent by morning….if you don’t mind me
treating your leg.”
“Hey, whatever you have to do, doc.”
Jago began to softly massage Julie’s leg.
She was amazed at how his touch was delicate, yet strong at the same time.
Her
leg was already starting to feel better.
Jago looked up at her. “I was wondering…..if
it’s not too much trouble, if you could tell me why you’re really here
in
Tibet.”
Julie gave him a sideways look. “You
mean me and my colleagues? We already explained that-“
“I’m familiar with the reason you gave.
I’m curious about the real reason though.”
“That was the real reason.”
“Funny, Master Zen’keth said that when you
told it, it seemed to be improvised.”
Julie smiled. “I guess I should work
on my lying skills, huh?”
“Maybe. So, can you tell me the real
reason.”
“No. Why do you want to know?”
“I was just curious, that’s all. I take
it you also don’t work for the American government.”
Julie sighed. “Hey Jago, you can keep
a secret, right?”
“Sure, no one really to tell, except a bunch
of monks, and we make it a point not to involve ourselves in foreign affairs.”
“I can’t believe I’m doing this. Well,
I do work for the American government, but it’s a top secret organization.
Less than
a handful of people know about us, and the president himself isn’t
even a part of that lucky handful.”
“Oh, like spies?”
“Something like that.”
“So, what do you do?”
“I do what I’m ordered to.”
“And what would that be?”
“My, you sure are curious, aren’t you?”
Jago turned red. “I’m sorry, I was just
interested.”
Julie smiled. “That’s okay, I guess.
I’m actually kinda happy that someone is interested in the real me and
not the people I
have to pretend to be. Of course, I’m not even sure the real
me exists anymore.” Julie sighed again. “You’re sure that you’ll
never, ever, ever, tell anyone what I’m going to say, under any and
all circumstances?”
“I promise.”
Julie took a deep breath. “Well, to
put it simply, America is a great country built on two hundred year old
ideals, and
sustained by a powerful military. Unfortunately, this isn’t nearly
enough to keep her together. Like any good machine, there’s a network
of nuts, bolts, and glue that nobody knows about, but without it, the whole
thing would fall apart. We are that glue. If
a potential threat should arise, we stop it. Foreign or domestic.
Suppose a man is about to come to power in a moderately
strong country. Suppose he hates the United States. We’re
sent in to keep him down. By any means necessary. There’s a
lot more to what we do, but that’s probably the simplest way to put it.”
“Amazing…..” Jago whispered. “So,
is that why you’re here in Tibet? To prevent someone from rising
to power?”
Julie winced. “Not exactly. But
I really can’t talk about it.”
“I understand. This work you do…..it
sounds dangerous.”
“It is very dangerous. Most of us just
don’t think about it anymore. No one in our Organization really lives
past the age of
twenty-five. It’s only inevitable that sometime, sometime soon,
we’ll get killed. I wake up every morning with the feeling that
I’ve cheated death for another day, but I don’t know if I’ll live to
see another morning. That’s about what it’s come down do.
We’re living on borrowed time, and our numbers will be up soon.”
“What a horrible way to live!” Jago
exclaimed. “And you really don’t care anymore?”
“Not really, no. Staying in the Shrine,
it’s pretty safe to say I’ll be alive for a little longer, but as soon
as I leave, for every
day I live, I’ve cheated the odds.”
“How and why did you pick this kind of lifestyle?”
Jago asked.
Julie glanced up at him. “It kind of
a long story. Do you really want to know?”
“Yes.”
“Well, I guess it’s a combination of things.
I came from a pretty good family; my father was a general in the Army.
My
mother stayed home to raise the kids. There were three of us;
myself, and two older brothers. My father pushed us kids pretty hard
to do something meaningful with our lives. My oldest brother became
a doctor, and the other one was an astronaut. By
the time I got to high school, my parents expected me to become the
first female president of the United States. I could have
been, too. I worked really hard at school and I was good at a
lot of things. But I kinda resented my father for pushing me so
hard, and I didn’t really know what I wanted to do with my life.
My senior year of high school I talked to the Army recruiter,
thought that maybe I’d follow in my father’s footsteps and become some
sort of great military general.
“However, things changed for the worst.
I had had a boyfriend since sophomore year; he was the star pitcher for
the
school baseball team, and he was a really nice guy. His only
fault was that he was a reckless driver. Whenever I was in the car
with him, I whined and complained about his driving until he finally caved
in and drove responsibly. However, I knew that
when he was just by himself or with other friends, he drove like a
madman. One night, only a few weeks away from
graduation, he asked me if I wanted to go see a movie with him.
I had a headache and I really wanted to see something on TV, so I refused.
He begged and pleaded and I continued to refuse, until he finally gave
up. He still wanted to see the movie
though, so he called his friends and they got together to go.
“The funny thing is, the accident wasn’t even
his fault. They were making a left turn to get into the theater parking
lot, when
a truck from the opposite side ran the red light and hit them almost
head on. My boyfriend and one of his friends were killed
instantly; the third died later in the hospital, and the fourth was
in a coma for three days before finally coming out of it. He’s
okay, except he’s paralyzed for life now.”
