Mom, I'm Bulletproof

Chapter 17.3: Understanding

From there, Left Man's memories faded, turning into purple smoke, and then back into an armor-clad man on a stage.

"All is revealed," Proscenium said to Left Man. "They are producing miniature suns aboard their submarine."

"I don't know that they..."

"You know it!" Proscenium exclaimed, his voice booming throughout the entire theater.

"Yes," Left Man said, defeated. "The Temple is constructing miniature suns aboard the sacred submarine. After learning this, I was given time for my scars to heal and I was assigned to pilot one of the Temple's black helicopters, with an assignment to kill a certain crimefighter."

Proscenium turned into a cloud and reformed right in front of Left Man, his frowning theater mask inches away from Left Man's face.

"Is this everything you know?"

"All praise to the Temple," Left Man said.

Proscenium, with an armor-clad fist, punched Left Man right in the face, knocking him unconscious. He then turned to face Center Man and said, "You're next."

"I'm not telling you anything."

Silently, Proscenium again transformed into a cloud, surrounding Center Man with purple smoke. Center Man held his breath for as long as he could, but he eventually inhaled, drawing the purple smoke into his lungs.

Center Man's mind grew hazy, recalling memories he thought were once erased...

Center Man, his birth name long forgotten, saw himself as he once was, in memories he thought were scraped from his mind, his very person.

* * * *

Tokyo, five years earlier. Center Man walked the streets of Akihabara, surrounded by people of all ages busily shopping and seeing the sights. It was nearing sunset, and there were many young people around, swarming in and out of the arcades and various otaku shops.

Then he saw her. A teen girl, not part of a group, but on her own, just wandering and window shopping. Center Man found his target.

Keeping his distance, having learned how to keep out of sight while in a crowd, Center Man followed the girl. She wandered aimlessly through various anime and gaming stores, shopping while not really for anything specific.

Center Man wondered why a local would shop alone like this. Had she been separated from her friends for some reason? Had she just recently moved to the city and didn't know anyone?

None of that mattered. All that mattered was the knife in Center Man's jacket pocket.

The girl walked out of the store and crossed the street. Center Man knew this pattern. She was headed for the subway. Now he had to decide whether to board a train alongside her to wherever she might be going, or to act now. Then the girl stopped, looked into the window of a convenience store, and she went inside.

Center Man felt a sense of relief. The store would have a small bathroom. Getting the girl into the bathroom alone was possible. Once there, surrounded by one of the busiest shopping districts of the city, they would be alone – just him, her, and his knife.

Before he could enter the store and plan out his next step, he felt a sharp object poke the back of his neck. He turned and saw two Tokyo police officers behind him, except one of them discreetly held a syringe.

"What's..." Center Man began, but the cop stopped him.

"We're going to take you." The first cop said. Center Man became overwhelmed by dizziness. Before everything faded to black, he felt the second cop lift him up and fire-carry him over his shoulder, while the other cop told passersby that there was nothing to be alarmed about.

Center Man woke up in a room he didn't recognize, surrounded by men in red robes and an American woman with long dark hair and a sexy black dress.

"No one understands you, do they?" the woman said. "I do."

Center Man kept quiet.

"I'm called Madam Corruption, so you can trust that I won't pass judgment on you." She leaned in close, her face right up to his. "How would you like to do what you do, but as one of us? We are the Temple, and as one of our agents, you can kill innocents without fear."

"What do you want?"

"Praise," she said. "All praise to the Temple."

* * * *

The image of Madam Corruption spread into purple smoke, and then Center Man found himself again in the old theater, with Proscenium standing before him.

Proscenium made a fist, and punched Center Man in the face.

"That's enough out of you," Proscenium said.

As blood streamed down from Center Man's nose, Proscenium turned his attention to the man on the right. 

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Next: In control.