Jago gave Julie a sad look. He could
read the expression on her face perfectly. “You blame yourself for
what happened,
don’t you?”
“I do. If I hadn’t been so selfish and
just agreed to go to the movie, that would have changed things. Sure,
the truck would
have run the red light no matter what, but he would not have hit my
boyfriend. We would have already been at the theater, or
not at the intersection yet.”
“There’s no way you could have known about
that.”
“Maybe. But what it all comes down to
is my boyfriend died because I wanted to watch some TV show.”
“Julie, you really can’t blame yourself for
that….there are so many variables that had to be in place for that accident
to
happen….yours was just one of many.”
“But still-“
Jago cut her off. “You can’t control,
or even change destiny. Whatever had been planned for you and your
boyfriend that
night was going to happen no matter what.”
Julie sighed. “Make your case all you
want, but I’m still going to see it the way I want to. Anyway, after
that, I kind of
became a living ghost. I glided through the rest of high school,
apathetic towards everything. I thought that, maybe, I could
take some of the edge of the pain by distracting myself with as much
work as I could. I worked really hard at becoming a
good soldier, and I passed every recruitment test they threw at me.
I guess that’s why the Organization noticed me.
“One day, about a week before graduation,
I was approached by a man. He told me that he worked for a super
secret
government agency that did special work to protect and solidify America.
He said that they were interested in having me as an
agent. He told me everything, including how risky this profession
was, but at the same time, he made it seem almost
glamorous. Like James Bond come to life. I told him I’d
think about it, and after only a day, I agreed. I figured that this
was
the best way to fulfill my father’s wishes, even if he didn’t know
about it. And since I was still grieving for my boyfriend, I
didn’t care so much about dying young as I would have normally.
“Organization procedures dictate that, for
‘dirty’ new agents, their old lives have to be ‘cleaned.’ That started
with my fake
death. They crashed my car, and I still don’t know how they did
it, but they even managed to find a body double for me for
the autopsy and open-casket funeral. Jago, you have no idea how
weird it is to watch your own funeral. My father didn’t cry,
but I really didn’t expect him to. He was a war veteran, and
he was probably used to losing people who were close to him.”
“How could you watch your own funeral?”
Jago asked.
“From a seat in the church just like everyone
else.” Julie replied. “Part of the cleansing process was plastic
surgery.
Change the shape of the nose, different eye color, and a little
collagen in the lips. Not enough to make you look like a different
person entirely, but just enough to make you look like you’re not you.”
Julie half smiled. “During his eulogy, my oldest brother
made eye contact with me…..he actually stopped and gave me another
look.”
“Have you seen your family since?”
“Yes, actually. I was passing through
my old hometown on a mission, and I made a little detour. I knocked
their cable lines down, and when they called to repair it, I made sure
that I was the one sent to do the repairs. A minor exercise for an
agent
with my skills. They were doing okay. I actually have a
new, little sister. I think she’s adopted, but I’m not sure.
And they
still keep pictures of me around. That was about a year ago.
They were a nice family.” Julie drifted off for a moment, seeming
to have gone far, far away.
Jago watched her for a moment, then spoke
again. “So….is Julie your real name?”
“Yes. It’s the only part of my old life
they actually let me keep. I forgot my last name though. In
the Organization, you’re
Agent This or Agent That, and there’s no room for anything else.”
“So tell me….now that you’ve had time to think
about it….do you think that joining the…..Organization….was a mistake?”
“Mmmm……..no. We’ve actually done a lot
of great things. At the risk of being cocky, I’d even say we have
been
supporting the world on our shoulders.”
“But…..”
“But? Why does there have to be a ‘but’?”
Jago looked away. “I just thought that,
by the way you said that, that there was something you were regretting.”
“No.” Julie looked away as well.
“Well, actually, I…..”
“What?”
“I want to live.”
Jago’s eyes widened, as he seemed taken aback
by the statement.
Without realizing it, Julie took Jago’s hand
and held it tightly. Also completely unaware of his actions, Jago
continued to rub Julie’s leg with his free hand.
“I want to live, Jago. There’s so much
to life that I’ve been missing out. I don’t want to die.”
“Then why don’t you just quit?”
Julie laughed. “No one’s ever quit the
Organization. It’s unheard of.”
“You could be the first.”
Julie seemed to consider it for a moment,
then shook it off. “I couldn’t. There’s no way in hell they
would allow it.
Besides, I don’t have a life anymore. Where would I go?”
Jago looked down, bashfully, for a moment.
“Well, you could always come here.”
“Why would I come here?”
“You could make a life here. It’s not
exciting, or adventurous, but it’s peaceful, and content. You would
be welcome.”
Julie shot him a look. “Welcome by everyone,
or just you?”
“Well, everyone, I’m sure.”
“Oh.” Julie sounded disappointed.
“But me more than anyone else.”
For an intense moment, Jago and Julie made
eye contact. Then, as if pulled by a powerful force that could not
be resisted
(nor did they desire to) they moved together slowly, finally stopping
when their lips were engaged in a kiss. It was soft at first,
but with each passing second the passion grew until they embraced each
other tightly.
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